Opinion

Nanotech is not so scary p299

Given recent rumblings from opinion-formers, researchers working on the science of the incredibly small should exert more effort on putting the risks posed by their work into the proper perspective.

doi:10.1038/421299a

Full Text | PDF (56K)

Fair play for trial balloons p299

Ultra-long-duration ballooning has much to offer astronomers — but only if NASA nurtures this fledgling technology.

doi:10.1038/421299b

Full Text | PDF (56K)

News

Failed mission launch prompts ESA to reconsider comet target p301

Declan Butler

doi:10.1038/421301a

Full Text | PDF (112K)

Report backs military axis on space p301

Declan Butler

doi:10.1038/421301b

Full Text | PDF (112K)

Mozambique prime minister tipped for global health post p302

Declan Butler

doi:10.1038/421302a

Full Text | PDF (82K)

Bushfires annihilate Australian observatory p302

Carina Dennis

doi:10.1038/421302b

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Resignations rock mathematics institute p303

Geoff Brumfiel

doi:10.1038/421303a

Full Text | PDF (92K)

Researcher uncovers truth behind wartime security slur p303

Rex Dalton

doi:10.1038/421303b

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Tokyo deans plan flexible future for students p304

Keiko Kandachi

doi:10.1038/421304a

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Transgenic salmon still out in the cold in United States p304

Hannah Hoag

doi:10.1038/421304b

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Second cancer case halts gene-therapy trials p305

Erika Check

doi:10.1038/421305a

Full Text | PDF (79K)

Meeting aims to find brain's benchmarks for beauty p305

Jonathan Knight

doi:10.1038/421305b

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news in brief p306

doi:10.1038/421306a

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news feature

Balloon-based astronomy: Up, up and away p308

Balloons will soon be able to carry telescopes for months at a time, matching some of the capabilities of satellites, but at a fraction of the cost. Tony Reichhardt charts the course of a new era in ballooning.

Tony Reichhardt

doi:10.1038/421308a

Full Text | PDF (180K)

DNA: Beyond the double helix p310

The world of science is gearing up to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Watson and Crick's seminal paper. But there's more to DNA than the pair's iconic structure. Helen Pearson profiles a truly dynamic molecule.

Helen Pearson

doi:10.1038/421310a

Full Text | PDF (262K)

Correspondence

A scarlet letter or a red herring? p313

Genetic discrimination is of little concern compared with existing US healthcare problems.

William J. Nowlan

doi:10.1038/421313a

Full Text | PDF (54K)

Travel grants available for genetics congress p313

Anthony J. F. Griffiths

doi:10.1038/421313b

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Spiritual link is part of traditional knowledge p313

Lynda Kitchikeesic Juden

doi:10.1038/421313c

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Commentaries

Is a scientific boycott ever justified? p314

Practical guidance is needed to uphold the universality of science.

doi:10.1038/421314a

Full Text | PDF (69K)

Is a scientific boycott ever justified? p314

Practical guidance is needed to uphold the universality of science.

doi:10.1038/421314b

Full Text | PDF (69K)

Book Reviews

Life after the helix p315

How Jim Watson saw the structure of DNA transform biology.

Walter Gilbert reviews Watson and DNA: Making a Scientific Revolution by Victor K. McElheny

doi:10.1038/421315a

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An astronomical adventure p316

Paul Hodge reviews The Century of Space Science

doi:10.1038/421316a

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Looking stars in the face p316

doi:10.1038/421316b

Full Text | PDF (137K)

Ecology out of the blue p317

Redouan Bshary reviews Coral Reef Fishes: Diversity and Dynamics in a Complex Ecosystem

doi:10.1038/421317a

Full Text | PDF (96K)

lifelines

Simon Conway Morris: Of fossils and fusilli p319

Simon Conway Morris is a professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge, UK. His interests are in evolution, including the Cambrian explosion.

doi:10.1038/421319a

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concepts

Mathematical oncology: Cancer summed up p321

Robert A. Gatenby and Philip K. Maini

doi:10.1038/421321a

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News and Views

Palaeontology: Dinosaurs take to the air p323

Flying birds evolved from a group of bipedal dinosaurs. The latest fossil discoveries from China indicate that the dinosaurian ancestors of birds had four wings — and that these animals glided rather than flapped.

Richard O. Prum

doi:10.1038/421323a

Full Text | PDF (473K)

Global change: Monsoon linkages p324

An excellent sediment record from the Arabian Sea traces recent patterns in the activity of the Asian monsoon. It reveals both variability in monsoon strength and links with climatic events elsewhere.

Rainer Zahn

doi:10.1038/421324a

Full Text | PDF (288K)

Neurobiology: Fear thou not p325

Mice lacking a certain neurotransmitter receptor have trouble forgetting scary experiences. This finding uncovers a fear-regulating feedback loop in the brain that might be at work in humans, too.

Yadin Dudai

doi:10.1038/421325a

Full Text | PDF (363K)

Thermal physics: Heat in one dimension p327

Heat is transferred along a temperature gradient, from hot to cold, at a rate determined by the thermal conductivity of the material. But is the situation so straightforward in fewer than three dimensions?

Roberto Livi and Stefano Lepri

doi:10.1038/421327a

Full Text | PDF (71K)

Inflammation: A nervous connection p328

The molecular details of a connection between the nervous system and the inflammatory response to disease have been uncovered. This suggests new avenues of research into controlling excessive inflammation.

Claude Libert

doi:10.1038/421328a

Full Text | PDF (152K)

Astronomy: Feeding the first quasars p329

Quasars, the oldest known objects in the Universe, are powered by gas falling into black holes at their centres. How black holes formed so early in time has been hard to explain, but a new model might have the answer.

Laura Ferrarese

doi:10.1038/421329a

Full Text | PDF (92K)

100 and 50 years ago p330

doi:10.1038/421330a

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news and views in brief p331

doi:10.1038/421331a

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Brief Communications

Flight performance: Frigatebirds ride high on thermals p333

This bird's bizarre physique and sparse hunting grounds account for its languid lifestyle.

Henri Weimerskirch, Olivier Chastel, Christophe Barbraud and Olivier Tostain

doi:10.1038/421333a

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (95K)

Pollinator attraction: Crab-spiders manipulate flower signals p334

Astrid M. Heiling, Marie E. Herberstein and Lars Chittka

doi:10.1038/421334a

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (60K)

Article

Four-winged dinosaurs from China p335

Xing Xu, Zhonghe Zhou, Xiaolin Wang, Xuewen Kuang, Fucheng Zhang and Xiangke Du

doi:10.1038/nature01342

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (885K)

See also: News and Views by Prum

Letters to Nature

Spectral signature of cosmological infall of gas around the first quasars p341

Rennan Barkana and Abraham Loeb

doi:10.1038/nature01330

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (198K)

See also: News and Views by Ferrarese

Experimental extraction of an entangled photon pair from two identically decohered pairs p343

Takashi Yamamoto, Masato Koashi, ahin Kaya Özdemir and Nobuyuki Imoto

doi:10.1038/nature01358

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (225K)

Direct observation of a local thermal vibration anomaly in a quasicrystal p347

Eiji Abe, S. J. Pennycook and A. P. Tsai

doi:10.1038/nature01337

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (383K)

Photocontrolled reversible release of guest molecules from coumarin-modified mesoporous silica p350

Nawal Kishor Mal, Masahiro Fujiwara and Yuko Tanaka

doi:10.1038/nature01362

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (221K) | Supplementary information

Abrupt changes in the Asian southwest monsoon during the Holocene and their links to the North Atlantic Ocean p354

Anil K. Gupta, David M. Anderson and Jonathan T. Overpeck

doi:10.1038/nature01340

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (379K) | Supplementary information

See also: News and Views by Zahn

Reductive dehalogenation of chlorinated dioxins by an anaerobic bacterium p357

Michael Bunge, Lorenz Adrian, Angelika Kraus, Matthias Opel, Wilhelm G. Lorenz, Jan R. Andreesen, Helmut Görisch and Ute Lechner

doi:10.1038/nature01237

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (198K)

Directional postcopulatory sexual selection revealed by artificial insemination p360

Jonathan P. Evans, Lorenzo Zane, Samuela Francescato and Andrea Pilastro

doi:10.1038/nature01367

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (201K)

Comparative power curves in bird flight p363

B. W. Tobalske, T. L. Hedrick, K. P. Dial and A. A. Biewener

doi:10.1038/nature01284

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (300K)

Neuronal synchrony does not correlate with motion coherence in cortical area MT p366

Alexander Thiele and Gene Stoner

doi:10.1038/nature01285

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (462K) | Supplementary information

Selective gating of visual signals by microstimulation of frontal cortex p370

Tirin Moore and Katherine M. Armstrong

doi:10.1038/nature01341

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (257K)

Pivotal role of oligomerization in expanded polyglutamine neurodegenerative disorders p373

Ivelisse Sánchez, Christian Mahlke and Junying Yuan

doi:10.1038/nature01301

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (665K) | Supplementary information

A role for Drosophila LKB1 in anterior–posterior axis formation and epithelial polarity p379

Sophie G. Martin and Daniel St Johnston

doi:10.1038/nature01296

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (479K) | Supplementary information

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor 7 subunit is an essential regulator of inflammation p384

Hong Wang, Man Yu, Mahendar Ochani, Carol Ann Amella, Mahira Tanovic, Seenu Susarla, Jian Hua Li, Haichao Wang, Huan Yang, Luis Ulloa, Yousef Al-Abed, Christopher J. Czura and Kevin J. Tracey

doi:10.1038/nature01339

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (360K)

Activation of human CD4⁺ cells with CD3 and CD46 induces a T-regulatory cell 1 phenotype p388

Claudia Kemper, Andrew C. Chan, Jonathan M. Green, Kelly A. Brett, Kenneth M. Murphy and John P. Atkinson

doi:10.1038/nature01315

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (445K) | Supplementary information

New on the Market

Automation information p393

Sample tracking, sample preparation and other methods for automation.

doi:10.1038/421393a

Full Text | PDF (183K)

double helix

The eternal molecule p396

Carina Dennis and Philip Campbell

doi:10.1038/nature01396

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (57K)

Quiet debut for the double helix p402

Robert Olby

doi:10.1038/nature01397

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (231K)

Discovering genes are made of DNA p406

Maclyn McCarty

doi:10.1038/nature01398

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (76K)

The double helix and the 'wronged heroine' p407

Brenda Maddox

doi:10.1038/nature01399

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (131K)

The mosaic that is our genome p409

Svante Pääbo

doi:10.1038/nature01400

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (105K)

Nature, nurture and human disease p412

Aravinda Chakravarti and Peter Little

doi:10.1038/nature01401

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (188K)

The double helix in clinical practice p414

John I. Bell

doi:10.1038/nature01402

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (265K)

The Mona Lisa of modern science p416

Martin Kemp

doi:10.1038/nature01403

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,543K)

Portrait of a molecule p421

Philip Ball

doi:10.1038/nature01404

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (246K)

Ten years of tension: single-molecule DNA mechanics p423

Carlos Bustamante, Zev Bryant and Steven B. Smith

doi:10.1038/nature01405

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,673K)

DNA in a material world p427

Nadrian C. Seeman

doi:10.1038/nature01406

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (231K)

DNA replication and recombination p431

Bruce Alberts

doi:10.1038/nature01407

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,275K)

DNA damage and repair p436

Errol C. Friedberg

doi:10.1038/nature01408

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (606K)

The double helix and immunology p440

Gustav J. V. Nossal

doi:10.1038/nature01409

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (437K)

The digital code of DNA p444

Leroy Hood and David Galas

doi:10.1038/nature01410

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (188K)

Controlling the double helix p448

Gary Felsenfeld and Mark Groudine

doi:10.1038/nature01411

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (2,480K)

Naturejobs

Alternative approaches p455

Paul Smaglik

doi:10.1038/nj6921-455a

Full Text | PDF (91K)

Special Report: The birth of biotechnology p456

Eugene Russo

Full Text | PDF (124K)