News & Comment

Nature Special: South American science

The eyes of the world are on South America as the 2014 FIFA World Cup kicks off in São Paulo. This Nature Special looks at the state of science across the continent, highlighting the pockets of excellence and the successes at reversing the brain drain but also the challenges for a region where most countries spend less than 1% of their GDP on research and development. Also, commentaries from ten South American research leaders and from Nobelist Torsten Wiesel, and much more.

News

Fungi borrowed bacterial gene again and again

Multiple independent gene transfers gave fungi ability to colonize plant roots.

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Images of the month: June 2014

Pictures from the world of science, selected by Nature’s art team.

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Risks of flu work underrated

US funding agency disagreed with university’s assessment of potential threats.

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Scientists rally around beleaguered Japanese research centre

Misconduct case in stem-cell lab does not warrant the 'dismantling' of RIKEN CDB, observers say.

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Australian budget hits science jobs

Research-agency staff protest over slashed spending and concerns about country’s future research capability.

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BlogFrench science needs ‘smarter’ spending, OECD says

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GM maize splits Mexico

Legal challenge to transgenic crops has created a rift in the country’s scientific community.

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Elite labs hire more men than women

Women account for half of qualified candidates but are outnumbered in labs led by top male academics.

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Rhythm is heard best in the bass

Better detection by the brain could explain why low-pitched notes carry the beat across musical cultures.

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Supercooled livers last for days

Solution that protects rat livers from freezing could extend transplant window for human organs.

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Scientific AmericanBoom-and-bust cycles doomed passenger pigeon 1 comment
Running cures blind mice
Scientific AmericanLHC upgrades could reveal whether Higgs boson is 'standard' 1 comment
'Grabbed' land has potential to feed millions 4 comments
Earliest skeletal animals were reef builders
BlogAntibiotic resistance focus of UK’s Longitude Prize
Bath-salt chemical promises safer solar cells 2 comments
Shared decisions benefit next generations 1 comment

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Opinion

CommentEnergy: Consider the global impacts of oil pipelines

Debates over oil-sands infrastructure obscure a broken policy process that overlooks broad climate, energy and environment issues, warn Wendy J. Palen and colleagues.

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CommentPhysics: Bell’s theorem still reverberates

Fifty years ago, John Bell made metaphysics testable, but quantum scientists still dispute the implications. Howard Wiseman proposes a way forward.

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Books & ArtsBooks in brief

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Books & ArtsBibliometrics: The citation game

Jonathan Adams takes the measure of the uses and misuses of scholarly impact.

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Books & ArtsSpace science: Lunar star

Roger D. Launius is perplexed by a biography of Neil Armstrong that profiles the missions, not the man.

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EditorialMetrics market

Measures of research impact are improving, but universities should be wary of their limits.

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EditorialStorm warning

Environmentalists are divided over whether it is possible to have a ‘good’ Anthropocene.

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EditorialBiosafety in the balance

An accident with anthrax demonstrates that pathogen research always carries a risk of release — and highlights the need for rigorous scrutiny of gain-of-function flu studies.

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