News & Views in 2001

An object at least 17 times the size of Jupiter, discovered orbiting a Sun-like star, has astronomers scratching their heads. Is it a giant planet or a failed star?

The organic carbon that runs into the oceans from rivers could be hundreds or thousands of years old. If so, aspects of our understanding of the global carbon cycle will have to change.

Physicists have managed to watch individual hydrogen atoms move on metal surfaces at very low temperatures — in defiance of classical physics.

Using lasers and ultracold atoms, physicists have found a way to stop and start a pulse of light. This magic trick may one day be used to store data in a quantum computer.

How does the brain group some or other set of features — say of cats or of dogs — into a general category? Astonishingly, it seems that such information can be represented at the single-neuron level.

The molecular mechanisms underlying the link between obesity and diabetes have been elusive. A new protein, christened 'resistin', can now be added to the panoply of factors that may be involved.

The discovery of a youthful neutron star with an extreme magnetic field blurs the once clear divide between magnetars and pulsars.

Water is a common but unusual liquid. Precise measures of the arrangement of molecules in water may help us to better understand some of its peculiar properties.

Telecommunications companies have paid a heavy price for their share of the radio spectrum. So they have been quick to exploit 'multiple antennas' that can increase transmission rates in urban areas.

Isotope studies furnish evidence of the source of CO₂ in certain natural-gas reserves, and of the long-term retention of such gas in unexpected environments such as ancient continental crust.

RNA silencing allows cells to block invading viruses or mobile DNAs. An RNA-cleaving enzyme involved in the first step of silencing has now been identified.

'Ring species' occur when one species grades into two at the overlap of a circular population distribution. Good examples are rare, but one case has now passed some rigorous tests.

Louis Néel — father of Grenoble's scientific fortune.

Stars are born in dark clouds of molecular gas, which remain shrouded in mystery. Astronomers have found a new way to peer inside these star factories.

Identification of a long-sought ADP receptor on platelets explains the effects of two drugs used to prevent strokes and heart attacks. It also points the way to developing other such drugs.

It is said that you are what you eat. Diet can also determine how you sound and perhaps even what species you are — if you are one of Darwin's finches.