The Great Beyond
Remembrance of viruses past
Long-lived survivors of the 1918 flu pandemic may hold the key to defeating future outbreaks.
Trees eat pollution products
Leaves can absorb organic nitrates and turn them into amino acids.
Virus helps to build tiny battery
Simple technique could create power packs for microdevices.
Physicists spooked by faster-than-light information transfer
Quantum weirdness even stranger than previously thought.
Biodiversity body 'lacks science'
Swedish researchers criticize credentials of convention.
Physicists await dark-matter confirmation
PAMELA mission offers tantalizing hint of success.
Disney backs research centres
New facilities in Zurich and Pittsburgh hope to develop film technologies for the next animated blockbuster.
Molecules multiplied
Synthetic chemists hope to apply the power of PCR to a range of other compounds.
Top climate-impacts programme shut
National Center for Atmospheric Research axes developing-world initiative.
The AIDS fight: looking ahead to 2010
Nine leaders give Nature their view.
Snails transmute to guard against danger
Changes in shell structure are induced by the presence of predators.
MUSE: Crime and punishment in the lab
Before we ask whether scientific conduct is dealt with harshly enough, says Philip Ball, we need to be clear about what punishment is meant to achieve.
US backs its biofuels
Environmental agency denies request to cut back on ethanol.
First complete Neanderthal genome sequenced
Full nuclear sequence, offering clues about our relatives' demise, expected within months.
RNA tackles HIV
Antibodies help to deliver interfering RNA sequences to immune-system cells.
Ten diseases in a dish
Disease-specific cell lines will help the study and treatment of medical conditions.
Environmental chemists keep watchful eye on Beijing's smog
On the eve of the Olympic Games, scientists are taking the long view on the capital's air pollution.
'Virophage' suggests viruses are alive
Evidence of illness enhances case for life.
German professor in sex discrimination battle
Row throws spotlight on dearth of top female academics in the country.
Curved electronic eye created
Flexible circuits should lead to diverse imaging applications.
Google tool identifies linchpin species
Search system predicts what prey are needed to keep an ecosystem working.
Technological advances behind the anthrax investigation
Machines can quickly compare strains and pinpoint origin.
The sounds of silent movies
Flickering images can trigger perception of sound.
Climate war games
Role-play negotiations test the outcomes of global warming.
Almost half of primate species face extinction
Global review shows danger is greatest in Asia.
Falcon 1 blows it again
Private space travel takes another hit, but isn't doomed.
Scientists identify algae that almost swamped the Olympics
Algal bloom may have been boosted by fertilizer run-off.
Lawsuit chips away at fish research
Court order may halt attempts to train sea bass.
The end of AIDS is nowhere in sight
Battle against HIV dogged by vaccine failures, poorly targeted prevention measures and lack of fresh research talent, conference told.
Slideshow: NASA turns 50
Nature takes you on a slideshow tour of the agency’s triumphs and tragedies.
Q+A: Edward Weiler
As NASA celebrates its fiftieth birthday, Nature looks to the future with the space agency's returning science chief.
Italy picks businessman to head space agency
Move seen as shift from research to commerce and defence.
Stats reveal bias in NIH grant review
Alternative system could make ‘fairer’ funding decisions for a quarter of awards.
Consent issues restrict stem-cell use
Some human embryonic cell lines may not be eligible for research.
Age makes Moon crater attractive site for lunar base
Dating of Shackleton crater suggests it may offer supply of ice.
Scientists to dive to the bottom of the world's deepest lake
Russian team explores the depths of Lake Baikal.
Stars may not be so fine-tuned after all
A change in nature’s fundamental constants could still allow star formation.
Does fatherhood loom for Lonesome George?
Female companion of unique Galapagos tortoise lays promising clutch of eggs.
Aurora's source found by string of satellites
NASA's Themis mission finds the trigger for polar light show.
Enzyme structure reveals key ingredients for making hydrogen
Iron and carbon monoxide lie at the heart of third and final hydrogenase structure.
Gates and Bloomberg team up to tackle tobacco epidemic
Philanthropists pledge half a billion dollars to fight tobacco use in developing countries.
US-India nuclear deal moves forward
Landmark agreement faces opposition from scientists and arms-control experts.
Brain electrodes tackle severe depression
Trial shows success for ‘deep brain stimulation’ technique.
Molecular biology gets wikified
Crowdsourcing comes to biology databases.
Snakes' venom chemistry varies with age and location
Lancehead pitvipers give up their poisonous secrets in first 'venomics' study.
Science on a melting ice floe
After Russian researchers are evacuated from their Arctic base, one member of the team explains what it was like to spend the winter on ice.
Climate science: The long summer begins
A research vessel embedded in the thinning Arctic sea ice has a front-row seat for the cryospheric show of the century. Quirin Schiermeier reports from Darnley Bay, Canada.
Sleep loss produces false memories
But caffeine helps to boost accurate recall
Autism study panned by critics
Plan to use chelating agents on children comes under fire.
Organic dyes help harvest sunlight
Katharine Sanderson on claims solar-power costs could be slashed by cheap collectors.
When reporters attack
Scientists and the media have a notoriously difficult relationship, but maybe they get on better than we think, says Philip Ball.
Whatever happened to bird flu?
The media frenzy over bird flu has receded, says Declan Butler, but the threat of a global epidemic still looms large.
The eyes have it
How fossilized flatfish settle evolutionary conundrum.
Developing nations reject G8 climate agreement
Moving targets dog greenhouse-gas deal, writes Olive Heffernan.
Leaders still vague on emissions targets
Olive Heffernan on the G8 talks that fail to advance the fight against climate change.
Spending plan appeases UK physicists
Geoff Brumfiel says an uneasy truce has been struck after re-arrangement of limited funds.
Fossilized feathers may hold a trace of colour
Katharine Sanderson on how pigment remains might help to discern colours and patterns in feathered dinosaurs.