Opinion

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• • Featured article:Why we should love logarithms - Premium content

    The tendency of 'uneducated' people to compress the number scale for big numbers is actually an admirable way of measuring the world, says Philip Ball.

    29 May 2008

• • Columns from Nature News
    Personal opinions from our columnists.
  • Editorials from Nature
    The journal's opinions.
  • Commentary from Nature
    Views from the scientific community.

Columns

• Our columnists dig their teeth into everything from US politics to global warming on Pluto. Read their personal opinions - and let us know what you think. Click on an author's name to find more of their writing.

• Most recent

  • Crime and punishment in the lab - Premium content

    Before we ask whether scientific misconduct is dealt with harshly enough, says Philip Ball, we need to be clear about what punishment is meant to achieve.

    08 August 2008

  • Financial planning - Premium content

    An impasse over the budget and the impending presidential election mean that US science spending will likely be frozen for months, David Goldston reports.

    06 August 2008

  • Is religion good for your health? - Premium content

    Religion arose to protect us from disease, US researchers claim. Philip Ball unpicks the idea.

    01 August 2008

  Most commented

  • Is religion good for your health? - Premium content

    Religion arose to protect us from disease, US researchers claim. Philip Ball unpicks the idea.

    Fri Aug 01 17:00:27 EDT 2008

  • Who says the Internet broadens your horizons? - Premium content

    Online access to scientific journals can be a mixed blessing, as Philip Ball finds out.

    Thu Jul 17 18:00:00 EDT 2008

  • Why we should love logarithms - Premium content

    The tendency of 'uneducated' people to compress the number scale for big numbers is actually an admirable way of measuring the world, says Philip Ball.

    Thu May 29 18:00:00 EDT 2008

  • The scientist delusion - Premium content

    Religious resistance to science is often exaggerated, but fresh problems may lie ahead, says David Goldston.

    Wed Mar 05 00:00:00 EST 2008

  • Behind the mask of the LHC - Premium content

    The physics that the Large Hadron Collider will explore has tentative philosophical foundations. But that#25;s a good thing, says Philip Ball.

    Thu Jul 03 17:18:18 EDT 2008

  We recommend

  • Read some of the classic columns from the archive of Nature News.

    • Bring on the money - Premium content

      Selling space trips and adverts may be the brightest way to keep the space station afloat, suggests Mark Peplow.

      30 September 2005

    • Murder most mysterious - Premium content

      The death of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko has highlighted how long it can take to diagnose a poison. Nicola Jones asks how hard can it be?

      27 November 2006

    • Waiting for ET - Premium content

      Rumours of contact with aliens have been exaggerated (again). Philip Ball asks whether the search for extraterrestrials does anything but fuel paranoia.

      06 September 2004

  • • More columns

Editorials and commentary from Nature

• 20 August 2008
  Opinion pieces from the latest issue of Nature. You will need a subscription to Nature (rather than Nature News) to access some of this content.

• Editorials from the latest issue

  • Opinion from Nature's Editor in Chief and the editorial team, as published in the front of the journal each week. Get clear views on matters of importance to the science community. Go to the Nature editorials

    • A chorus of disapproval

      31 July 2008

    • The greener grid

      31 July 2008

    • Europe's science forum

      31 July 2008

  Most recent commentaries

  • Commentaries are opinion articles that offer stimulating and timely perspectives on issues of international concern to both the scientific community and wider public. These articles are journalistic and persuasive, and are intended to stimulate reader reactions. Commentaries are often critical or controversial, but they also make specific practical proposals to move the debate forward

    • China: The prizes and pitfalls of progress - Premium content

      24 July 2008

    • China: In their words - Premium content

      24 July 2008

    • The contents of the syringe - Premium content

      10 July 2008