Vacuum gleaning
It may be empty space but it's full of promise for the future of fundamental physics and cosmology - if only we can crack how much energy it contains, says Steven Weinberg. The energy of empty space...
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All our worldly good..
Is globalisation, the ideal before us for a just society, the new face of racism, asks Nadine Gordimer. Many communities in the world, and many individuals outside but humanly concerned about such...
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A purpose in the past
The child of a mixed marriage, Günter Grass argues that his Polish-Slav and German roots may have had an impact on his development as a writer. My mother was of Kaschubian origin, my father a German...
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Hungry for solid solutions
The greatest prize for humanity would be an end to poverty but there is no easy answer, writes James Mirrlees. Fifty years ago, health, peace and poverty reduction were the world's priorities, but...
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Truth, unlike a meal, can be hard to swallow
More animals are eaten at the average conference dinner than were used in experiments that resulted in drugs that saved millions of people's lives. John Vane urges us to put vivisection into...
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Blueprint for a new age
The decoding of the human genome has helped to deliver the molecular motors that will drive the technologies of the future, writes John Walker. The decoding of the human genome is an enormous...
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Cosmology and a matter outstanding
Over the past half century, the origins of the universe have begun to unfold. But Antony Hewish argues that there are still many questions left unanswered. Amazing progress has been made during the...
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Only 2% of Nobel science prizes have been awarded to women
In the past, female researchers were often dismissed as the 'brawn behind the brains' in teams of scientists, leaving men to take the credit, yet a few women managed to beat the odds to make their...
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Wonders of the Nobel world
Herb Kroemer and Sherwood Rowland select seven of their Nobel and near-Nobel favourites. Max Planck, physics, 1918, and Albert Einstein, physics, 1921 Being a physicist, I naturally think first about...
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Monday: a science lecture at Stanford. Tuesday: Japan. Wednesday: Hong Kong for an honorary degree...
'Back to Japan for more engagements and a lecture on Saturday. Monday: back to the UK for funding council meetings and then off to Poland for two lectures. Today, Wednesday, is the first time I have...
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The green eyes on the big prize
Lobbying to win a Nobel is unseemly and no guarantee of success, but that has not stopped many laureates and prospective laureates from trying. In 1995, the Nobel prizes' facade of Olympian...
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The Nobel? It's all about learning to say 'no'
How does life change after the announcement of a Nobel prize? Paul Nurse, one of this year's laureates, describes the whirlwind I had more than 1,000 emails in the couple of weeks after the...
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Science makes sense, but let's abandon peace
If Nobel prizes are really so important, why do they fail to acknowledge so much cutting-edge research? If physics, chemistry, medicine or physiology is your discipline, fine. You are in with a...
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95 years - it's a cruise
Eating blowfish, driving lessons around Trafalgar Square and improving teacher training in universities. Cherry Canovan speaks to educationist Roy Niblett about his memoirs Ninety-five years is a...
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If only quality assurance were this sexy
From Indiana Jones and his whip to Kate Winslet's revealing portrayal of Iris Murdoch, academia on the screen seems more about libido than lecturing. Adrian Mourby lists his top ten lusty dons. Most...