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

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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

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News

Staff accuse bosses of secrecy over British synchrotron plans... p197

Natasha Loder and Karen Birmingham

doi:10.1038/45614

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... and French switch off in protest p197

Heather McCabe

doi:10.1038/45617

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Obuchi vows to push university reforms in Japan p198

Asako Saegusa

doi:10.1038/45620

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Cuts force telescope closures at Kitt Peak p199

Tony Reichhardt

doi:10.1038/45623

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Iranian visit fosters links with US p199

Rex Dalton

doi:10.1038/45626

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Russian scientist 'tried to smuggle spy device to China' p200

Carl Levitin

doi:10.1038/45628

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Four front runners in race to become director of Unesco p200

Peter Pockley

doi:10.1038/45630

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Kansas evolution ban under attack p200

doi:10.1038/45633

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German biotech lab in bid to silence critic p201

Quirin Schiermeier and Alison Abbott

doi:10.1038/45635

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Laser project 'faces optics hurdle' p201

Colin Macilwain

doi:10.1038/45639

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France set to cut search for small extrasolar planets p202

Declan Butler

doi:10.1038/45642

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Call for UK biotechnology centre p202

Natasha Loder

doi:10.1038/45644

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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

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News in brief p204

doi:10.1038/45650

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Correspondence

Biotech companies must get back to basics to weigh up risks p207

Jonathan Ewbank

doi:10.1038/45652

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California's libraries get wired up to e-journals p207

Evan A. Reader

doi:10.1038/45654

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Sensible precautions make good science... p207

C. Vyvyan Howard and Peter T. Saunders

doi:10.1038/45656

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...and can mean saying 'yes' to innovation p207

Carolyn Raffensperger, Joel Tickner, Ted Schettler and Andrew Jordan

doi:10.1038/45658

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Sweden's answer to genomics ethics p208

Sune Rosell

doi:10.1038/45660

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Ethics training more important than ever p208

John T. Finn

doi:10.1038/45662

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Latin America treats science as a curiosity p208

Ivan Chambouleyron

doi:10.1038/45664

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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

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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

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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

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Astronomical expansions p213

Jayant V. Narlikar reviews The American Astronomical Society's First Century

doi:10.1038/45675

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Perceiving confluent disciplines p213

Richard Gregory reviews Vision Science: Photons to Phenomenology by Stephen E. Palmer

doi:10.1038/45679

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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

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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

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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

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Microbiology: Salmonella strikes a balance p218

Michael S. Donnenberg

doi:10.1038/45690

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Cosmology: Universal peekaboo p219

Adam G. Riess

doi:10.1038/45693

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100 and 50 years ago p221

doi:10.1038/45696

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Developmental biology: Antagonists on the left flank p222

Tim King and Nigel A. Brown

doi:10.1038/45698

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Atmospheric chemistry: Clouds and climate p223

Henning Rodhe

doi:10.1038/45701

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Biophysics: Singular take on molecules p225

Magdalena Helmer

doi:10.1038/45704

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Daedalus: Unchained energy p226

David Jones

doi:10.1038/45707

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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

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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

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New on the Market

Biomedical prescriptions p305

Items with a biomedical slant include a melatonin assay using saliva.

doi:10.1038/45855

Full Text | PDF (511K)