Meet genetics' master chefs: All cells contain the same genetic information. So what makes a hair cell hairy or a bone cell bony? Features
Britain's abandoned empire: Britain's attitude to its far flung island territories should prove deeply embarrassing for ministers attending a special UN meeting on conservation next week Features
Technology Technology: More trouble at the US patent office The standing of the US Patent and Trademark Office has been rocked for the second time in a month. It has revoked a basic patent on video tape recording technology it had granted to Eastman Kodak. This will freeze a patent infringement action which Kodak had filed against Sony as a test case before seeking … News
STOP software speed trap ahead: Will patents on software bring progress on America's information superhighway to a standstill News
A battle of networks USERS OF AARNet, the Australian computer network for academic research, are far from happy. A petition began circulating around the network this week strongly protesting against the planned introduction of a user-pays system for AARNet. According to the petition, ff the new schedule of charges goes ahead far less people will be able to use … Opinion
Drilling for a past climate: Important clues about the Earth's past and future climate lie just a few metres below the surface Features
Meet genetics' master chefs: All cells contain the same genetic information. So what makes a hair cell hairy or a bone cell bony? Features
Britain's abandoned empire: Britain's attitude to its far flung island territories should prove deeply embarrassing for ministers attending a special UN meeting on conservation next week Features
Thistle Diary: More trouble down the pits - Tam Dalyell pours cold water on empty collieries It's a comment on our times that one of the main environmental concerns about Britain's deep-mined coal industry relates to flood water from abandoned mines, rather than the social devastation that follows their closure, or the drastic depletion of local rivers as mines become flooded. The guts of the matter is that in many districts … Forum
Forum: Chaos reigns whenever it pours - William Burroughs laments the passing of old-time seasonal climate patterns Forum
Forum: Can whalers be trusted to save the whales? - Vassili Papastavrou assesses the obstacles facing a proposed Southern Ocean sanctuary Forum
Feedback As readers will have noticed, Feedback shamelessly raids other scientific journals for stories we feel deserve wider dissemination and that we're too lazy to research ourselves. An unexpectedly good source is The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, with its lively 'In brief' section. The current issue has two items we thought you would like to … Regulars