Scientists who have joined the brain drain and moved to the United States from developing countries are undertaking a variety of activities to improve science in their native countries.

Reaching out to colleagues back home is on the increase, says Adrian Cho, writing in Science. And collaborations are becoming increasingly formal and ambitious. They include new joint research institutes, international training programmes and weekly transmissions of seminars from the United States to China via video teleconferencing.

Cho describes the range of ways that foreign scientists based in the United States are actively feeding back into science in countries in Africa and Asia. All agree that this reverse flow of expertise requires time, commitment and sacrifice. But they are united by a desire to repay the countries that gave them their start in life.

Link to full feature in Science

Reference: Science 304, 1286 (2004)