Science

Who is the man who will take the top job in UK science?

Duke University’s Valerie Ashby says institutions must be more ‘intentional’ about finding ethnic minority PhD candidates

The inventor of the fuel cell deserves a biography, but more detail of his work and his life would be welcome, says Richard Joyner

Universities cannot wash their hands of responsibility for who is booked to speak on their premises, says Michael Marshall

Charity says Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford is ‘naive’ to hire out its premises for event

Latest Hesa data throw spotlight on disciplines most at risk from flight of EU talent from UK 

Book of the week: Richard Joyner on a proselytiser for science who emphasised the ethical issues of advancement

Neuroscientists argue proposal would improve reproducibility and get drugs to market more quickly

Researchers on large-scale projects would receive less credit under proposed scheme

Study finds a stronger correlation for women between success and being central to a network 

Thousands of France’s most educated minds are now based abroad – luring them back could be a boon for its ambitious plans for higher education, Jack Grove writes

Charity commits more than £70 million to research projects that approach ambitious, unresolved challenges in cancer research

Images of two beasts carried ideas about science and communication, says Simon Underdown

Polyamory could shed light on whether love is mainly biological or social, says Jane O’Grady

More than 198,000 people have signed a petition in support of Ahmadreza Djalali

Editors of journals should face ‘negligence’ investigations over extensive delays, suggests a new paper

Poor monitoring in ‘second-tier’ institutions is also part of the problem, research indicates

University of East Anglia chief says scholars cannot assume that their research findings are ‘self-evident’

The new CEO of UKRI, Sir Mark Walport, says a shake-up of UK research funding is needed if the country is to remain internationally competitive

A study explores how individual instances shape universal truths across subjects, says Janet Sayers

Look at the data. The truth is out there, but all must face what they find, says Shane O’Mara

Novo Nordisk to invest £115 million in University of Oxford centre despite Brexit

Only diligence and vigilance can keep us ahead of microorganisms that make us ill, Helen Bynum says

A subterranaut burrows beneath ice and sand in search of hidden depths, writes Lewis Dartnell

Book of the week: Tara Shears enjoys a gossipy tale of the booms and busts involved in collaborative frontier science

Helen Bynum on a multilayered tale of an illness’ history that takes in art, science and more

Bid to test key cancer findings uses a strict method to avoid bias, but this means some outcomes have proved inconclusive

Cait MacPhee on a gallop through the history of the universe, the planets, life on Earth and more

Dame Ann Dowling’s report called public support for collaboration ‘excessively complex’

Jack Grove asks whether Father Christmas could learn from recent ‘Santa studies’ research

Large-scale study at a top Danish university reveals mismatch between student and teacher expectations around learning

Biochemist named in analysis of US highly cited papers claims it is not his main contribution to science

An expert’s personal guide helps Helen Bynum to get better acquainted with the fascinating ubiquitous microorganisms that live on and in us

Book of the week: The scrutiny to which two intellectuals submit their relationship fascinates Shahidha Bari

New report tracks the trends in joint publications and student mobility

Universities warn parliamentary inquiry that Brexit vote already deterring staff and students from coming to UK

As we cannot cut the cords tethering us to tech, we must fully grasp the connection, says John Gilbey

A study focused on Singapore’s Biopolis centre concentrates on various global ‘currents’ in bioscience, says Flora Samuel

From atoll to reef, a coleopterist fears we may not know what we’ve got until it’s gone, says Jules Pretty

A biologist who spent 10 years in the African sun seeking to explain the wild horse’s pelage is in a class of his own, says Tim Birkhead

Landmark exhibition explained the significance of university research to the public

UK universities can now ‘feel confident’ in recruiting postgraduate students for 2017-18, says RCUK chair

Are our mental faculties really too unevolved to keep us afloat in an ocean of digital distraction? asks Shane O’Mara

Five top European academics offer advice on how to mentor, manage and expand a research team

US study finds biomedical PhDs from certain ethnic minorities are less likely to understand the ‘hidden’ rules of succeeding in science

The Universities Superannuation Scheme’s stake in former cluster bomb manufacturer Textron is an inappropriate use of savings, campaigners say

Momentum is building for fossil fuel divestment in UK and US universities, while American institutions are cutting ties with ‘racist’ private prisons industry

Book of the week: A study of our leviathan appetite for seafood dares to go deep and recovers pearls, says Philip Hoare

Tristan Bekinschtein lauds a Nobel laureate’s fusion of art interpretation and analysis with the internal mechanisms by which we see works of art

President of VU Amsterdam says it is not enough for institutions merely to say they are valuable

Lengthy titles of journal papers are a turn-off for fellow academics and lead to fewer citations, claims new analysis 

Do mobile phones give you brain tumours? Don’t ask the people in white lab coats, says Jennifer Rohn

London as an eco-village? Treehouses in Accra? Danny Dorling lauds beautiful and bold what-ifs

‘Irreversible’ damage to UK science from a hard Brexit will eclipse any harm caused in the US by a Trump presidency, says new Nobel laureate

Lecturers have long been accused of indoctrinating students with their liberal views, and the grade-obsessed students of today feel the same way, say Will Grant and Darren Linvill

Make appointing a chief scientific adviser on the EU ‘a priority’, Westminster committee tells the government

The next US president’s scorn for American research bodies and his anti-climate change stance has worried many scientists

More researchers are inventing fake peer reviewers to get their work published, analysis suggests

Book of the week: New sources yield fresh insights and oversights by the father of psychoanalysis, says Janet Sayers

Marcus Chown on a deeply political study that explains why inequality exists and that while ending it will not be easy, it is not impossible