Review, News & Views, Perspectives, Hypotheses and Analyses in 2010

Builder of the world's largest radar/radio telescope.

The sequencing of ancient DNA is generating dramatic results. The sequence from a bone fragment has revealed the existence of an unknown type of extinct human ancestor that lived in Asia 40,000 years ago.

Theoretical analyses reveal how plant investment in the architecture of leaf veins can be shuffled for different conditions, minimizing the construction costs associated with supplying water to leaves.

Colloid particles that form bonds to each other at specific orientations might self-assemble into all sorts of useful materials. The key — and the lock — to such binding has been discovered.

Ever since Leonardo da Vinci sketched the heart vessels in his anatomical notebook in the late fifteenth century, the origin of the coronary vasculature has been in question. We might just have come upon the answer.

Microorganisms that grow by oxidizing methane come in two basic types, aerobic and anaerobic. Now we have something in between that generates its own supply of molecular oxygen by metabolizing nitric oxide.

The flux of carbon from soils to the atmosphere has apparently increased with climate warming. But does this reflect a net loss of carbon to the atmosphere that could exacerbate climate change?

The golden ratio — an exact 'magic' number often claimed to be observed when taking ratios of distances in ancient and modern architecture, sculpture and painting — has been spotted in a magnetic compound.

The discovery of two quasars in the distant Universe that apparently have no hot dust in their environments provides evidence that these systems represent the first generation of their family.

Cellular senescence is a physiological mechanism for thwarting the proliferation of tumour cells. Encouraging cancer-prone cells to senesce might therefore be a way to nip this disease in the bud.

Pipefish and related species provide rare examples of extreme male parental care. Controlled breeding experiments allow the resulting conflicts of interest between female, male and offspring to be explored.

The front of motile cells is thought to be pushed out by branched filaments of actin protein abutting the cell membrane. New work challenges this textbook view, showing that actin branches grow away from, or obliquely to, a surface.

At present, only injectable drugs are available for treating multiple sclerosis. So clinical trials indicating that the drug fingolimod might be a step towards an oral treatment for the disease are exciting indeed.

Gold nanoparticles coated with a thin layer of an oxide allow molecules adsorbed on surfaces as diverse as those of platinum, yeast cells or citrus fruits to be characterized routinely in the laboratory.

Inhibitors of RAF enzymes can suppress or activate the same signalling pathway. The details of how this happens provide a cautionary note for those targeting the pathway for anticancer drug discovery.