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Editor's picks

Computing the cost of health care: Britain’s NHS is spending more than ever before on information technology to improve auditing and record keeping. But is it getting the best value for its money?

The power behind the flower: What makes a plant flower? The event that poets down the ages have struggled to capture in words, molecular biologists are now seeking to define in the language of genes

Do animals feel pain?: By drawing analogies between humans and other animals, researchers tentatively conclude that fish and octopuses can feel pain, but insects can’t. But the cutoff point is inevitably fuzzy

Telltale signs of a stressful life: Experiments have often deliberately caused stress to animals. The findings should now be used to improve their lot

The race to detect dark matter: Dark matter makes up most of the Universe, but no one knows what it is. Now physicists around the world are competing to detect new exotic particles that could explain all

Table of contents

News

Beleaguered science wins Cabinet status

Wrong bolts sent pilot into the blue

Japanese pioneers raise kid in rubber womb

Pundits pontificate while Etna erupts

Belated inquest on cold fusion blast

Political fallout traps cash for Chernobyl

Nuclear waste may rise from the grave

Channel 5 should wait for digital technology

Aye-aye, it’s a boy . . .

Genome project leader to stay in Britain

Kuwait’s trial by fire observed from space

Seaweed subsidy menaces Europe’s marine life

American feminists fight for abortion pill

Canada, land of dying lakes and forests

Costly CDs

Safe waste

Ice abandoned

Computer net

Indians protest

Rock bottom

Bees in danger

Europe goes bump in the night

Focus: Baltic states struggle for total power – Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have won their political independence from Moscow and are racing towards the free market. But energy to drive their economies still comes from Mother Russia

Science: The parasite that exploits the immune system

Science: A second chance for the large copper?

Science: The bird is gone, but the song lives on

Science: The right time for a women to diet?

Science: Galactic neighbour may harbour a black hole

Science: Does the Universe go on for ever?

Science: Cancer compound found in cuttlefish

Technology

Technology: Sculpted fibre gathers up laser’s lost light

Technology

Technology: Lean batteries take the weight off electronics

Technology

Technology: Interference as usual after Brussels bungle

Technology

Technology: I just called to say I’m out of sync

Technology

Technology: Overhead lights ensure the price is right

Technology

Technology: Fire-fighters find gas that’s easy on ozone

Technology

Technology: Suspending experiments in thin air

Patents: Fur balls

Patents: Chaff in the wind

Patents: Making deals on digital phones

Patents: Curved walls

Patents: Fruity welder

Patents: Video double taped

Patents: Patents Information

Opinion

Comment: Musical chairs

Features

Computing the cost of health care: Britain’s NHS is spending more than ever before on information technology to improve auditing and record keeping. But is it getting the best value for its money?

The power behind the flower: What makes a plant flower? The event that poets down the ages have struggled to capture in words, molecular biologists are now seeking to define in the language of genes

Do animals feel pain?: By drawing analogies between humans and other animals, researchers tentatively conclude that fish and octopuses can feel pain, but insects can’t. But the cutoff point is inevitably fuzzy

Telltale signs of a stressful life: Experiments have often deliberately caused stress to animals. The findings should now be used to improve their lot

The race to detect dark matter: Dark matter makes up most of the Universe, but no one knows what it is. Now physicists around the world are competing to detect new exotic particles that could explain all

More

Review: Rich existence in Pre-Columbian America

The 1001 Snow Whites and the imagineers

Review: What values in the new biology?

Moving times with Muybridge

Review: Nasturtiums, butterfly bushes and other aliens

Review: A journey to Earth’s companion

Review: Michael Faraday’s grand tour

Forum: Though many are called, few are chosen – Donald Gould feels that the British medical hierarchy should be referred for treatment

Forum: Physics professors and Polo mints – Tobias Chapman finds that communication skills are learnt in many ways

Thistle Diary: Patents and computer software – More comment from Westminster by Tam Dalyell

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