JUST LAUNCHED: Energy and Fuels - our new high-octane special report
Cheap energy is a linchpin of industry and civilisation, but a crisis is looming. Read the latest, plus our Instant Expert, A-to-Z of fuels and more...

Storm surges threaten US economic heartlands
The risk of inundation hangs over the north-east coast, yet little is being done to prepare - can the authorities be persuaded to act before it's too late?

Letting babies cry will only end in more tears
Parents of bawling newborns take note: comforting them may work better than leaving them to cry - at least during the first few weeks of life

The code that keeps your fingerprints secure
Thieves may soon have a much tougher time stealing your digital identity, thanks to a new way of storing fingerprints, iris scans and facial images

Chocolate generates electrical power
Mmm, chocolate - is there nothing it can't do? Microbiologists fed sugar-loving bacteria chocolate factory waste and the results were electrifying

'Alien code' leads to faster vaccines
The scientists who worried the world by making the polio virus from scratch direct their technique to speed the development of new vaccines

Wild birds 'partly' to blame for bird flu spread
They have helped transmit the deadly H5N1 strain across Eurasia, a major UN meeting agrees - but shooting wild birds could make things worse

Why water freezes faster after heating
A common chemical process may explain a bizarre property of water that has been a mystery since the time of Aristotle

Invention: Mile-high showers
This week's patents include a way to join the mile-high shower club, a cunning camera inspired by our darting eyes, and how to spot risky arterial plaques

Did Saturn's volcanic moon roll with it?
Enceladus may have tilted to stabilise itself after warm ice or rock welled up beneath the surface and ended up spewing from its south pole

Radar satellite maps the sinking of New Orleans
The new map provides the most detailed picture yet of the city's subsidence - it could help the engineers rebuilding the city avoid the faster-sinking areas

Satellite could open door on extra dimension
An exotic theory which predicts thousands of black holes exist in our solar system could be tested by NASA's gamma-ray-detecting space telescope, launching in 2007

Carbon nanotubes pinned down at last
A new technique fixes nanotubes exactly where needed for tiny transistors, helping remove a key hurdle to the development of nanotube-based electronics

Heart may be home to its own stem cells
A US team discovers the "home" of stem cells in the heart, lending credence to the idea that the heart has the capacity to repair itself

AND FINALLY ...
This week's Feedback column features DVDs with 15 minutes of annoying extras, revisits the secret genesis of teaspoons, and is asked out on a non-existent date...MORE