By Stephen Goldstein, University of Pennsylvania

By Michal Schwartz, Weizmann Institute of Science; Aleksandra Deczkowska, Weizmann Institute of Science, and Kuti Baruch, Weizmann Institute of Science

By Lydia Le Page, University of Edinburgh

The 3rd annual John Maddox Prize has been awarded to Emily Willingham, a science writer in the US, and David Robert Grimes, a physicist at the University of Oxford, in recognition of their work in the face of public hostility.

By Richard Kock, Royal Veterinary College

The still growing Ebola virus outbreak not only highlights the tragedy enveloping the areas most affected but also offers a commentary on they way in which the political ecology in West Africa allowed this disease to become established.

By Baden Eunson, Monash University

Recently, the Danish Toymaker Lego announced its plans for a reality TV show to be launched in 2015, rumored to be based on the idea of Master Builders, the top “construction workers” in the insanely successful Lego Movie earlier this year.

By David Spencer, University of Leeds

It’s that time of year again – when academic economics, thanks to the Nobel Prize announcements, is thrust into the public gaze.