[NEWS FOCUS] GEOMETRIC TOPOLOGY: Taming the Hyperbolic Jungle by Pruning Its Unruly Edges
Answering decades-old questions, two new theorems set limits on how wild some universes can get.
Author: Dana Mackenzie
[NEWS] EDUCATION: Singapore Leads, U.S. Lags in Science, Math Student Achievement
According to the 2003 Trends in Mathematics and Science Study,released last week by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, Singaporean students lead the world in math and science. Educators say that the top ranking, among elementary and middle school students from as many as 49 countries, also demonstrates how a nation's commitment to excellence can pay off fairly quickly.
Author: Yudhijit Bhattacharjee
[NEWS FOCUS] CELL BIOLOGY: A Technical Fix For an Ethical Bind?
Scientists and ethicists are taking a closer look at ways to create pluripotent human stem cells without involving embryos. But how close are such ideas to reality?
Author: Constance Holden, Gretchen Vogel
[NEWS FOCUS] SELECT AGENTS: Heightened Security or Neocolonial Science?
New restrictions on federally funded research involving the world's most dangerous pathogens are hampering foreign collaborations.
Author: Richard Stone
Revealed: inside the US military’s plan to tap huge sums from the NIH
Nature, Published online: 04 September 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02799-5 An agreement paves the way for hundreds of millions […]
Buried underpants and a new definition of kissing win 2026 Ig Nobel prizes
Nature, Published online: 04 September 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02650-x The awards highlight weird, funny and improbable research that […]
Bunsen burners’ reputation for sterilizing workplaces flames out
Nature, Published online: 04 September 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-02758-0 Study shows that the venerable device does not waft […]
[NEWS] SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING: Editing No Longer Infringes U.S. Trade Sanctions
The U.S. Treasury Department last week removed all restrictions on editing manuscripts from authors in three countries under a U.S. trade embargo. Publishers hailed the step by the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. But some wondered why the same freedoms were not extended to music, films, and other forms of artistic expression, and others questioned whether the government should be exerting any control at all.
Author: Yudhijit Bhattacharjee
[NEWS] MOLECULAR BIOLOGY: Long-Sought Enzyme Found, Revealing New Gene Switch on Histones
In the molecular biology equivalent of stubbing one's toe on King Tut's undiscovered tomb, a team of scientists, to its great surprise, has identified a genetic switch hunted by biologists for decades.
Author: Jennifer Couzin
[NEWS] GENETICS: A Ruff Theory of Evolution: Gene Stutters Drive Dog Shape
Armed with DNA from more than 100 dogs, scientists have now shown that slight differences in the lengths of certain genes involved in development can transform a collie nose into a puglike one and even change the number of toes in one breed. Furthermore, their study, reported in the 28 December Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, drives home the potential evolutionary importance of repetitive DNA sequences called tandem repeats.
Author: Elizabeth Pennisi