Dead Reckoning

Bioarchaeologists recently identified a murdered medieval royal. Now, they are trying to shed light on other ancient deaths.

Why Do Research Institutes Often Look the Same?

Samuel Arbesman

Despite attempts at variation, many new research organizations are canalized into just a handful of forms.

Editor's Note: Issue 09

A look inside Issue 09.

Metaphors for Biology: Time

A series of quantitative metaphors on the speeds of common events in molecular biology.

Inventing the Methods Section

What the evolution of scientific methods says about their future.

How Nature Became a 'Prestige' Journal

Since launching in 1869, Nature has evolved from a periodical offering commentary on pigeons to the prestige journal in science. But how did Nature build its reputation, and can it last?

Clinic-in-the-Loop

Clinical trials are engines for scientific discovery. Better drugs require not just more trials, but also improved data collection, to create therapeutic feedback loops.