Reviews
Ball, E. E., Hayward, D. C., Saint, R. & Miller, D. J. A simple plan - cnidarians and the origins of developmental mechanisms. Nature Rev. Genet. 5, 567-577 (2004)

Niehrs, C. Regionally specific induction by the Spemann-Mangold organizer. Nature Rev. Genet. 5, 425-434 (2004)

Lecuit, T. & Pilot, F. Developmental control of cell morphogenesis: a focus on membrane growth. Nature Cell Biol. 5, 103-108 (2003)

Hobert, O., Johnston R. J. Jr. & Chang, S. Left-right asymmetry in the nervous system: the Caenorhabditis elegans model. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 3, 629-640 (2002)

Mu�oz-Sanju�n, I. & Brivanlou, A. H. Neural induction, the default model and embryonic stem cells. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 3, 271-280 (2002)

Nieto, M. A. The Snail superfamily of zinc-finger transcription factors. Nature Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 3, 155-166 (2002)

Opinion
Meinhardt, H. Different strategies for midline formation in bilaterians. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 4, 502-510 (2004)

Research papers
Sasai, N., Nakazawa, Y., Haraguchi, T. & Sasai, Y. The neurotrophin-receptor-related protein NRH1 is essential for convergent extension movements. Nature Cell Biol. 6, 741-748 (2004)

Ninomiya, H., Elinson, R. P. & Winklbauer, R. Antero-posterior tissue polarity links mesoderm convergent extension to axial patterning. Nature 430, 364-367 (2004

Yamamoto, M., Saijoh, Y., Perea-Gomez, A., Shawlot, W., Behringer, R. R., Ang, S. L., Hamada, H. & Meno, C. Nodal antagonists regulate formation of the anteroposterior axis of the mouse embryo. Nature 428, 387-392 (2004)

Raya, A., Kawakami, Y., Rodr�guez-Esteban, C., Ibanes, M., Rasskin-Gutman, D., Rodr�guez-Leon, J., Buscher, D., Feijo, J. A. & Izpis�a Belmonte, J. C. Notch activity acts as a sensor for extracellular calcium during vertebrate left-right determination. Nature 427, 121-128 (2004)

Agathon, A., Thisse, C. & Thisse, B. The molecular nature of the zebrafish tail organizer. Nature 424, 448-452 (2003)

Martin, S. G. & St Johnston, D. A role for Drosophila LKB1 in anterior-posterior axis formation and epithelial polarity. Nature 421, 379-384 (2003)

Ma, D., Yang, C. -H., McNeill, H., Simon, M. A. & Axelrod, J. D. Fidelity in planar cell polarity signalling. Nature 421, 543-547 (2003)

Park, M. & Moon, R. T. The planar cell-polarity gene stbm regulates cell behaviour and cell fate in vertebrate embryos. Nature Cell Biol. 4, 20-25 (2002)

Kaltschmidt, J. A., Lawrence, N., Morel, V., Balayo, T., Garc�a Fern�ndez, B., Pelissier, A., Jacinto, A. & Martinez Arias, A. Planar polarity and actin dynamics in the epidermis of Drosophila. Nature Cell Biol. 4, 937-944 (2002)

Nonaka, S., Shiratori, H., Saijoh, Y. & Hamada, H. Determination of left-right patterning of the mouse embryo by artificial nodal flow. Nature 418, 96-99 (2002)

News and Views
Wallingford, J. B. Closing in on vertebrate planar polarity. Nature Cell Biol. 6, 687-689 (2004)

Keller, R. Developmental biology: Heading away from the rump. Nature 430, 305-306 (2004)