Commentary

Scientists need to ensure that their results will be managed for the long haul. Maintaining data takes big organization, says Clifford Lynch.

Policies that predict and direct innovative research might seem to be a practical impossibility, says David H. Guston, but social sciences point to a solution.

The processes used to charge athletes with cheating are often based on flawed statistics and flawed logic, says Donald A. Berry.

The influenza vaccine failed this winter. Steven Salzberg suggests that future success relies on sharing data more widely and making the virus strain selection process more transparent.

Committing to a vaccine stockpile is just the beginning. Tadataka Yamada, Alice Dautry and Mark Walport offer a roadmap for heading off a global avian influenza catastrophe.

Pushes to globalize science must not threaten local innovations in developing countries, argues Lan Xue.

Researchers and businesspeople in China, expatriates and 'returnees' give their views of what it will take to make China a research and innovation powerhouse.

A survey of large objects near Earth has shown that there is little risk of a cataclysmic impact in the next century. Alan Harris asks if such cataloguing efforts should continue.

A survey suggests that many research misconduct incidents in the United States go unreported to the Office of Research Integrity. Sandra L. Titus, James A. Wells and Lawrence J. Rhoades say it's time to change that.

If Japan is to become a front-runner in pharmaceutical development, it must not only speed up its approval of new drugs, but also enhance its own research capabilities, argue Kaori Tsuji and Kiichiro Tsutani.

Fuelling innovation requires a different kind of collaboration between industrial and academic researchers, argues Bill Destler.

The United States and Australia have done away with this archaic practice. Peter Lawrence says it is time to end mandatory retirement worldwide.

Evolutionary theory, study and knowledge moved on dramatically in the latter half of the twentieth century, but school teaching, curricula and teacher training are still in the primeval soup era, says Andrew Moore.

International testing that is used to predict the grim future of US science and technology is being vastly misinterpreted, say Hal Salzman and Lindsay Lowell.

Science funding in the European Union needs to be revised to better serve economic, social and environmental goals, Luke Georghiou argues.

The rise in cross-border collaborations is making it more difficult to police misconduct. Christine Boesz and Nigel Lloyd argue for a framework to examine allegations and hold researchers accountable.

How big is the energy challenge of climate change? The technological advances needed to stabilize carbon-dioxide emissions may be greater than we think, argue Roger Pielke Jr, Tom Wigley and Christopher Green.

Global energy consumption is expected to grow by 50% by 2030, squeezing already scarce water resources. Mike Hightower and Suzanne A. Pierce recommend ways to integrate water and energy planning.

For years the global malaria effort has been asking for more resources. Now the field needs to figure out a systematic strategy for spending the money effectively, says Mark Grabowsky.

Are scientists publishing more duplicate papers? An automated search of seven million biomedical abstracts suggests that they are, report Mounir Errami and Harold Garner.