Opinion

A time for responsibility p427

Researchers have good reasons to be nervous of proposals that all life science research grant applications to Brussels be scrutinized for their potential implications. But careful handling could produce benefits for all.

doi:10.1038/37171

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Preprints and Nature p427

Exposure of preprints on servers does not preempt their submission to this journal.

doi:10.1038/37173

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News

US offers possible compromise at start of climate treaty talks p429

Asako Saegusa and Ehsan Masood

doi:10.1038/37175

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Transgenic patents a step closer in Europe p429

Alison Abbott

doi:10.1038/37178

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Germany tightens grip on misconduct... p430

Alison Abbott

doi:10.1038/37180

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...while US students own up to cheating p430

Ehsan Masood

doi:10.1038/37183

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NASA looks to extended balloon flights p431

Tony Reichhardt

doi:10.1038/37185

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Female scientists wanted — apply to UK research councils p431

David Dickson

doi:10.1038/37188

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Governments and environmentalists split over forests p432

Ehsan Masood

doi:10.1038/37190

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Canadian inquiry calls for 'safety first' blood agency p432

David Spurgeon

doi:10.1038/37192

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European grants to face ethics scrutiny p433

Declan Butler

doi:10.1038/37195

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Seven-year watch on transgenic maize p433

Declan Butler

doi:10.1038/37197

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Yeltsin voices concern over 'brain-drain' p434

Carl Levitin

doi:10.1038/37200

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US air base in Japan increases monitoring of local dioxin threat p434

Asako Saegusa

doi:10.1038/37203

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UK plans for coping with plutonium waste fail to impress p435

Ehsan Masood

doi:10.1038/37205

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Staff resist 'streamlining' at top Australian institute p435

Peter Pockley

doi:10.1038/37207

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German reunification hits grant money for young scientists p436

doi:10.1038/37210

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Correspondence

No evidence of sexism in peer review p438

Jonathan Grant, Simon Burden and Gillian Breen

doi:10.1038/37213

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The hole truth p438

Bob Wells

doi:10.1038/37216

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News and Views

Multi-ringed revelation p439

H. J. Melosh

doi:10.1038/37218

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Ecology:  Be diverse, be predictable p440

Ilkka Hanski

doi:10.1038/37222

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Solar System:  Twice in a blue moon p441

Jane Luu

doi:10.1038/37225

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Structural biology:  The enzyme at the end of the food chain p443

Richard Cammack

doi:10.1038/37228

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Geophysics:  Going halves over Hudson Bay p444

Jerry X. Mitrovica

doi:10.1038/37231

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Palaeoclimatology:  Climate's carbonate cypher p445

Philip Newton

doi:10.1038/37233

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Reproductive biology:  Do males rely on female hormones? p447

Richard M. Sharpe

doi:10.1038/37236

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Magnetospheric physics:  Big storms make little storms p448

George Siscoe

doi:10.1038/37239

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Conservation biology:  Poor prospects for oiled birds p449

Chris Mead

doi:10.1038/37242

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100 and 50 years ago p449

doi:10.1038/37245

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Daedalus:  The ultimate Sun-block p450

David Jones

doi:10.1038/37247

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Art and Science

Albers's abstracts p451

Josef Albers aimed to neutralize all elements bar one in his paintings, leaving colour as the only variable. The concept has strong parallels with scientific experiments to test theories.

Martin Kemp

doi:10.1038/37249

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Scientific Correspondence

Caterpillar kinematics p453

John Brackenbury

doi:10.1038/37253

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (234K)

No 'nanofossils' in martian meteorite p454

J. P. Bradley, R. P Harvey, H. Y. McSween, Jr, Everett Gibson, Jr, Kathie Thomas-Keprta and H. Vali

doi:10.1038/37257

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (911K)

Travelling waves in vole population dynamics p456

Esa Ranta and Veijo Kaitala

doi:10.1038/37261

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (177K)

Book Reviews

Second careers of the Nazis' doctors p457

Marco Finetti reviews Kontinuität und Neuanfang in der Hochschulmedizin nach 1945^* edited by Gerhard Aumüller, Hans Lauer and Helmut Remschmidt

doi:10.1038/37264

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Emotional displays p458

Stuart Sutherland reviews About Face by Jonathan Cole

doi:10.1038/37267

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Vestiges of creation p458

doi:10.1038/37270

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The steeple people p459

David Ritson reviews Creating the Cold War University: The Transformation of Stanford by Rebecca S. Lowen

doi:10.1038/37273

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New in paperback p459

doi:10.1038/37275

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In retrospect chosen by Kevin Padian p460

Kevin Padian reviews Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

doi:10.1038/37277

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Progress

Real-time seismology and earthquake hazard mitigation p461

Hiroo Kanamori, Egill Hauksson and Thomas Heaton

doi:10.1038/37280

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (981K)

Review

TGF- signalling from cell membrane to nucleus through SMAD proteins p465

Carl-Henrik Heldin, Kohei Miyazono and Peter ten Dijke

doi:10.1038/37284

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (308K)

Articles

Size and morphology of the Chicxulub impact crater p472

Jo Morgan, Mike Warner, the Chicxulub Working Group, John Brittan, Richard Buffler, Antonio Camargo, Gail Christeson, Paul Denton, Alan Hildebrand, Richard Hobbs, Hamish Macintyre, Graeme Mackenzie, Peter Maguire, Luis Marin, Yosio Nakamura, Mark Pilkington, Virgil Sharpton, Dave Snyder, Gerardo Suarez and Alberto Trejo

doi:10.1038/37291

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (513K)

A conserved RNA-binding protein that regulates sexual fates in the C. elegans hermaphrodite germ line p477

Beilin Zhang, Maria Gallegos, Alessandro Puoti, Eileen Durkin, Stanley Fields, Judith Kimble and Marvin P. Wickens

doi:10.1038/37297

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (927K)

Letters to Nature

The Evershed effect in sunspots as a siphon flow along a magnetic flux tube p485

Benjamín Montesinos and John H. Thomas

doi:10.1038/37307

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (250K)

Critical currents approaching the depairing limit at a twin boundary in YBa₂Cu₃O_7- p487

Ivan Maggio-Aprile, Christophe Renner, Andreas Erb, Eric Walker and Øystein Fischer

doi:10.1038/37312

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (364K)

Femtosecond time-resolved X-ray diffraction from laser-heated organic films p490

Christian Rischel, Antoine Rousse, Ingo Uschmann, Pierre-Antoine Albouy, Jean-Paul Geindre, Patrick Audebert, Jean-Claude Gauthier, Eckhart Fröster, Jean-Louis Martin and André Antonetti

doi:10.1038/37317

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (259K)

Observation of magneto-chiral dichroism p493

G. L. J. A. Rikken and E. Raupach

doi:10.1038/37323

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (254K)

Complex pathways in dissociative adsorption of oxygen on platinum p495

T. Zambelli, J. V. Barth, J. Wintterlin and G. Ertl

doi:10.1038/37329

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (391K)

Effect of seawater carbonate concentration on foraminiferal carbon and oxygen isotopes p497

Howard J. Spero, Jelle Bijma, David W. Lea and Bryan E. Bemis

doi:10.1038/37333

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Localization of the gravity field and the signature of glacial rebound p500

Mark Simons and Bradford H. Hager

doi:10.1038/37339

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (517K)

Cosmopolitanism among Gondwanan Late Cretaceous mammals p504

David W. Krause, G. V. R. Prasad, Wighart von Koenigswald, Ashok Sahni and Frederick E. Grine

doi:10.1038/37343

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (379K)

Biodiversity enhances ecosystem reliability p507

Shahid Naeem and Shibin Li

doi:10.1038/37348

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (245K)

A role for oestrogens in the male reproductive system p509

Rex A. Hess, David Bunick, Ki-Ho Lee, Janice Bahr, Julia A. Taylor, Kenneth S. Korach and Dennis B. Lubahn

doi:10.1038/37352

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (523K)

Radial optic flow induces vergence eye movements with ultra-short latencies p512

C. Busettini, G. S. Masson and F. A. Miles

doi:10.1038/37359

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Defective limbic system in mice lacking the tailless gene p515

A. P. Monaghan, D. Bock, P. Gass, A. Schwger, D. P. Wolfer, H.-P. Lipp and G. Schütz

doi:10.1038/37364

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (470K)

Activation of peripheral CB₁ cannabinoid receptors in haemorrhagic shock p518

Jens A. Wagner, Kàroly Varga, Earl F. Ellis, Beverly A. Rzigalinski, Billy R. Martin and George Kunos

doi:10.1038/37371

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (299K)

Leptin inhibits hypothalamic neurons by activation of ATP-sensitive potassium channels p521

D. Spanswick, M. A. Smith, V. E. Groppi, S. D. Logan and M. L. J. Ashford

doi:10.1038/37379

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (401K)

RGS8 accelerates G-protein-mediated modulation of K⁺currents p525

Osamu Saitoh, Yoshihiro Kubo, Yoshihide Miyatani, Tomiko Asano and Hiroyasu Nakata

doi:10.1038/37385

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (357K)

Pore-forming segments in voltage-gated chloride channels p529

Christoph Fahlke, Henry T. Yu, Carol L. Beck, Thomas H. Rhodes and Alfred L. George, Jr

doi:10.1038/37391

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (305K)

Ammonia mediates communication between yeast colonies p532

Zdena Palková, Blanka Janderová, Jií Gabriel, Blanka Zikánová, Martin Pospíek and Jitka Forstová

doi:10.1038/37398

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (487K)

Correction:  Action-potential propagation gated by an axonal I_A-like K⁺conductance in hippocampus p536

Dominique Debanne, Nathalie C. Guérineau, Beat H. Ghwiler and Scott M. Thompson

doi:10.1038/37406

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Correction:  Activation of the transcription factor Gli1 and the Sonic hedgehog signalling pathway in skin tumours p536

N. Dahmane, J. Lee, P. Robins, P. Heller and A. Ruiz i Altaba

doi:10.1038/37408

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