| Title | | 1 |
| Editorial | | 3 |
| Content | | 4 |
| Humour | Paul the Postdoc | 6 |
| News | "Picture of the issue / Haematology papers retracted / Recently awarded / Less bureaucracy
for EU programmes / New ERC funding scheme /Mixer cells break rules of embryogenesis" | 6 |
| Opinion | Research letter from ... Italy: Fat Birds Fly On Faster | 12 |
| Opinion | Observations of The Owl (24): Why Not Grow Bigger? | 14 |
| Humour | The other dictionary (4) | 15 |
| Analysis | Sex Bias - Does medication have different effects on female and male organisms? | 16 |
| Analysis | Synthetic Life - A bacterial cell controlled by a chemically synthesized genome. Is that already synthetic life? | 20 |
| Analysis | Interview - Jennifer Rohn reveals why lab life, science and fiction are her inspiration | 24 |
| Journal Club | Barcelona/Spain - The protein (sequence) space is expanding like the universe | 30 |
| Journal Club | Nijmegen/Netherlands - A new microbial pathway to produce oxygen from nitrate | 32 |
| Journal Club | Madrid/Spain - A novel key mechanism in cortical development | 34 |
| Analysis | Career strategies for young European scientists (XXIII) - Funding opportunities in Norway − where research is gradually becoming a priority | 36 |
| Humour | One fine day in the lab (19) | 41 |
| Publication Statistics | Urology research in Europe | 42 |
| Publication Statistics | Don’t be misled by citation figures! (22): Lucky Outliers | 45 |
| Biobiz | "World’s largest patent offices enhance collaboration / Lithuania’s Fermentas acquired /
Wellcome Trust extends drug discovery funding
" | 46 |
| Biobiz | German venture capital firm focuses on later stage European health care companies | 47 |
| Biobiz | "Next-generation sequencing - While several manufacturers launch price cutting sequencing systems, former 454 protagonist
Jonathan Rothberg is announcing his own solution" | 48 |
| Biobiz | Close by Glide Pharma (Abingdon, UK) - A needle-free injection technology brings hope for half-hearted patients | 50 |
| Biobiz | Personal genomics - Direct-to-consumer tests face growing attention by public health agencies | 53 |
| Products | "Product survey: Mechanical Pipettes
" | 54 |
| Methods | Bench philosophy (25): Communicating science | 60 |
| Methods | Tips and tricks of the trade: Effective lipofection | 62 |
| Products | Michael Ruse and Joseph Travis (Eds.): Evolution. The First Four Billion Years | 63 |
| Products | New products | 64 |
| Humour | Cartoon: Superdoc (19) | 74 |
