Opinion

Taking lessons from the new philanthropists p131

Philanthropies are invigorating US biomedical science by liberating talented researchers from the bureaucracy that surrounds traditional peer review. The NIH should consider distributing a small proportion of its funds in a similar way.

doi:10.1038/35065793

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A portal for physics p131

Nature is introducing a new online gateway into a flourishing and diverting discipline.

doi:10.1038/35065795

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News

Early signs of a thaw in Bush's attitude to global warming p133

Matthew Davis

doi:10.1038/35065797

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'Cheap solution' for climate change p133

Quirin Schiermeier

doi:10.1038/35065800

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NIH emerges victorious in Bush's first budget p134

Irwin Goodwin

doi:10.1038/35065802

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Indian science benefits from sizeable funding increase p134

K. S. Jayaraman

doi:10.1038/35065806

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Fracas over $5 million Gulf syndrome grant p135

Meredith Wadman

doi:10.1038/35065808

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Jury to rule on 'defamatory' paper p135

Rex Dalton

doi:10.1038/35065811

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Plan for medical research base secures future of UK lab p136

David Adam

doi:10.1038/35065813

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Crystal chains invoked as evidence for life on Mars p136

Tony Reichhardt

doi:10.1038/35065816

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Postdocs call for better pay and conditions p137

Corie Lok

doi:10.1038/35065819

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Gene sequencers hope to put the bite on mosquitoes p137

David Adam

doi:10.1038/35065822

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news in brief p138

doi:10.1038/35065825

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news feature

Biomedical philanthropy, Silicon Valley style p140

Entrepreneurs who made their fortunes in high technology are now giving money away to fund biomedical research. These new philanthropists are sending a breath of fresh air through the labs they support, says Trisha Gura.

Trisha Gura

doi:10.1038/35065828

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Correspondence

A question of intent: when is a 'schematic' illustration a fraud? p144

Michael K. Richardson and Gerhard Keuck

doi:10.1038/35065834

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Conservation should be a high priority in Singapore p144

Govindasamy Agoramoorthy and Minna J. Hsu

doi:10.1038/35065837

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Book Reviews

Falling to Earth in a quantum way p145

Strings, loops and other tools aiding the quest for unity in the physical world.

David Lindley reviews Three Roads to Quantum Gravity by Lee Smolin

doi:10.1038/35065500

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Follow the Building Block Road p146

Christine Sutton reviews The Wizard of Quarks: A Fantasy of Particle Physics by Robert Gilmore

doi:10.1038/35065503

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Subtended by evolution p146

Horace Freeland Judson reviews Who Wrote the Book of Life? A History of the Genetic Code by Lily E. Kay

doi:10.1038/35065506

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A rare diversion p147

Rogene M. Eichler West reviews The Best American Science Writing 2000

doi:10.1038/35065509

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Science in culture p148

Martin Kemp reviews

doi:10.1038/35065511

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words

When words fail p149

Scientists have to struggle with words that don't fit reality.

Frank Wilczek

doi:10.1038/35065756

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concepts

Room for doubt p151

Roger A. Pielke, Jr

doi:10.1038/35065759

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News and Views

Cosmology: Weighing the Universe p153

How do you measure the mass of the Universe? You can't use a balance to weigh it, but detailed analysis of hundreds of thousands of galaxies provides an alternative answer.

Marc Davis

doi:10.1038/35065762

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Ageing: Yeast longevity gene goes public p154

Changes in gene silencing throughout life might be a general phenomenon underlying ageing and longevity: this mechanism is at work in yeast and, as new work suggests, nematode worms.

David Gems

doi:10.1038/35065765

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Condensed-matter physics: First glimpse of the orbiton p155

Crystals are host to a variety of disturbances, which show up as waves or particles. Physicists think they may have seen a new type of disturbance called the orbiton.

Philip B. Allen and Vasili Perebeinos

doi:10.1038/35065767

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100 and 50 years ago p155

doi:10.1038/35065771

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Evolutionary biology: What's in a baboon's behind? p158

It is often thought that sexual 'ornaments', such as the swellings that adorn ovulating female baboons, are signalling something about fertility — but what? Long-term studies of wild baboons provide an answer.

R. I. M. Dunbar

doi:10.1038/35065773

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Materials science: Salting the surface p159

When one type of material is grown on a very different one, the electrostatic interactions between them become important. These interactions offer new ways to control structure on the nanoscale.

Marshall Stoneham

doi:10.1038/35065775

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Prions: The shape of a species barrier p161

Intriguing in vitro results highlight the possibility that conformational differences between prion proteins with the same sequence contribute to the barrier that limits prion propagation between species.

Susan W. Liebman

doi:10.1038/35065778

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Condensed-matter physics: Superconducting plastic p162

Polymers that can conduct electricity have been known for some time, but they have defied attempts to make them into superconductors. The answer, it turns out, is to inject them with charge — but how does it work?

Denis Jérome and Klaus Bechgaard

doi:10.1038/35065781

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Daedalus: Spinning rubbish p163

David Jones

doi:10.1038/35065784

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Obituary: Ugo Fano (1912–2001) p164

Charles W. Clark

doi:10.1038/35065786

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Brief Communications

Amyloid fibrils from muscle myoglobin p165

Even an ordinary globular protein can assume a rogue guise if conditions are right.

Marcus Fändrich, Matthew A. Fletcher and Christopher M. Dobson

doi:10.1038/35065514

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Pattern formation: Spiral cracks without twisting p166

K.-T. Leung, L. Józsa, M. Ravasz and Z. Néda

doi:10.1038/35065517

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (193K)

Polynesian origins: Slow boat to Melanesia? p166

Stephen J. Oppenheimer and Martin Richards

doi:10.1038/35065520

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (193K)

Polynesian origins: Slow boat to Melanesia? p167

Jared Diamond

doi:10.1038/35065523

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Nanotechnology: Thin solid films roll up into nanotubes p168

Oliver G. Schmidt and Karl Eberl

doi:10.1038/35065525

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (680K)

Articles

A measurement of the cosmological mass density from clustering in the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey p169

John A. Peacock, Shaun Cole, Peder Norberg, Carlton M. Baugh, Joss Bland-Hawthorn, Terry Bridges, Russell D. Cannon, Matthew Colless, Chris Collins, Warrick Couch, Gavin Dalton, Kathryn Deeley, Roberto De Propris, Simon P. Driver, George Efstathiou, Richard S. Ellis, Carlos S. Frenk, Karl Glazebrook, Carole Jackson, Ofer Lahav, Ian Lewis, Stuart Lumsden, Steve Maddox, Will J. Percival, Bruce A. Peterson, Ian Price, Will Sutherland and Keith Taylor

doi:10.1038/35065528

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (493K)

See also: News and Views by Davis

Defining brain wiring patterns and mechanisms through gene trapping in mice p174

Philip A. Leighton, Kevin J. Mitchell, Lisa V. Goodrich, Xiaowei Lu, Kathy Pinson, Paul Scherz, William C. Skarnes and Marc Tessier-Lavigne

doi:10.1038/35065539

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (391K)

Letters to Nature

Observation of orbital waves as elementary excitations in a solid p180

E. Saitoh, S. Okamoto, K. T. Takahashi, K. Tobe, K. Yamamoto, T. Kimura, S. Ishihara, S. Maekawa and Y. Tokura

doi:10.1038/35065547

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (361K)

See also: News and Views by Allen & Perebeinos

Coherent branched flow in a two-dimensional electron gas p183

M. A. Topinka, B. J. LeRoy, R. M. Westervelt, S. E. J. Shaw, R. Fleischmann, E. J. Heller, K. D. Maranowski and A. C. Gossard

doi:10.1038/35065553

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (347K)

Strongly linked current flow in polycrystalline forms of the superconductor MgB₂ p186

D. C. Larbalestier, L. D. Cooley, M. O. Rikel, A. A. Polyanskii, J. Jiang, S. Patnaik, X. Y. Cai, D. M. Feldmann, A. Gurevich, A. A. Squitieri, M. T. Naus, C. B. Eom, E. E. Hellstrom, R. J. Cava, K. A. Regan, N. Rogado, M. A. Hayward, T. He, J. S. Slusky, P. Khalifah, K. Inumaru and M. Haas

doi:10.1038/35065559

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (301K)

Gate-induced superconductivity in a solution-processed organic polymer film p189

J. H. Schön, A. Dodabalapur, Z. Bao, Ch. Kloc, O. Schenker and B. Batlogg

doi:10.1038/35065565

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (281K)

See also: News and Views by Jérome  & Bechgaard

An efficient room-temperature silicon-based light-emitting diode p192

Wai Lek Ng, M. A. Lourenço, R. M. Gwilliam, S. Ledain, G. Shao and K. P. Homewood

doi:10.1038/35065571

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (273K)

Dating of the oldest continental sediments from the Himalayan foreland basin p194

Yani Najman, Malcolm Pringle, Laurent Godin and Grahame Oliver

doi:10.1038/35065577

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (344K) | Supplementary information

Evidence for mantle metasomatism by hydrous silicic melts derived from subducted oceanic crust p197

Gaelle Prouteau, Bruno Scaillet, Michel Pichavant and René Maury

doi:10.1038/35065583

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (156K)

Branched integumental structures in Sinornithosaurus and the origin of feathers p200

Xing Xu, Zhong-he Zhou and Richard O. Prum

doi:10.1038/35065589

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (485K)

Sexual swellings advertise female quality in wild baboons p204

Leah G. Domb and Mark Pagel

doi:10.1038/35065597

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (182K)

See also: News and Views by Dunbar

Mice lacking the M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor are hypophagic and lean p207

Masahisa Yamada, Tsuyoshi Miyakawa, Alokesh Duttaroy, Akihiro Yamanaka, Toru Moriguchi, Ryosuke Makita, Masaharu Ogawa, Chieh J. Chou, Bing Xia, Jacqueline N. Crawley, Christian C. Felder, Chu-Xia Deng and Jürgen Wess

doi:10.1038/35065604

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (346K)

NO-independent regulatory site on soluble guanylate cyclase p212

Johannes-Peter Stasch, Eva Maria Becker, Cristina Alonso-Alija, Heiner Apeler, Klaus Dembowsky, Achim Feurer, Rupert Gerzer, Torsten Minuth, Elisabeth Perzborn, Ulrich Plei, Henning Schröder, Werner Schroeder, Elke Stahl, Wolfram Steinke, Alexander Straub and Matthias Schramm

doi:10.1038/35065611

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (257K) | Supplementary information

Polo-like kinase 1 phosphorylates cyclin B1 and targets it to the nucleus during prophase p215

Fumiko Toyoshima-Morimoto, Eri Taniguchi, Nobuko Shinya, Akihiro Iwamatsu and Eisuke Nishida

doi:10.1038/35065617

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (323K)

The S-locus receptor kinase is inhibited by thioredoxins and activated by pollen coat proteins p220

Didier Cabrillac, J. Mark Cock, Christian Dumas and Thierry Gaude

doi:10.1038/35065626

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (255K)

Conformational diversity in a yeast prion dictates its seeding specificity p223

Peter Chien and Jonathan S. Weissman

doi:10.1038/35065632

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (231K)

See also: News and Views by Liebman

Increased dosage of a sir-2 gene extends lifespan in Caenorhabditis elegans p227

Heidi A. Tissenbaum and Leonard Guarente

doi:10.1038/35065638

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (191K) | Supplementary information

See also: News and Views by Gems

GTPase activity of dynamin and resulting conformation change are essential for endocytosis p231

Bruno Marks, Michael H. B. Stowell, Yvonne Vallis, Ian G. Mills, Adele Gibson, Colin R. Hopkins and Harvey T. McMahon

doi:10.1038/35065645

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (400K) | Supplementary information

A mechanism for initiating RNA-dependent RNA polymerization p235

Sarah J. Butcher, Jonathan M. Grimes, Eugeny V. Makeyev, Dennis H. Bamford and David I. Stuart

doi:10.1038/35065653

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (465K) | Supplementary information

Articles

correction: Improved estimates of global ocean circulation, heat transport and mixing from hydrographic data p240

Alexandra Ganachaud and Carl Wunsch

doi:10.1038/35065660

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errata: Changes in Greenland ice sheet elevation attributed primarily to snow accumulation variability p240

J. R. McConnell, R. J. Arthern, E. Mosley-Thompson, C. H. Davis, R. C. Bales, R. Thomas, J. F. Burkhard and J. D. Kyne

doi:10.1038/35065662

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erratum Genome sequence of enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli 0157:H7 p240

Nicole T. Perna, Guy Plunkett, III, Valerie Burland, Bob Mau, Jeremy D. Glasner, Debra J. Rose, George F. Mayhew, Peter S. Evans, Jason Gregor, Heather A. Kirkpatrick, György Pósfai, Jeremiah Hackett, Sara Klink, Adam Boutin, Ying Shao, Leslie Miller, Erik J. Grotbeck, N. Wayne Davis, Alex Lim, Eileen T. Dimalanta, Konstantinos D. Potamousis, Jennifer Apodaca, Thomas S. Anantharaman, Jieyi Lin, Galex Yen, David C. Schwartz, Rodney A. Welch and Frederick R. Blattner

doi:10.1038/35065664

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insight

Complex systems p241

doi:10.1038/35065672

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Crackling noise p242

James P. Sethna, Karin A. Dahmen and Christopher R. Myers

doi:10.1038/35065675

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (651K)

Noise to order p251

Troy Shinbrot and Fernando J. Muzzio

doi:10.1038/35065689

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (692K)

Supercooled liquids and the glass transition p259

Pablo G. Debenedetti and Frank H. Stillinger

doi:10.1038/35065704

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (386K)

Exploring complex networks p268

Steven H. Strogatz

doi:10.1038/35065725

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (589K)

Synchronization and rhythmic processes in physiology p277

Leon Glass

doi:10.1038/35065745

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (517K)

New on the Market

From phage to page p285

Phage-resistant cells, dsDNA markers and plenty of SNP data on the web.

doi:10.1038/35065666

Full Text | PDF (237K)