Opinion

A loss of vision p599

Appropriations bills drawn up this summer suggest that Republicans in the House of Representatives have been paying little more than lip-service to the importance of a balanced science budget.

doi:10.1038/23080

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Summer-time blues p599

French researchers, angry and upset over last week's synchrotron decision, deserve a full explanation.

doi:10.1038/23082

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News

Researcher sues university over rights to transgenic technology p601

Rex Dalton

doi:10.1038/23084

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CERN collider homes in on Higgs boson p601

Alison Abbott

doi:10.1038/23086

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Coordinated work reveals plant evolution p602

Rex Dalton

doi:10.1038/23089

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'Strengthened' Icelandic bioethics committee comes under fire p602

Alison Abbott

doi:10.1038/23092

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UK space strategy sets sights on Mars p603

Quirin Schiermeier

doi:10.1038/23094

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Legal threat in bid to ban xenotransplants p603

Meredith Wadman

doi:10.1038/23097

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US acts to lengthen term of patents to help biotechnology p604

Meredith Wadman

doi:10.1038/23099

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French anger over plan to back British synchrotron p604

Heather McCabe

doi:10.1038/23101

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Japan plans to label 'detectable' GM food p605

Asako Saegusa

doi:10.1038/23104

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Tension stays high as US optical societies launch merger ballot p605

Rex Dalton

doi:10.1038/23106

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Protests at Indian solar observatory refit p606

K. S. Jayaraman

doi:10.1038/23109

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Animal rights activists attack Gore over chemical screening p606

Meredith Wadman

doi:10.1038/23112

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Endocrine disrupter verdict left open p607

Colin Macilwain

doi:10.1038/23114

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Brain drain accelerates from Siberia p607

Carl Levitin

doi:10.1038/23117

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News in Brief p608

doi:10.1038/23119

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Correspondence

Why quasi-persons are not patentable p610

Richard M. Lebovitz

doi:10.1038/23121

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Where a little aid could go a long way p610

Peter Campbell

doi:10.1038/23123

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More evidence needed on effect of ivory ban p610

Nigel Leader-Williams

doi:10.1038/23125

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Commentary

The second Silent Spring? p611

The drive to squeeze ever more food from the land has sent Europe's farmland wildlife into a precipitous decline. How can agricultural policy be reformed so that we have fewer grain mountains and more skylarks?

doi:10.1038/23127

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News and Views

From desert to deluge in the Mediterranean p613

Judith A. McKenzie

doi:10.1038/23131

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Immunology:  Developing B-cell theories p614

David G. Schatz

doi:10.1038/23134

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100 and 50 years ago p615

doi:10.1038/23137

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Crystal structures:  Tiling by numbers p617

Michael O'Keeffe

doi:10.1038/23139

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Evolution:  Creatures from another world p618

Inman Harvey

doi:10.1038/23142

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Fuel-cell technology:  Running on natural gas p619

Brian C. H. Steele

doi:10.1038/23144

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Neurobiology:  Oscillations in the basal ganglia p621

Thomas Wichmann and Mahlon R. DeLong

doi:10.1038/23148

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Ecology:  Sprucing up beaver meadows p622

Peter D. Moore

doi:10.1038/23151

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Game theory:  Agreeing on strategies p623

Ivar Ekeland

doi:10.1038/23154

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Science in art:  Turning the other cheek p624

Alison Mitchell

doi:10.1038/23156

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Daedalus:  Eclipse of the Earth p624

David Jones

doi:10.1038/23159

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Millennium Essay

Slaying the crystal homunculus p625

Robert W. Cahn

doi:10.1038/23161

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (117K)

Scientific Correspondence

Convergent evolution of cytokines p627

Alain Beschin, Martin Bilej, Lea Brys, Els Torreele, Rudolf Lucas, Stefan Magez and Patrick De Baetselier

doi:10.1038/23164

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (91K)

Rise in carbon dioxide changes soil structure p628

Matthias C. Rillig, Sara F. Wright, Michael F. Allen and Christopher B. Field

doi:10.1038/23168

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (78K)

Anisotropy of iron in the Earth's inner core p629

S. C. Singh and J.-P. Montagner

doi:10.1038/23171

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (102K)

Nitrogen deposition and carbon sequestration p629

D. S. Jenkinson, K. Goulding and D. S. Powlson

doi:10.1038/23174

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (102K)

Nitrogen deposition and carbon sequestration p629

Herman Sievering

doi:10.1038/23176

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (102K)

reply:  Nitrogen deposition and carbon sequestration p630

Knute J. Nadelhoffer, Bridget A. Emmett, Per Gundersen, Chris J. Koopmans, Patrick Schleppi, Albert Tietema and Richard F. Wright

doi:10.1038/23178

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (73K)

Book Reviews

Culture clash in American anthropology p631

Mary Douglas reviews Culture: The Anthropologists' Account by Adam Kuper

doi:10.1038/23180

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What did you do in the [cold] war, Daddy? p632

Malcolm R. Dando reviews Biohazard by Ken Alibek

doi:10.1038/23183

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Neural networks beyond Freud p632

Terrence J. Sejnowski reviews The Mind Within the Net by Manfred Spitzer

doi:10.1038/23185

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The first three billion years p633

Stefan Bengtson reviews Cradle of Life: The Discovery of Earth's Earliest Fossils by J. William Schopf

doi:10.1038/23188

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Damsels and dragons p634

Mike Siva-Jothy reviews Dragonflies: Behaviour and Ecology of Odonata by Philip S. Corbet

doi:10.1038/23190

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Correction:  A user's guide to two minutes of totality p634

doi:10.1038/23193

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Article

Streaks of microearthquakes along creeping faults p635

Allan M. Rubin, Dominique Gillard and Jean-Luc Got

doi:10.1038/23196

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (2,499K)

Letters to Nature

Photon-stimulated desorption as a substantial source of sodium in the lunar atmosphere p642

B. V. Yakshinskiy and T. E. Madey

doi:10.1038/23204

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (121K)

Systematic enumeration of crystalline networks p644

Olaf Delgado Friedrichs, Andreas W. M. Dress, Daniel H. Huson, Jacek Klinowski and Alan L. Mackay

doi:10.1038/23210

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (241K) | Supplementary information

See also: News and Views by O'Keeffe

The mechanisms for pressure-induced amorphization of ice I_h p647

J. S. Tse, D. D. Klug, C. A. Tulk, I. Swainson, E. C. Svensson, C.-K. Loong, V. Shpakov, V. R. Belosludov, R. V. Belosludov and Y. Kawazoe

doi:10.1038/23216

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (134K)

A direct-methane fuel cell with a ceria-based anode p649

E. Perry Murray, T. Tsai and S. A. Barnett

doi:10.1038/23220

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (135K)

See also: News and Views by Steele

Chronology, causes and progression of the Messinian salinity crisis p652

W. Krijgsman, F. J. Hilgen, I. Raffi, F. J. Sierro and D. S. Wilson

doi:10.1038/23231

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (172K)

See also: News and Views by McKenzie

The origin of snake feeding p655

Michael S. Y. Lee, Gorden L. Bell, Jr and Michael W. Caldwell

doi:10.1038/23236

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (218K)

Planktonic nutrient regeneration and cycling efficiency in temperate lakes p659

Jeff J. Hudson, William D. Taylor and David W. Schindler

doi:10.1038/23240

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (109K)

Genome complexity, robustness and genetic interactions in digital organisms p661

Richard E. Lenski, Charles Ofria, Travis C. Collier and Christoph Adami

doi:10.1038/23245

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (143K)

See also: News and Views by Harvey

A general model for the structure and allometry of plant vascular systems p664

Geoffrey B. West, James H. Brown and Brian J. Enquist

doi:10.1038/23251

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (168K)

Dynamics of disease resistance polymorphism at the Rpm1 locus of Arabidopsis p667

Eli A. Stahl, Greg Dwyer, Rodney Mauricio, Martin Kreitman and Joy Bergelson

doi:10.1038/23260

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (162K)

Time-dependent reorganization of brain circuitry underlying long-term memory storage p671

Bruno Bontempi, Catherine Laurent-Demir, Claude Destrade and Robert Jaffard

doi:10.1038/23270

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (393K)

Memory for places learned long ago is intact after hippocampal damage p675

Edmond Teng and Larry R. Squire

doi:10.1038/23276

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (255K)

A basal ganglia pacemaker formed by the subthalamic nucleus and external globus pallidus p677

Dietmar Plenz and Stephen T. Kital

doi:10.1038/23281

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (565K)

See also: News and Views by Wichmann & DeLong

Continued RAG expression in late stages of B cell development and no apparent re-induction after immunizion p682

Wong Yu, Hitoshi Nagaoka, Mila Jankovic, Ziva Misulovin, Heikyung Suh, Antonius Rolink, Fritz Melchers, Eric Meffre and Michel C. Nussenzweig

doi:10.1038/23287

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (445K)

See also: News and Views by Schatz

A SMAD ubiquitin ligase targets the BMP pathway and affects embryonic pattern formation p687

Haitao Zhu, Peter Kavsak, Shirin Abdollah, Jeffrey L. Wrana and Gerald H. Thomsen

doi:10.1038/23293

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (298K) | Supplementary information

Trigger factor and DnaK cooperate in folding of newly synthesized proteins p693

Elke Deuerling, Agnes Schulze-Specking, Toshifumi Tomoyasu, Axel Mogk and Bernd Bukau

doi:10.1038/23301

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (230K)