●ERM proteins and merlin: integrators at the cell cortex.Bretscher, A., Edwards, K. & Fehon, R. G. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology August (2002). A fundamental property of many plasma-membrane proteins is their association with the underlying cytoskeleton to determine cell shape and to participate in adhesion, motility and other processes, including endocytosis and exocytosis. This review discusses the role of the ezrin–radixin–moesin (ERM) proteins in linking membrane proteins and the cortical cytoskeleton, and their involvement in signal-transduction pathways.

●Asthma: an epidemic of dysregulated immunity. Umetsu, D., McIntyre, J., Akbari, O., Macaubas, C. & DeKruyff, R. Nature Immunology August (2002)

●Eat up your vaccine. Powell, K. Nature Science Update 22 July (2002)

●Complement in glomerulonephritis. Welch, T. R. Nature Genetics August (2002)

This article discusses recent evidence that uncontrolled complement activation can lead to kidney pathology.

●Signal transduction and endocytosis: close encounters of many kinds. Sorkin, A. & von Zastrow, M. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology August (2002)

●Advice to governments: scientific give and take. van Heyningen, V. & Cox, D. R. Nature Reviews Genetics August (2002) Governments rightly seek advice on how evolving genetic knowledge should influence public policy, and clearly, scientists should participate in this process. But, how does the system work?

●Polio made from scratch. Clarke, T. Nature Science Update 12 July (2002)

●Kinase and phosphatase anchoring proteins: harnessing the dynamic duo. Scott, J. & Bauman, A. Nature Cell Biology August (2002)

●Shc: a dominant player after ten seasons. Palmer, E. Nature Immunology August (2002) This News and Views article discusses recent work showing that the adaptor protein Shc has a non-redundant role in thymic T-cell development.