Public engagement should be an integral part of research, not an unpaid hobby, which is why the Wellcome Trust has decided to invest £4.5m a year in it.

Why must female scientists be portrayed as young white women in white coats with pen holders, wearing black-rimmed glasses which, when removed, reveal Julia Roberts?

Fury is the word the minister of science and technology used on the weekend to describe his feelings about the misappropriation of scientific research funds.

Following Nature's Future of Publishing special issue this spring, Science has just published a similar series of articles. Needless to say, there is a definite ideological bent to the articles included in both and more misleading information about open access.

Scientists' work follows a consistent pattern. They apply for grants, perform their research, and publish the results in a journal. The process is so routine it almost seems inevitable. But what if it's not the best way to do science?

Leonid Gokhberg and Dirk Meissner compare accounts on the trajectory of innovation in two towering economies.

Leiharbeiter mit Staatsexamen, Ingenieure in der Spülküche: Selbst Akademiker können arbeitslos werden - und zwar schneller, als sie ahnen. Wer einmal gezwungen ist, sich unter seiner Qualifikation zu verkaufen, sitzt in der Falle.

Schon mancher Wissenschaftler ist an der politischen Praxis gescheitert. Andere fühlen sich dort wohl. Auch diesmal haben wieder einige Akademiker den Sprung gewagt.

Social science may be faring better politically in UK than US, says Ziyad Marar.

So you think you love science, do you? What does that mean to you, exactly? For most people, I'm guessing it means something like data, and like countless "Principal Investigators" of the science world, you're confusing data with science.

Marie and Pierre Curie, Watson and Crick, Brin and Page. Collaboration pays, so funding agencies are promoting team research. At the same time, fields that demand multidisciplinary cooperation such as translational medicine, climate science, and systems biology are on the rise.

Physicists and engineers must do more than peddle ideas if their technologies are to translate effectively beyond the lab, says Hans Zappe.

I've heard that we should stop talking about "pure" science and "applied" science; that we should only be talking about "good" science and "bad" science. Last year, CSIRO Chief Executive Megan Clark said as much during question time at her National Press Club address, and this year I heard it recommended again at the Universities Australia Conference.

More government cash is the only way to cut student costs, argue Rudy Fichtenbaum and Hank Reichman

A leading sociologist has attacked the application of so-called "'evidence'-based policy" - and much of the research lying behind it - to education

The increasing concern about unreliability in scientific literature is a problem for people like me - I am the science adviser to DEFRA, the UK government department for environment, food and rural affairs. To counsel politicians, I must recognize systematic bias in research.