More Clips
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Potato blight's gene weaponry revealed
Jumping genes may hold key to defeating mould that caused Irish famine.
09 September 2009
Amphibians raise their pitch to counter traffic noise.
25 August 2009
Staving off ecological disaster in lungs
Protecting the lung's 'ecosystem' may help cystic fibrosis patients.
07 August 2009
A small group of ecologists is looking beyond the pristine to study the scrubby, feral and untended. Emma Marris learns to appreciate 'novel ecosystems'.
22 July 2009
Weighing up the G8's promises to poor countries
Nature News talks to Namanga Ngongi about the billions of dollars pledged for food security.
17 July 2009
Chemistry publisher moving towards online-only journals
American Chemical Society puts squeeze on print editions.
17 June 2009
Forestry: Planting the forest of the future
While conservation biologists debate whether to move organisms threatened by the warming climate, one forester in British Columbia is already doing it. Emma Marris reports.
17 June 2009
Vegetation may not slow wave erosion
Soil type may be more important than plant cover in preventing coast edges washing away.
08 June 2009
A volcanologist reveals how undersea eruptions can be a boon for some species.
08 May 2009
Even big societies feel the pinch
American Chemical Society makes cutbacks to fight financial losses.
06 May 2009
Life thrives beneath Antarctic glacier
Unique chemistry enables microbes to survive harsh conditions.
16 April 2009
Amazonian reserves have fewer fires
Satellite data reveal less deforestation in Brazil's protected parks.
07 April 2009
Scientists struggle to fund work on animal pain and distress.
25 March 2009
Wheat fungus threatens global crops
Mexico meeting works to halt stem rust's spread.
17 March 2009
Endangered species chart a fresh course
But questions linger over Bush's legacy on conservation
10 March 2009
Conservation: The genome of the American West
What does it mean to save a species? For some, preserving the American bison means keeping its genome pure, finds Emma Marris.
18 February 2009
University publishers down but not out
Non-profit university presses still seeking science books.
10 February 2009
Conservationists complete the largest-ever eradication of an island-invasive mammal.
Nature online news, January 27, 2009
North American tree deaths accelerate
Mortality increase correlates with climate change.
Nature online news, January 22, 2009
Barack Obama's nominees for top federal positions are not speaking to the press until their appointments are confirmed, but they have spoken out before.
Nature, January 14, 2009 (Team reporting)
Ecosystem devastated after predators wiped out
Island rabbits boomed after the cats that controlled their numbers were shot.
Nature online news, January 13, 2009
US Environmental Protection Agency faces eleventh-hour shake-up
Scientists voice concerns as small-scale projects fall from favour.
Nature online news, December 19, 2008
This gallery showcases some of the year's most eye-catching science, from a close encounter with squid suckers that look like a carnivorous cartoon choir to mathematical forms given shape in purple yarn. It also recalls some of the biggest science news stories: the staggering devastation wrought by Hurricane Ike; a Nobel prize for putting a glowing protein to work; and the ongoing robotic exploration of Mars.
Nature, December 17, 2008. More beautiful as a pdf.
Canadian lab retracts work on abscisic acid
Nature, December 10, 2008
Biofuel potential spurs US consortium to map DNA of nutritious bean.
Nature online news, December 10, 2008
Five crop researchers who could change the world
The current crisis in worldwide food prices reinforces the need for more productive agriculture. Emma Marris meets five ambitious scientists determined to stop the world from going hungry.
Nature, December 3, 2008
Pre-emptive strike: outwitting extinction
A venerable conservation organization predicts how climate change will affect individual species. Will conservationists take pre-emptive action? Emma Marris reports.
Nature Reports: Climate Change, October 23, 2008
If you want to start an argument, ask the person who just said 'paradigm shift' what it really means. Or 'epigenetic'. Nature goes in search of the terms that get scientists most worked up.
Nature, October 22, 2008 (Team reporting)
Białowieza is one of the best-preserved woodlands in Europe. But is it a good reference point for
what Europe looked like 5,000 years ago? Emma Marris goes deep into the forest to find out.
Nature, September 2008
'Lucky' Louisiana unprepared for Gustav
Coastal restoration hit by hurricane
Nature, September 10, 2008
Old forests capture plenty of carbon
Planting a new tree may be a less effective way to sequester carbon than saving an old tree from the axe
Nature online news, September 10, 2008
Geologist David Rogers lambasted decision-makers after hurricane Katrina breached New Orleans' defences in 2005. As this year's hurricane season heats up, how much has changed?
Nature online news, September 3, 2008
Hurricane Gustav barrels ashore
Category-two storm hits the US Gulf Coast.
Nature online news, September 1, 2008
Experts who once disregarded it as a nutty idea are now working out the nuts and bolts of a conservation taboo: relocating species threatened by climate change. Emma Marris reports
Nature Reports: Climate Change, August 28, 2008
Cougar's movements betrayed by claw analysis
Stable isotope analysis helps to retrace animal's steps
Nature online news, August 9, 2008
Snails transmute to guard against danger
Changes in shell structure are induced by the presence of predators
Nature online news, August 8, 2008
Google tool identifies linchpin species
Search system predicts what prey are needed to keep an ecosystem working
Nature online news, August 6, 2008
Scientists identify algae that almost swamped the Olympics
Algal bloom may have been boosted by fertilizer run-off.
Nature online news, August 4, 2008.
A blog report of the Ecological Society of America conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 4 - 8, 2008
Electricity grids must cope with rising demand and complexity in a changing world. Emma Marris explores the intricacies involved in controlling the power supply
Nature, July 30, 2008
film review of Journey to the Center of the Earth for Nature, July 24, 2008
blog post on Nature’s The Great Beyond, July 22, 2008
film review of Sizzle for Nature, July 17, 2008
Radar data offer clues to turbine potential
Nature, July 16, 2008
Some researchers think that the evolution of languages can be understood by treating them like genomes — but many linguists don't want to hear about it. Emma Marris reports.
Nature, May 21, 2008
Warming world altering thousands of natural systems
Analysis shows effects of climate change on almost 30,000 biological and physical phenomena
Nature online news, May 14, 2008
film review for Nature, May 7, 2008
Deleting Dad's Huge Cache of Toxic Computer Equipment
Wired Magazine (May 2008)
Two blog posts (here and here) about watching prairie chicken lek in Missouri, April 25, 2008
Analytical technique shows how metabolism varies between populations -
Nature online news, April 18, 2008
The US proposes offshore drilling in endangered whales' summer haunt
Nature online news April 18, 2008
Chinese and English dyslexias stem from different brain abnormalities
Nature online news, April 7, 2008
Celluloid explores life of graduate student killer
film review for Nature, April 2, 2008
The Impossible Physics of Harry Potter
Physicist Michio Kaku explores the possibilities of invisibility cloaks, time travel, and other sci-fi wonders - book review for the Christian Science Monitor, April 1, 2008
A story about a researcher working on vaccines and monoclonal antibodies to combat methamphetamine addiction for Nature Medicine, April 1, 2008
St. Louis wants to become a hub of agricultural biotechnology. All it needs is more start-ups and funds - appeared both in Nature’s job section (March 5, 2008) and Nature Biotechnology (April 1, 2008)
How to print out a blood vessel
New work moves closer to the age of organs on demand
Nature online news, March 20, 2008
Farmers' yields in the developing world are often limited by unreliable rains. Improving their harvests will require plant breeders, agronomists and geneticists to pull together — but can these experts work out their differences?
Nature
, March 19, 2008
film review for Nature, March 19, 2008
How primates crossed continents
Oldest primate fossils in America suggest they came straight from Asia
Nature online news, March 3, 2008
Drug-resistant tuberculosis on the rise
Health officials had underestimated the problem, observers say
Nature online news, February 27, 2008
First chapter of book of life goes live
Online encyclopedia launches first data
Nature online news, February 26, 2008
Nitrogen pollution stomps on biodiversity
Long-term effects of low-level pollution may have been underestimated
Nature online news, February 6, 2008
Linguistic evolution is marked by "punctuational bursts"
Nature online news, January 31, 2008
film review for Nature, January 23, 2008
What does a natural stream look like?
The legacy of mill dams muddies the water for river restorers
Nature online news, January 17, 2008
Intelligence software tracks down wildlife smugglers
Conservation, January-March 2008
More and bigger fires are turning the taiga into a carbon source
Conservation, January-March 2008
Accustomed to adapting to nature’s whims, gardeners are more prepared than most to take on the challenge of climate change. Emma Marris asks them what to grow in a greenhouse world.
Nature December 2007
2007 Gallery: Images of the Year.
Many formulations of the scient
ific method begin with observations. And the images here are indeed exciting observations — new pictures from Earth and space that will serve as the starting points.
Nature, December 19, 2007 (More beautiful as a pdf)
The architecture of the buildings in which researchers work can have a crucial effect on the fruits of their labour, Emma Marris finds
Nature, November 28, 2007
Rising temperatures are changing mountain ecosystems as the heat forces some species upwards — until there is nowhere left to go. Emma Marris reports on the 'escalator effect', which is threatening species worldwide.
Nature Reports: Climate Change, November 23, 2007
book review for Nature, November 22, 2007
UN lowers estimate of world's infected by 6 million
Nature online news, November 21, 2007
Not all species can be saved from extinction. Emma Marris talks to
conservation biologists about prioritization and triage.
Nature, November 2007
Fish insomnia sheds light on sleep
Studies across species could reveal how sleep evolved
Nature online news, October 16, 2007
Studies link frequency of word use to how fast words evolve. - Nature online news, October 10, 2007
Tree resin makes a sticky trap underwater.
Nature online news, October 8, 2007
Amidst doubts, space research program takes flight
Nature Medicine, October 2007
Turning one lab's trash into another's treasure
Nature Medicine, October 2007
Straight talk from... Eva Harris
Nature Medicine, October 2007
Nature, September 20, 2007
Virus could be cause of disappearing bees
Study combs bees guts to investigate colony collapse disorder.
Nature online news, September 6, 2003
Biotech crop rules get rewrite
US regulations on genetically modified organisms under review.
Nature, September 6, 2007
60 million people in the Bay of Bengal may be at risk.
Nature online news, September 5, 2007
And some older features...
Elephant populations are soaring in some parts of Africa. Emma Marris discovers there's no single way to fit them in amid the people.
Nature, August 23, 2007
Why do chemists make compounds that could blow up in their faces? Emma Marris finds out... from a safe distance.
Nature, May 10, 2007
The US military is getting a lot of flak for the way it treats wounded soldiers returning from Iraq. Emma Marris reports on the advances in medical care that are helping to bring them home.
Nature, March 22, 2007
For some, species are simply the things you save; but for taxonomists, the concept is much more complex. Emma Marris asks whether Linnaeus's legacy is cut out for conservation.
Nature, March 15, 2007
2006 Gallery: Brilliant display
Nature, December 21, 2006. (More beautiful as a pdf)
Many scientists have nuanced views on animal research. But they are rarely heard, says Emma Marris.
Nature, December 14, 2006
Drink the best and drive the rest
Brazil's sugar-cane ethanol industry is the world's best and able to get better, says Emma Marris.
Nature, December 7, 2006
Is the cure for cancer lurking beneath the waves? Emma Marris plunges into the chemistry of marine natural products.
Nature, October 26, 2006
What drives environmental activists to fire-bomb laboratories? Emma Marris investigates a radical fringe of the US green movement.
Nature, October 4, 2006
A forthcoming case in the Supreme Court could push the United States towards regulating against global warming, says Emma Marris.
Nature, October 5, 2006
Emma Marris joins the enthusiasts who think that enriching Earth's soils with charcoal can help avert global warming, reduce the need for fertilizers, and greatly increase the size of turnips.
Nature, August 10, 2006
Wildlife caught in crossfire of US immigration battle
Crackdown on illegal border crossings puts endangered species at further risk.
Nature, July 27, 2006
Scientists say they gas mice and rats with carbon dioxide because it is humane. It's also simple, cheap and keeps their hands clean. Emma Marris analyses the final seconds of the lab rodents' life.
Nature, June 1, 2006
In a world of declining biodiversity, botanical gardens are coming into their own — both as storehouses of rare plants and skills, and increasingly as centres of molecular research. Emma Marris reports.
Nature, April 13, 2006
Should journals police scientific fraud?
Editors don't expect peer review to catch deliberate fakers. But recent scandals mean that journals are looking at other ways to detect fabricated papers. Emma Marris investigates.
Nature, February 2, 2006
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, coastal experts are trying to gauge the destruction to Louisiana's marshes. Emma Marris travels to the coast to learn what might be saved — and what might not.
December 15, 2005
The US government has adopted a tough approach to battling harmful exotic plants: specialist strike teams. But can they prevail? Emma Marris finds out it's not all black and white.
Nature, November 17, 2005
Everyone knows about the Amazon rainforest, but Brazil's tropical savannah is arguably under greater threat. Emma Marris visits a testing ground for future conservation strategies.
Nature, October 13, 2005
The friction that arises when a scientific society aims both to serve its members and stay commercially competitive is generating heat within the American Chemical Society. Emma Marris takes the society's temperature.
Nature, October 6, 2005
Cindy Lee Van Dover likes nothing better than to be on the ocean floor. Emma Marris meets the unconventional biologist who has devoted her life to studying the exotic ecosystems of the deep.
Nature, August 17, 2005
As spokesman for America's scientific élite, Ralph Cicerone will have to do some tough talking in Washington. Emma Marris asks him how he'll ensure that politicians will listen to the science.
Nature, July 28, 2005
The United States has a settled arrangement for distributing its research budget around the country, and the same states have dominated it for decades. But, as Emma Marris discovers in Florida, the have-nots have had enough.
Nature, March 3, 2005