Table of contents
Volume 411 Number 6838 pp3-722
Naturejobs
prospectsPositive vibes for biophysics p3
Paul Smaglik
doi:10.1038/35108100
movers
Life sciences, philanthropy, information science, space science p4
doi:10.1038/35108102
Opinion
Towards a 'knowledge nation' p619
With a federal election due in Australia this year, the two main political parties are vying over how best to stimulate the growth of biotechnology. But the quest for a knowledge-intense economy requires long-term investment and management.
doi:10.1038/35079731
News
Researchers unnerved by echoes of the past in Russian directive p621
Bryon MacWilliams and David Adam
doi:10.1038/35079733
Watchdog fuels doubts over laser p621
Rex Dalton
doi:10.1038/35079737
Patent ruling could cut PCR enzyme prices p622
Rex Dalton
doi:10.1038/35079739
French unions walk out of talks over 35-hour week p622
Sally Goodman
doi:10.1038/35079742
Review urges US physicists to think globally p623
Irwin Goodwin
doi:10.1038/35079745
MIT to set up Media Lab in India p623
K. S. Jayaraman
doi:10.1038/35079748
Rivals clash over plans to take science to London public p624
David Adam
doi:10.1038/35079750
Museum director quits over Smithsonian restructuring p624
Corie Lok
doi:10.1038/35079752
Mars rock samples condemned to quarantine p625
Tony Reichhardt
doi:10.1038/35079755
Aurora project set to pave way for human space flight p625
Alison Abbott
doi:10.1038/35079758
news feature
Tabletop astrophysics p628
Can a bowlful of cold atoms help physicists simulate some of the most extreme conditions in the Universe? Philip Ball goes on the trail of the laboratory-scale black hole.
Philip Ball
doi:10.1038/35079770
Biology's name game p631
The confused nomenclature of genetics is blighting the field — some genes have multiple names whereas unrelated genes often share a common moniker. Helen Pearson examines attempts to bring order to the chaos.
Helen Pearson
doi:10.1038/35079694
Correspondence
Misclassification of pest as 'fungus' puts vital research on wrong track p633
Francine Govers
doi:10.1038/35079764
Who is prepared to pay, and how much? p633
Johannes Velterop
doi:10.1038/35079766
Drug test warning p633
T. C. Whitmore
doi:10.1038/35079768
Book Reviews
Diverse origins of biodiversity p635
A provocative look at how new species arise.
Richard G. Harrison reviews Frogs, Flies & Dandelions: The Making of Species by Menno Schilthuizen
doi:10.1038/35079663
Changing times p636
Joseph W. Dauben reviews Perpetual Motion: Transforming Shapes in the Renaissance from da Vinci to Montaigne by Michel Jeanneret (translated by Nidra Poller)
doi:10.1038/35079667
When baguette meets coffee p637
Vincent Dusastre reviews Entrer en matière: Les atomes expliquent-ils le monde? [in French] by Pablo Jensen
doi:10.1038/35079671
Twilight creatures p638
doi:10.1038/35079673
words
Sulphur and holy water p639
Did a devout clergyman inspire the fictional archetype of the diabolical scientist?
Paolo Mazzarello
doi:10.1038/35079699
News and Views
Fifty years of inactivation p643
Potassium channels can be closed by a process known as inactivation — this is, for instance, how nerve cells regulate firing frequency. Events involved in inactivation are now revealed in unprecedented detail.
Richard W. Aldrich
doi:10.1038/35079705
Astronomy: A twisted look at the X-ray sky p644
By adopting technology developed for particle-physics experiments, astronomers have created a new X-ray tool for probing exotic parts of the Universe.
Webster Cash
doi:10.1038/35079708
Plant pathology: Reverend Berkeley's devil p644
Nicholas P. Money
doi:10.1038/35079711
Cancer: Telomerase meets its mismatch p647
Cells cannot survive without telomeres, the sequences that cap the ends of chromosomes, so cancer cells activate a telomere-generating enzyme. Studies of yeast now hint that they have a second way to make telomeres.
Raju Kucherlapati and Ronald A. DePinho
doi:10.1038/35079715
100 and 50 years ago p648
doi:10.1038/35079718
Quantum electronics: Nanotubes go ballistic p649
As devices shrink, tiny wires that conduct electrons ballistically — without scattering — have exciting applications. Carbon nanotubes can now do this over hundreds, even thousands, of nanometres, with stunning results.
Carter T. White and Tchavdar N. Todorov
doi:10.1038/35079720
Statistical physics: Advances in aggregation p651
The theory of how atoms and molecules diffuse and collide to form clusters and droplets is incomplete. A new approach can predict the growth of thin films on a surface.
Andrew Zangwill
doi:10.1038/35079723
Astronomy: Endless clear skies p651
Sarah Tomlin
doi:10.1038/35079726
Daedalus: Slow rubber p652
David Jones
doi:10.1038/35079729
Brief Communications
Successful invasion of a floral market p653
An exotic Asian plant has moved in on Europe's river-banks by bribing pollinators.
L. Chittka and S. Schürkens
doi:10.1038/35079676
Magnetic minerals: Keystone-like crystals in cells of hornet combs p654
Ietse Stokroos, Luba Litinetsky, Johannes J. L. van der Want and Jacob S. Ishay
doi:10.1038/35079679
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,349K)
Alzheimer's disease: Molecular consequences of presenilin-1 mutation p654
Sam Gandy, Jan Naslund and Christer Nordstedt
doi:10.1038/35079682
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,349K)
reply: Alzheimer's disease: Molecular consequences of presenilin-1 mutation p655
C. Russo, G. Schettini, T. C. Saido, C. Hulette, C. Lippa, L. Lannfelt, B. Ghetti, P. Gambetti, M. Tabaton and J. K. Teller
doi:10.1038/35079684
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (137K)
Nanoindentation: Simulation of defect nucleation in a crystal p656
Andrew Gouldstone, Krystyn J. Van Vliet and Subra Suresh
doi:10.1038/35079687
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (120K)
Article
Potassium channel receptor site for the inactivation gate and quaternary amine inhibitors p657
Ming Zhou, João H. Morais-Cabral, Sabine Mann and Roderick MacKinnon
doi:10.1038/35079500
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (279K)
See also: News and Views by Aldrich
Letters to Nature
An efficient photoelectric X-ray polarimeter for the study of black holes and neutron stars p662
Enrico Costa, Paolo Soffitta, Ronaldo Bellazzini, Alessandro Brez, Nicholas Lumb and Gloria Spandre
doi:10.1038/35079508
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (237K)
See also: News and Views by Cash
Fabry - Perot interference in a nanotube electron waveguide p665
Wenjie Liang, Marc Bockrath, Dolores Bozovic, Jason H. Hafner, M. Tinkham and Hongkun Park
doi:10.1038/35079517
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (318K)
See also: News and Views by White & Todorov
Non-Fermi-liquid behaviour in La4Ru6O19 p669
P. Khalifah, K. D. Nelson, R. Jin, Z. Q. Mao, Y. Liu, Q. Huang, X. P. A. Gao, A. P. Ramirez and R. J. Cava
doi:10.1038/35079534
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (260K)
Self-assembly of regular hollow icosahedra in salt-free catanionic solutions p672
Monique Dubois, Bruno Demé, Thaddée Gulik-Krzywicki, Jean-Claude Dedieu, Claire Vautrin, Sylvain Désert, Emile Perez and Thomas Zemb
doi:10.1038/35079541
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (423K) | Supplementary information
Stability of atmospheric CO2 levels across the Triassic/Jurassic boundary p675
Lawrence H. Tanner, John F. Hubert, Brian P. Coffey and Dennis P. McInerney
doi:10.1038/35079548
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (171K)
A phenomenological model for precursor volcanic eruptions p678
Thierry Menand and Stephen R. Tait
doi:10.1038/35079552
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (170K)
Reykjanes "V"-shaped ridges originating from a pulsing and dehydrating mantle plume p681
Garrett Ito
doi:10.1038/35079561
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (579K)
Earliest evidence for efficient oral processing in a terrestrial herbivore p684
Natalia Rybczynski and Robert R. Reisz
doi:10.1038/35079567
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (362K)
Effects of macrophyte species richness on wetland ecosystem functioning and services p687
Katharina A. M. Engelhardt and Mark E. Ritchie
doi:10.1038/35079573
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (140K)
Sexual selection and the maintenance of sex p689
Steven Siller
doi:10.1038/35079578
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (190K)
Sexual selection and the maintenance of sexual reproduction p692
Aneil F. Agrawal
doi:10.1038/35079590
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (189K)
PCR amplification of the Irish potato famine pathogen from historic specimens p695
Jean B. Ristaino, Carol T. Groves and Gregory R. Parra
doi:10.1038/35079606
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (182K) | Supplementary information
Retinal ganglion cells act largely as independent encoders p698
S. Nirenberg, S. M. Carcieri, A. L. Jacobs and P. E. Latham
doi:10.1038/35079612
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (770K) | Supplementary information
Regulation of Ca2+ channel expression at the cell surface by the small G-protein kir/Gem p701
Pascal Béguin, Kazuaki Nagashima, Tohru Gonoi, Tadao Shibasaki, Kazuo Takahashi, Yasushige Kashima, Nobuaki Ozaki, Käthi Geering, Toshihiko Iwanaga and Susumu Seino
doi:10.1038/35079621
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (311K) | Supplementary information
KANADI regulates organ polarity in Arabidopsis p706
Randall A. Kerstetter, Krista Bollman, R. Alexandra Taylor, Kirsten Bomblies and R. Scott Poethig
doi:10.1038/35079629
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (414K)
Role of PHABULOSA and PHAVOLUTA in determining radial patterning in shoots p709
Jane R. McConnell, John Emery, Yuval Eshed, Ning Bao, John Bowman and M. Kathryn Barton
doi:10.1038/35079635
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (363K)
Defects in mismatch repair promote telomerase-independent proliferation p713
Aylin Rizki and Victoria Lundblad
doi:10.1038/35079641
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (225K) | Supplementary information
A freely diffusible form of Sonic hedgehog mediates long-range signalling p716
Xin Zeng, John A. Goetz, Liza M. Suber, William J. Scott, Jr, Claire M. Schreiner and David J. Robbins
doi:10.1038/35079648
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (245K) | Supplementary information
addendum: A universal scaling law for atomic diffusion in condensed matter p720
M. Dzugutov
doi:10.1038/35079655
erratum: Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome p720
and International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium
doi:10.1038/35079657
erratum: Homologues of Twisted gastrulation are extracellular cofactors in antagonism of BMP signalling p720
Ian C. Scott, Ira L. Blitz, William N. Pappano, Sarah A. Maas, Ken W. Y. Cho and Daniel S. Greenspan
doi:10.1038/35079659
New on the Market
Liquid refreshment p721
Automation and a proliferation of channels are de rigueur in liquid handling.
doi:10.1038/35079690
