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Seed treaty: securing the future for agiculture

The international treaty on plant genetic resources needs a gesture of trust to repair the atmosphere of suspicion that has developed, argues Emile Frison from the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute.

Swiss spin-off looks to develop radiation detector

A spin off from ETH-Zürich has devised a new generation of detection equipment that could help in the fight against terrorism. The company is now seeking investment and possible partnerships to take the technology to a commercial level.

A web site with baffling links

For a bunch of IT experts, the EU's IST World has come up with a baffling web site, especially when the idea is to make life easy for beginners.

Patenting goes the offshore route

Indian firms are training large numbers of patent agents - with their eye on the large number of companies abroad looking for cheaper patenting.

Open source in biotechnology: Return to the origin?

Biology Information Open Source's promoter, Richard Jefferson, asserts that BIOS is explicitly modelled after the Open Source initiative in software. But science is grounded in open exchange and the sharing of information, so what is the point of BIOS and other initiatives such as Science Commons?