Table of contents
Volume 419 Number 6908 pp3-761
Naturejobs
ProspectsA youthful field p3
Paul Smaglik
doi:10.1038/nj6908-03a
POSTDOCS
Does travel broaden the scientific mind? p5
Karen Kreeger
doi:10.1038/nj6908-05a
movers
Pharmaceuticals, Proteomics, Astrobiology, Drug discovery, Transitions p99
doi:10.1038/nj6908-99a
Opinion
Do we still need astronauts? p653
Sending people into space for science is questionable and expensive. But a new proposed location for space telescopes, and the inevitable maintenance missions they will require, could provide a boost for the astronaut programme.
doi:10.1038/419653a
Towards a European Research Council p653
A meeting last week showed that Europe's science ministers should now focus on the bigger picture.
doi:10.1038/419653b
News
Superweed study falters as seed firms deny access to transgene p655
Rex Dalton and San Diego
doi:10.1038/419655a
Ecological footprint forecasts face sceptical challenge p656
Natasha McDowell
doi:10.1038/419656a
Greenhouse gas that preserves ozone puts protocols at odds p656
Quirin Schiermeier
doi:10.1038/419656b
Japan's innovators take patent deals to court p657
David Cyranoski
doi:10.1038/419657a
Words but no cash for US agencies p657
Geoff Brumfiel
doi:10.1038/419657b
Top London colleges consider merger to form research giant p658
David Adam
doi:10.1038/419658a
Brain implants show promise against obsessive disorder p658
Alison Abbott
doi:10.1038/419658b
Structured approach bags chemistry prize p659
David Adam
doi:10.1038/419659a
Economists honoured for experimental angle p659
Rory Howlett
doi:10.1038/419659b
news feature
Fisheries science: How many more fish in the sea? p662
Commercial fisheries worldwide are being driven to collapse. Quirin Schiermeier wonders why fisheries scientists are failing to halt this pillage, and asks what hope is there for the future sustainability of fish stocks.
Quirin Schiermeier
doi:10.1038/419662a
Human spaceflight: A million-mile service p666
NASA wants many of its space telescopes to orbit far from Earth. So how will they be repaired if they go wrong? Tony Reichhardt investigates.
Tony Reichhardt
doi:10.1038/419666a
Correspondence
Corporate ethic is now undermining universities too p667
Adoption of money-centred business practices leaves academia open to same abuses.
Raymond Pierotti
doi:10.1038/419667a
Indian biotech sets a constitutional challenge p667
Bhagirath Choudhary
doi:10.1038/419667b
All shipshape at navy lab p667
R. A. LeFande
doi:10.1038/419667c
Book Reviews
The birth of molecular biology p669
How biophysicists and biochemists in the 1950s shaped a new science.
Vernon M. Ingram reviews Designs for Life: Molecular Biology After World War II by Soraya de Chadarevian
doi:10.1038/419669a
Peering through the smoke p670
Raphael Mechoulam reviews Understanding Marijuana: A New Look at Scientific Evidence by Mitch Earleywine
doi:10.1038/419670a
A protean overview p671
Robert W. Cahn reviews The Physics of Phase Transitions: Concepts and Applications by P. Papon, J. Leblond and P. H. E. Meijer
doi:10.1038/419671a
concepts
Discounting: An eye on the future p673
Lawrence H. Goulder and Robert N. Stavins
doi:10.1038/419673a
News and Views
Astronomy: Into the heart of darkness p675
The Milky Way, like other galaxies, is thought to harbour a black hole at its centre. The remarkable observation of a star in close orbit around the Galactic Centre is the first firm evidence that this is so.
Karl Gebhardt
doi:10.1038/419675a
Microbiology: All in the packaging p676
Certain bacteria generate highly toxic intermediates as part of their metabolism. Membranes with an unprecedented lipid composition and structure apparently meet the need for containment.
Edward F. DeLong
doi:10.1038/419676a
Evolution: The good, the bad and the lonely p677
In game theory, 'loners' who choose not to participate in fact promote cooperation between players. The dynamics of the game show phase transitions and complex phenomena reminiscent of statistical physics.
Franziska Michor and Martin A. Nowak
doi:10.1038/419677a
Immunology: Catch us if you can p679
Tumours have ways of evading the body's immune system. A surprising example involves a mechanism that at first sight would seem to have the opposite effect and improve immune responsiveness.
Wayne M. Yokoyama
doi:10.1038/419679a
Materials chemistry: Liquid crystals stack up p681
Take a spherical carbon 'buckyball', feather it with rod-like molecules, and the result is a distinctive shuttlecock shape that can easily be stacked into columns. Liquid-crystal phases thus formed should have unusual properties.
Carsten Tschierske
doi:10.1038/419681a
Neurobiology: Neurotrophin channels excitement p683
Sodium-ion channels usually open in response to a voltage change across the membrane in which they sit. But, surprisingly, a growth factor secreted by neurons also rapidly triggers the opening of a specific sodium channel.
Yves-Alain Barde
doi:10.1038/419683a
100 and 50 years ago p684
doi:10.1038/419684a
Brief Communications
Plant biochemistry: An onion enzyme that makes the eyes water p685
A flavoursome, user-friendly bulb would give no cause for tears when chopped up.
S. Imai, N. Tsuge, M. Tomotake, Y. Nagatome, H. Sawada, T. Nagata and H. Kumagai
doi:10.1038/419685a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (60K)
Physiology (communication arising): The ventilatory response to hypoxia p686
Philip J. Berger, Elizabeth M. Skuza, Vojta Brodecky and Malcolm H. Wilkinson
doi:10.1038/419686a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (39K)
Physiology (communication arising): The ventilatory response to hypoxia p686
D. Gozal, B. M. Gaston, A. J. Lipton, M. A. Johnson, T. Macdonald and M. W. Lieberman
doi:10.1038/419686b
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (39K)
Article
Neurotrophin-evoked depolarization requires the sodium channel NaV1.9 p687
Robert Blum, Karl W. Kafitz and Arthur Konnerth
doi:10.1038/nature01085
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (538K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Barde
Letters to Nature
A star in a 15.2-year orbit around the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way p694
R. Schödel, T. Ott, R. Genzel, R. Hofmann, M. Lehnert, A. Eckart, N. Mouawad, T. Alexander, M. J. Reid, R. Lenzen, M. Hartung, F. Lacombe, D. Rouan, E. Gendron, G. Rousset, A.-M. Lagrange, W. Brandner, N. Ageorges, C. Lidman, A. F. M. Moorwood, J. Spyromilio, N. Hubin and K. M. Menten
doi:10.1038/nature01121
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (271K)
See also: News and Views by Gebhardt
Simulation of the atmospheric thermal circulation of a martian volcano using a mesoscale numerical model p697
Scot C. R. Rafkin, Magdalena R. V. Sta. Maria and Timothy I. Michaels
doi:10.1038/nature01114
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (467K) | Supplementary information
Cavity solitons as pixels in semiconductor microcavities p699
Stephane Barland, Jorge R. Tredicce, Massimo Brambilla, Luigi A. Lugiato, Salvador Balle, Massimo Giudici, Tommaso Maggipinto, Lorenzo Spinelli, Giovanna Tissoni, Thomas Knödl, Michael Miller and Roland Jäger
doi:10.1038/nature01049
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (416K)
Stacking of conical molecules with a fullerene apex into polar columns in crystals and liquid crystals p702
Masaya Sawamura, Kenji Kawai, Yutaka Matsuo, Kiyoshi Kanie, Takashi Kato and Eiichi Nakamura
doi:10.1038/nature01110
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (356K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Tschierske
Re–Os isotopic evidence for long-lived heterogeneity and equilibration processes in the Earth's upper mantle p705
Anders Meibom, Norman H. Sleep, C. Page Chamberlain, Robert G. Coleman, Robert Frei, Michael T. Hren and Joseph L. Wooden
doi:10.1038/nature01067
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (234K) | Supplementary information
Linearly concatenated cyclobutane lipids form a dense bacterial membrane p708
Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté, Marc Strous, W. Irene C. Rijpstra, Ellen C. Hopmans, Jan A. J. Geenevasen, Adri C. T. van Duin, Laura A. van Niftrik and Mike S. M. Jetten
doi:10.1038/nature01128
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (494K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by DeLong
Jasmonate and salicylate induce expression of herbivore cytochrome P450 genes p712
Xianchun Li, Mary A. Schuler and May R. Berenbaum
doi:10.1038/nature01003
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (248K)
A biological role for prokaryotic ClC chloride channels p715
Ramkumar Iyer, Tina M. Iverson, Alessio Accardi and Christopher Miller
doi:10.1038/nature01000
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (166K)
Competence to replicate in the unfertilized egg is conferred by Cdc6 during meiotic maturation p718
Jean-Marc Lemaître, Stéphane Bocquet and Marcel Méchali
doi:10.1038/nature01046
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (375K) | Supplementary information
Cdc6 synthesis regulates replication competence in Xenopus oocytes p722
Elizabeth Whitmire, Bettina Khan and Martine Coué
doi:10.1038/nature01032
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (270K) | Supplementary information
The DIX domain targets dishevelled to actin stress fibres and vesicular membranes p726
Daniel G. S. Capelluto, Tatiana G. Kutateladze, Raymond Habas, Carla V. Finkielstein, Xi He and Michael Overduin
doi:10.1038/nature01056
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (475K) | Supplementary information
Myc suppression of the p21Cip1 Cdk inhibitor influences the outcome of the p53 response to DNA damage p729
Joan Seoane, Hong-Van Le and Joan Massagué
doi:10.1038/nature01119
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (578K) | Supplementary information
Tumour-derived soluble MIC ligands impair expression of NKG2D and T-cell activation p734
Veronika Groh, Jennifer Wu, Cassian Yee and Thomas Spies
doi:10.1038/nature01112
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (371K)
See also: News and Views by Yokoyama
A transcription-factor-binding surface of coactivator p300 is required for haematopoiesis p738
Lawryn H. Kasper, Fayçal Boussouar, Paul A. Ney, Carl W. Jackson, Jerold Rehg, Jan M. van Deursen and Paul K. Brindle
doi:10.1038/nature01062
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (638K) | Supplementary information
Probing the free-energy surface for protein folding with single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy p743
Benjamin Schuler, Everett A. Lipman and William A. Eaton
doi:10.1038/nature01060
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (475K) | Supplementary information
New on the Market
Genes and screens p748
Biotechnology-related products take centre stage.
doi:10.1038/419748a
Technology Features
Bioinformatics: Bringing it all together technology feature p751
Marina Chicurel
doi:10.1038/419751a
Genome analysis at your fingertips p751
Marina Chicurel
doi:10.1038/419751b
Putting a name on it p755
Marina Chicurel
doi:10.1038/419755a