Fear and laughter in the Kremlin: Soviet strategists dismissed Star Wars as technical nonsense, but they knew it could undermine delicate negotiations to control the spread of nuclear weapons
Features
This week's magazine
On the cover
Editor's picks
The man who promised the earth: James Ionson set out to persuade the world that the biggest ever military research project would deliver enormous commercial benefits. He now admits he was exaggerating
Features
Blinded by the light: Because lasers were at the heart of the plan to build an impregnable shield for the planet, billions of dollars were thrown at the technology over a short period. Could that windfall have been better spent?
Features
What's harder than diamond?: Burgeoning research effortsshow that the potential rewards for making a 'superhard' substance are huge- but attempts to win carbon's crown have met some setbacks
Features
Table of contents
News
Science and Fiction: In pursuit of the modern
News
Science and Fiction: The world turned upside down
News
Science and Fiction: Science in the realm of the imagination
News
Science and Fiction: Moved by the mountains
News
Science and Fiction: Plain words please
News
Science and Fiction: Escape from the laws of physics
News
Technology
Technology: Toxin test finds needle in the haystack
News
Technology
Technology: Clearer recordings make up for lost time
News
Technology
Technology: Things that go ping in the night
News
Technology
Technology: Photocopier maker seeks a place in the sun
News
Technology
Technology: Old-fashioned film rescues TV of the future
News
Technology
Technology: Replacement parts ready for juddering Hubble
News
Tiny spider
News
Bio boost
News
Library at a loss
News
Early casualties of a sporting life: Thoroughbred racehorsesare pampered aristocrats of the equine world. But many have their careerscut short by injuries that some say are caused by pushing them too hardtoosoon
News
Science: Sun-like star may have embryo solar system
News
Science: 'Living fossil' comes out of its shell
News
Science: The amphibious past of whales
News
Science: Galileo lends weight to Einstein's theory of gravity
News
Science: Fire and water: a recipe for ball lightning
News
Accountants should not run British industry
News
Will cash cutbacks spell the end for Freedom?
News
Remote diagnosis for wounded GIs
News
France revamps its space agency
News
Publish damning report, say bosses
News
Optimism over CF gene therapy
News
Dam threatens last of Spain's brown bears
News
Gulf fisheries still suffering in wake of war
News
Plagues of crows plunder 'green' Dutch meadows
News
Activists push through overhaul of AIDS research
News
Water companies' leaky argument for reservoirs
News
Pueblo Indians insist on right to clean river
News
Fish out of water
News
Money for dumps
News
Lease of life for medieval meadows
News
Early birds
News
Euthanasia forum
News
Secret samples reveal truth about anthrax
News
New York's TB patients to be locked up until cured
News
End to BSE epidemic 'just over the horizon'
News
Opinion
Features
Fear and laughter in the Kremlin: Soviet strategists dismissed Star Wars as technical nonsense, but they knew it could undermine delicate negotiations to control the spread of nuclear weapons
Features
The man who promised the earth: James Ionson set out to persuade the world that the biggest ever military research project would deliver enormous commercial benefits. He now admits he was exaggerating
Features
Blinded by the light: Because lasers were at the heart of the plan to build an impregnable shield for the planet, billions of dollars were thrown at the technology over a short period. Could that windfall have been better spent?
Features
What's harder than diamond?: Burgeoning research effortsshow that the potential rewards for making a 'superhard' substance are huge- but attempts to win carbon's crown have met some setbacks
Features
More
Thistle Diary: Shaking the Treasury's green tree - Comment from Westminster by Tam Dalyell
Forum
Forum: Lynx with the past in the Black Forest - Restoring the predator to its original territory will be good for the ecosystem says James Mustoe
Forum
Forum: Manufacturing the right stuff for industry - Nicholas Russell heralds a new vocational qualification preparing young scientists for industry
Forum
