Editorials in 2008

The Christmas bird count is a model to be emulated in distributed, volunteer science.

There are good reasons to be suspicious of metric-based research assessment.

The first scientific observations with telescopes displaced Earth from the centre of the Universe. Modern technology continues to humble us but should not distance us from the cosmos itself.

Could the United States topple Europe as the driver of international climate-change regulations?

Europe needs a better way to plan, prioritize and fund the next generation of research infrastructure.

Nature is pleased to name Lyn Evans, the project manager of the Large Hadron Collider, as its 2008 newsmaker of the year.

The world is sleepwalking into a surveillance society. A European court ruling offers a timely wake-up call.

The US military's human-terrain programme needs to be brought to a swift close.

Future missions to the red planet require coordination — and a keen eye on costs.

Europe is rightly pioneering the systematic appliance of science in space to societal needs.

An online row highlights the need for Chinese universities to fix their hiring policies.

Analyses of AIDS deaths attributable to misguided policies in South Africa carry lessons for scientific leaders.

The spirit of collaboration in the race to define the LHC's successor sets an example for large projects.

If the US government chooses to bail out the nation's vehicle manufacturers, it must ensure that the industry commits to the innovations required for future transportation.

Another protracted fight over genetically modified crops in Africa will be costly and wasteful.

In the changed political climate, US agencies can provide a new kind of leadership.

European scientists who support neuroscience research on primates should tell their politicians why.

This issue of Nature anticipates next year's bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of On The Origin of Species. We begin here with a look 50 years into the future.