Nature is currently running an Essay series on science and politics. In the Essay in this week’s issue (Nature 450, 33; 2007), Sheila Jassanoff cautions on the partiality of scientific knowledge and the need for disciplined methods to accommodate uncertainty, at a time when society and policy makers demand ever more science-based evidence.

Essays published so far in this eight-part series are by Richard Garwin, on the demise of the US President’s Science Advisory Committee; Hans Wigzell on the gratifying results that can be obtained when science advisors enthuse and inform government members; David A. King and Sandy M. Thomas use a new report on obesity policy to highlight challenges for scientists and politicians working together; and Andrew A. Rosenberg says that science advisers should have confidence in their data, or risk being undermined by more dogmatic and vociferous stakeholders during the policy-making process.

All these essays, and the rest of the series, can be accessed from an online table of contents in Nature’s web focus archive.