91Èȱ¬

Ecstasy: The A to B of drugs
This week the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs published a report on the classification of MDMA, better known as ecstasy. It recommended that the drug be downgraded from class A to class B, but the 91Èȱ¬ Office has rejected this reclassification. Drug researcher, Professor Valerie Curran explains the difficulties of assessing drug damage to the brain and how long term effects are problematic to interpret.

Origins and Futures: Science in the United States
The 12th of February sees the opening of the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This year there is something distinctive about the meeting. It is taking place after the election of a new presidency. President Obama has repeatedly put science at the centre of his administration, but what will this actually mean? Alan Leshner, chief executive of the AAAS predicts the changes.

Calculating Love
Valentine’s day, the day of the year when a young man’s fancy turns to…well, maths. At least that’s what one mathematician wishes to argue. Professor Marcus du Sautoy calculates the best way to find love.

Galileo Galilei’s Telescope
2009 is the international year of astronomy. What better way to mark it than taking a look back to Galilelo Galilei, who discovered the moons of Jupiter. Roland Pease has been to Florence to see some of the instruments through which Galileo peered before reaching his revolutionary conclusions.