●Chromatin history: our view from the bridge. Olins, D. E. & Olins, A. L. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology October (2003). In this Timeline article, the authors look at how the intertwining stories of histones and DNA are being rapidly unravelled at atomic resolution.

●The SAP and SLAM gene families in immune responses and in X-linked lymphoproliferative disease. Engel, P., Eck, M. J. & Terhorst, C. Nature Reviews Immunology October (2003)

●Who said 'helix'? Fuller, W. Nature 21 August 2003 The author of this Commentary looks at the role of Maurice Wilkins in the discovery of the structure of DNA.

●New tools for functional mammalian cancer genetics. Brummelkamp, T. R. & Bernards, R. Nature Reviews Cancer October (2003) This Perspective looks at how new tools will make it possible to identify innovative and new classes of anti-cancer drugs.

●Target discovery. Lindsay, M. A. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery October (2003)

●Neural crest specification: migrating into genomics. Gammill, L. S. & Bronner-Fraser, M. Nature Reviews Neuroscience October (2003) The authors of this Review consider how new genomic approaches in chick, zebrafish and Xenopus might hold the key to discovering what defines the pool of cells with neural crest potential, and why only some of these cells become migratory.

●Gene regulation: RNA to the rescue? Check, E. Nature 4 September 2003 A News Feature on RNA interference as a therapy for disease.

●Alu: a parasite's parasite? Schmid, C. W. Nature Genetics September (2003) A News and Views article discussing new work that shows that the amplification of Alu elements is driven by LINE repeats.

●Nature Reviews Microbiology October (2003) The first issue of the latest Nature Reviews journal to be launched is now available in print and online at http://www.nature.com/nrmicro.

●The yersiniae — a model genus to study the rapid evolution of bacterial pathogens. Wren, B. W. In this Review, the author discusses how whole-genome sequence data is shedding light on how closely related Yersinia can cause very different diseases, whereas more distantly related Yersinia can cause similar diseases.

●Cleaning up with genomics: applying molecular biology to bioremediation. Lovley, D. R.