Image courtesy of J. W. Lichtman, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, Missouri, USA.

● In search of the lost cord: solving the mystery of spinal cord regeneration. Goldberg, J. L. Nature Medicine December (2001). Nature Medicine. A review of the book by Luba Vikhanski on progress towards an effective therapy for spinal cord injury.

● How mice make their mark. Brennan, P. Nature 6 December (2001). Nature. A News and Views article on the use of odour cues by mice to distinguish between individuals.

● Rat genetics: attaching physiology and pharmacology to the genome. Jacob, H. J. & Kwitek, A. E. Nature Reviews Genetics January (2001). Nature Reviews Genetics.

● α-Synuclein and cytosolic dopamine: stabilizing a bad situation. Sulzer, D. Nature Medicine December 2001 Nature Medicine. A News and Views article on the finding that α-synuclein interacts with cytosolic dopamine to stabilize an intermediate of fibril formation in Parkinson's disease.

● Stem cells with brainpower. Studer, L. Nature Biotechnology December (2001). Nature Biotechnology. A News and Views article on the in vitro differentiation of transplantable neural precursors from human embryonic stem cells.

● Neuroinflammatory mechanisms in Alzheimer's disease: basic and clinical research. Van Gool, P. Nature Cell Biology December (2001) Nature Cell Biology. A review of the book by Joseph Rodgers on the contribution of inflammatory reactions to Alzheimer's disease.

●Myosin-VIIa and transduction channel tension. Gillespie, P. G. Nature Neuroscience January (2002) Nature Neuroscience.

● Neural correlates of human memory. Fletcher, P. Nature Neuroscience January (2002) Nature Neuroscience.

● Exocytosis with a snap. Gregory, F. D. & Schweizer, F. E. Nature Neuroscience January (2002) Nature Neuroscience. A News and Views article on the generation of SNAP-25 knockout mice.

● Making room for new memories. Rosenzweig, E. S., Barnes, C. A. & McNaughton, B. L. Nature Neuroscience January (2002) Nature Neuroscience. A News and Views article on the observation that active processes mediate the decay of long-term depression.

● Strabismus comes into focus. Axelrod, J. D. Nature Cell Biology January (2001) Nature Cell Biology. A News and Views article on the function of a new transmembrane protein, Strabismus, which has been shown to antagonize Wnt signalling during early neural development in vertebrates.

● Inaugural issue. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery January (2002) Nature Reviews Drug Discovery.