Table of contents
Volume 401 Number 6750 pp195-308
Opinion
Laser facility under scrutiny p195
Sudden and unexpected cost overruns at the US National Ignition Facility have once again called into question the ability of the Department of Energy to build major scientific facilities on time and on budget.
doi:10.1038/45610
A tool of the trade p195
The French government must reveal the calculations behind its decision to drop plans for its own synchrotron.
doi:10.1038/45612
News
Staff accuse bosses of secrecy over British synchrotron plans... p197
Natasha Loder and Karen Birmingham
doi:10.1038/45614
... and French switch off in protest p197
Heather McCabe
doi:10.1038/45617
Obuchi vows to push university reforms in Japan p198
Asako Saegusa
doi:10.1038/45620
Cuts force telescope closures at Kitt Peak p199
Tony Reichhardt
doi:10.1038/45623
Iranian visit fosters links with US p199
Rex Dalton
doi:10.1038/45626
Russian scientist 'tried to smuggle spy device to China' p200
Carl Levitin
doi:10.1038/45628
Four front runners in race to become director of Unesco p200
Peter Pockley
doi:10.1038/45630
Kansas evolution ban under attack p200
doi:10.1038/45633
German biotech lab in bid to silence critic p201
Quirin Schiermeier and Alison Abbott
doi:10.1038/45635
Laser project 'faces optics hurdle' p201
Colin Macilwain
doi:10.1038/45639
France set to cut search for small extrasolar planets p202
Declan Butler
doi:10.1038/45642
Call for UK biotechnology centre p202
Natasha Loder
doi:10.1038/45644
News Analysis
Moves are afoot to probe the lake trapped beneath Antarctic ice p203
Lake Vostok, isolated from the rest of the biosphere for at least a million years, could be the subject of an international initiative to plumb its secrets.
Steve Nadis
doi:10.1038/45647
Correspondence
Biotech companies must get back to basics to weigh up risks p207
Jonathan Ewbank
doi:10.1038/45652
California's libraries get wired up to e-journals p207
Evan A. Reader
doi:10.1038/45654
Sensible precautions make good science... p207
C. Vyvyan Howard and Peter T. Saunders
doi:10.1038/45656
...and can mean saying 'yes' to innovation p207
Carolyn Raffensperger, Joel Tickner, Ted Schettler and Andrew Jordan
doi:10.1038/45658
Sweden's answer to genomics ethics p208
Sune Rosell
doi:10.1038/45660
Ethics training more important than ever p208
John T. Finn
doi:10.1038/45662
Latin America treats science as a curiosity p208
Ivan Chambouleyron
doi:10.1038/45664
Commentary
Towards a more venturesome Europe p209
Europe has been slow to exploit its considerable scientific research expertise for economic benefit. A culture of venture capitalism must be created if Europe is to compete more effectively with the United States.
doi:10.1038/45666
Book Reviews
Ebb and flow in the seas of faith p211
Religion in the last century was forced to come to terms with scientific realities.
Hugh Montefiore reviews God's Funeral by A.N. Wilson
doi:10.1038/45669
Managing a crisis out of context p212
Robert Gottlieb reviews Water Wars: Is the World's Water Running Out? by Marq de Villiers
doi:10.1038/45672
Astronomical expansions p213
Jayant V. Narlikar reviews The American Astronomical Society's First Century
doi:10.1038/45675
Perceiving confluent disciplines p213
Richard Gregory reviews Vision Science: Photons to Phenomenology by Stephen E. Palmer
doi:10.1038/45679
Prosaic poetics p214
Juliet Clutton-Brock reviews The Poetics of Natural History: From John Bartram to William James by Christoph Irmscher
doi:10.1038/45681
Millennium Essay
A fistful of wishful thinking p215
The theory that settlement would bring rain turned to dust — like the fields.
Daniel J. Kevles
doi:10.1038/45683
News and Views
Cracking anaerobic bacteria p217
Hydrocarbons such as hexadecane have seemed resistant to bacterial decay to methane. Not so, it turns out, but this bacterial hydrocarbon 'cracking' process is very slow.
John Parkes
doi:10.1038/45686
Microbiology: Salmonella strikes a balance p218
Michael S. Donnenberg
doi:10.1038/45690
Cosmology: Universal peekaboo p219
Adam G. Riess
doi:10.1038/45693
100 and 50 years ago p221
doi:10.1038/45696
Developmental biology: Antagonists on the left flank p222
Tim King and Nigel A. Brown
doi:10.1038/45698
Atmospheric chemistry: Clouds and climate p223
Henning Rodhe
doi:10.1038/45701
Biophysics: Singular take on molecules p225
Magdalena Helmer
doi:10.1038/45704
Daedalus: Unchained energy p226
David Jones
doi:10.1038/45707
News and Views Feature
Up close and personal to atoms p227
The latest microscopes provide a new level of sophistication not only in imaging but also for interacting with matter at the atomic scale.
Ali Yazdani and Charles M. Lieber
doi:10.1038/45709
Brief Communications
Food contamination by PCBs and dioxins p231
An isolated episode in Belgium is unlikely to have affected public health.
A. Bernard, C. Hermans, F. Broeckaert, G. De Poorter, A. De Cock and G. Houins
doi:10.1038/45717
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (184K)
Reproductive biology: Pheromones and regulation of ovulation p232
Wes Whitten
doi:10.1038/45720
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (87K)
reply: Reproductive biology: Pheromones and regulation of ovulation p232
Martha K. McClintock
doi:10.1038/45722
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (87K)
Enterobacteria: Antibiotic resistance found in wild rodents p233
Moira A. Gilliver, Malcolm Bennett, Michael Begon, Sarah M. Hazel and C. Anthony Hart
doi:10.1038/45724
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (100K)
Sexual selection: Condition-related mate choice in sticklebacks p234
Theo C. M. Bakker, Reto Künzler and Dominique Mazzi
doi:10.1038/45727
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (82K)
Articles
Structure of the trp RNA-binding attenuation protein, TRAP, bound to RNA p235
Alfred A. Antson, Eleanor J. Dodson, Guy Dodson, Richard B. Greaves, Xiao-ping Chen and Paul Gollnick
doi:10.1038/45730
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (627K)
The novel Cer-like protein Caronte mediates the establishment of embryonic left–right asymmetry p243
Concepción Rodríguez Esteban, Javier Capdevila, Aris N. Economides, Jaime Pascual, Ángel Ortiz and Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte
doi:10.1038/45738
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (796K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by King & Brown
Letters to Nature
Evidence for a positive cosmological constant from flows of galaxies and distant supernovae p252
Idit Zehavi and Avishai Dekel
doi:10.1038/45748
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (221K)
See also: News and Views by Riess
A metal complex that binds 
-amino acids with high and predictable stereospecificity p254
Jik Chin, Soo Suk Lee, Kyung Joo Lee, Seongsoon Park and Dong H. Kim
doi:10.1038/45751
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (229K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Rodhe
Cloud albedo enhancement by surface-active organic solutes in growing droplets p257
Maria Cristina Facchini, Mihaela Mircea, Sandro Fuzzi and Robert J. Charlson
doi:10.1038/45758
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (175K)
Control of the location of the volcanic front in island arcs by aqueous fluid connectivity in the mantle wedge p259
Kenji Mibe, Toshitsugu Fujii and Atsushi Yasuda
doi:10.1038/45762
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (273K)
A dromaeosaurid dinosaur with a filamentous integument from the Yixian Formation of China p262
Xing Xu, Xiao-Lin Wang and Xiao-Chun Wu
doi:10.1038/45769
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (498K) | Supplementary information
Methane formation from long-chain alkanes by anaerobic microorganisms p266
Karsten Zengler, Hans H. Richnow, Ramon Rosselló-Mora, Walter Michaelis and Friedrich Widdel
doi:10.1038/45777
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (117K)
See also: News and Views by Parkes
Grouping of image fragments in primary visual cortex p269
Yoichi Sugita
doi:10.1038/45785
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (160K) | Supplementary information
Expression of the transcription factor 
FosB in the brain controls sensitivity to cocaine p272
Max B. Kelz, Jingshan Chen, William A. Carlezon, Jr, Kim Whisler, Lauren Gilden, Alison M. Beckmann, Cathy Steffen, Ya-Jun Zhang, Louis Marotti, David W. Self, Tatiana Tkatch, Gytis Baranauskas, D. James Surmeier, Rachael L. Neve, Ronald S. Duman, Marina R. Picciotto and Eric J. Nestler
doi:10.1038/45790
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (392K) | Supplementary information
Function of Rieger syndrome gene in left–right asymmetry and craniofacial development p276
Mei-Fang Lu, Carolyn Pressman, Rex Dyer, Randy L. Johnson and James F. Martin
doi:10.1038/45797
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (439K)
Pitx2 regulates lung asymmetry, cardiac positioning and pituitary and tooth morphogenesis p279
Chijen R. Lin, Chrissa Kioussi, Shawn O'Connell, Paola Briata, Daniel Szeto, Forrest Liu, Juan Carlos Izpisúa-Belmonte and Michael G. Rosenfeld
doi:10.1038/45803
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (440K)
Human urotensin-II is a potent vasoconstrictor and agonist for the orphan receptor GPR14 p282
Robert S. Ames, Henry M. Sarau, Johathan K. Chambers, Robert N. Willette, Nambi V. Aiyar, Anne M. Romanic, Calvert S. Louden, James J. Foley, Charles F. Sauermelch, Robert W. Coatney, Zhaohui Ao, Jyoti Disa, Stephen D. Holmes, Jeffrey M. Stadel, John D. Martin, Wu-Schyong Liu, George I. Glover, Shelagh Wilson, Dean E. McNulty, Catherine E. Ellis, Nabil A. Elshourbagy, Usman Shabon, John J. Trill, Douglas W. P. Hay, Eliot H. Ohlstein, Derk J. Bergsma and Stephen A. Douglas
doi:10.1038/45809
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (313K) | Supplementary information
A kinase-regulated PDZ-domain interaction controls endocytic sorting of the 
2-adrenergic receptor p286
Tracy T. Cao, Heather W. Deacon, David Reczek, Anthony Bretscher and Mark von Zastrow
doi:10.1038/45816
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (282K)
EPS8 and E3B1 transduce signals from Ras to Rac p290
Giorgio Scita, Johan Nordstrom, Roberta Carbone, Pierluigi Tenca, Giuseppina Giardina, Silvio Gutkind, Mattias Bjarnegård, Christer Betsholtz and Pier Paolo Di Fiore
doi:10.1038/45822
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (316K) | Supplementary information
A Salmonella protein antagonizes Rac-1 and Cdc42 to mediate host-cell recovery after bacterial invasion p293
Yixin Fu and Jorge E. Galán
doi:10.1038/45829
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (246K)
See also: News and Views by Donnenberg
Deregulated cyclin E induces chromosome instability p297
Charles H. Spruck, Kwang-Ai Won and Steven I. Reed
doi:10.1038/45836
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (152K)
The thymine glycosylase MBD4 can bind to the product of deamination at methylated CpG sites p301
Brian Hendrich, Ulrike Hardeland, Huck-Hui Ng, Josef Jiricny and Adrian Bird
doi:10.1038/45843
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (208K)
erratum: Full sintering of powdered-metal bodies in a microwave field p304
Rustum Roy, Dinesh Agrawal, Jiping Cheng and Shalva Gedevanishvili
doi:10.1038/45853
New on the Market
Biomedical prescriptions p305
Items with a biomedical slant include a melatonin assay using saliva.
doi:10.1038/45855
