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Volume 420 Issue 6917, 19 December 2002

Prospects

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Opinion

  • Against a background of declining public trust in traditional institutions, scientists must work to retain their high public-confidence ratings. There are warnings and lessons to be learned from the events of 2002.

    Opinion
  • Europe's huge particle-physics laboratory is now in need of both brilliant science and outstanding management.

    Opinion
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News

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News in Brief

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2002 In Context

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Correspondence

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Book Review

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Concepts

  • Most multicellular organisms pass through a single-cell stage from which they then develop. This feature may render them more evolvable.

    • Lewis Wolpert
    • Eörs Szathmáry
    Concepts
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News & Views

  • The cosmic microwave background radiation is a unique source of information about the early Universe. The detection of its polarization could lead to confirmation of an inflationary phase soon after the Big Bang.

    • Matias Zaldarriaga
    News & Views
  • Memory T cells help us to fight off infectious microorganisms that we have encountered before. There are two models for the generation of memory cells, and new work provides support for one of them.

    • Michael J. Bevan
    News & Views
  • A substance as simple as water is in fact a rich source of interesting physics. The solid phase contains several amorphous forms of ice, including one with a very dense structure, the details of which have now been revealed.

    • Dennis D. Klug
    News & Views
  • In a technological breakthrough, two groups have shown that it is possible to study the turnover of spines — tiny protrusions on nerve cells — in live mice. But it's still uncertain just how dynamic the spines are.

    • Ole P. Ottersen
    • P. Johannes Helm
    News & Views
  • Pitcher plants have highly effective ways of trapping their insect prey. Electron microscope studies of the pitcher of one species show how its surface features help to maximize the plant’s diet.

    • Christopher Surridge
    News & Views
  • Electroluminescence has taken a new turn with the combination of organic light-emitting diodes and inorganic quantum dots. The efficiency of light emission is much higher in the latest easy-to-make device.

    • Tetsuo Tsutsui
    News & Views
  • The draft sequence of the genome of a dim and distant relation of vertebrates will allow closer inspection of vertebrate origins. Some people have been waiting more than a hundred years for this.

    • Henry Gee
    News & Views
  • In computer simulations, initially identical populations of organisms growing in identical environments follow very different evolutionary trajectories. Mutational interdependence is a key factor.

    • Philip Gerrish
    News & Views
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Brief Communication

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Article

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Letter

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Foreword

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Review Article

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Progress

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Review Article

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Insight

  • Inflammation is a local, protective response to microbial invasion or injury. Although usually a healing response, in some cases inflammation proceeds to a chronic state associated with debilitating diseases such as arthritis, multiple sclerosis and cancer. This Collection of articles explores how the inflammatory response is set in motion, how it is controlled, and the possibilities for therapeutic intervention.

    Insight
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