Table of contents
Volume 421 Number 6922 pp459-558
Opinion
All the President's yes-men? p459
George W. Bush's administration stands accused of biasing the process by which the US government obtains scientific advice. There is a strong case to answer, but the situation is not as unusual as it might at first seem.
doi:10.1038/421459a
Too quiet on the Eastern front p459
Change is needed before the nations poised to join the European Union can reap the full scientific benefits of membership.
doi:10.1038/421459b
News
Gates ploughs millions into plan for assault on killer diseases p461
Declan Butler
doi:10.1038/421461a
UK cell biologist takes pole position at Rockefeller p461
Erika Check
doi:10.1038/421461b
Transgenic crop trial's gene flow turns weeds into wimps p462
David Adam
doi:10.1038/421462a
Head of Spanish lab network quits over lack of funds p462
Monica Salomone
doi:10.1038/421462b
US army survey targets Gulf War syndrome p463
Jonathan Knight
doi:10.1038/421463a
TB medic wins global health post p463
Declan Butler
doi:10.1038/421463b
Taiwanese institute causes upset by degrees p464
David Cyranoski
doi:10.1038/421464a
Scientists call for Canada to boost polar-shelf funding p464
David Spurgeon
doi:10.1038/421464b
Europe seeks single defence research agency p465
Quirin Schiermeier
doi:10.1038/421465a
Italians riled by science reforms p465
Alison Abbott
doi:10.1038/421465b
news feature
Oceanography: Robots in the deep p468
Having overcome problems with reliability, autonomous submersibles are starting to make their mark on marine science. Tom Clarke follows their progress beneath the waves — without getting his feet wet.
Tom Clarke
doi:10.1038/421468a
Polish science: Poles apart, or together with Europe? p471
With Poland about to join the European Union, some of its scientists are eager to be part of the international mainstream. But others still cling to Eastern-bloc traditions. Quirin Schiermeier reports.
Quirin Schiermeier
doi:10.1038/421471a
Correspondence
Venezuelan researchers call for international help p473
Political conflict is endangering human life, scientific endeavour and a rich environment.
C. Mendoza, (president) and J. A. Urbina, (secretary general)
doi:10.1038/421473a
No reduction in risk of a massive asteroid impact p473
Clark R. Chapman and David Morrison
doi:10.1038/421473b
Was visionary Seaborg from far-sighted stock? p473
A. Richard Palmer
doi:10.1038/421473c
Commentary
Is a picture worth 1,000 words? p474
Exciting new illustration technologies should be used with care.
doi:10.1038/421474a
Book Reviews
Stress factors p477
The science of our flexible responses to an unpredictable world.
Thomas Elbert and Brigitte Rockstroh review The End Of Stress As We Know It by Bruce McEwen and Does Stress Damage the Brain? Understanding Trauma-related Disorders from a Mind–Body Perspective by J. Douglas Bremner
doi:10.1038/421477a
Sowing the seeds of modified crops p478
Gordon Conway reviews Genes for Africa: Genetically Modified Crops in the Developing World by Jennifer A. Thomson
doi:10.1038/421478a
A knotty story p479
Andrzej Stasiak reviews Knots: Mathematics with a Twist by Alexei Sossinsky and Giselle Weiss
doi:10.1038/421479a
What's blue and sticky? p479
doi:10.1038/421479b
Lifeline
Francis Albarède: Solid foundations p481
doi:10.1038/421481a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (98K)
News and Views
Particle physics: Now you see them, now you don't p485
Evidence has been growing that the fundamental particles known as neutrinos oscillate — one type of neutrino can transform into another type. A well-placed experiment now points to the definitive answer.
David Wark
doi:10.1038/421485a
DNA repair: Damage alert p486
Radiation and other harmful influences frequently damage our genes, potentially causing diseases such as cancer. New work reveals a surprising mechanism that notifies the cellular defence system about DNA damage.
Jiri Bartek and Jiri Lukas
doi:10.1038/421486a
Astronomy: Distant planet is the hottest yet p488
The first planet beyond our Solar System to be detected by means of the transit method has now been found to orbit its star almost twenty times closer than Mercury orbits the Sun.
Timothy M. Brown
doi:10.1038/421488a
Biodiversity: The threat of small households p489
Many studies have suggested that the increasing global human population is having a negative effect on biodiversity. According to new work, another threat comes from the rising number of households.
Nico Keilman
doi:10.1038/421489a
Condensed-matter physics: Tunable colloidal crystals p490
Microscopic particles dispersed in a solvent — a colloidal dispersion — can be a useful model for phase transitions and crystal nucleation. A colloid that can be 'tuned' using an electric field is a valuable new tool.
William B. Russel
doi:10.1038/421490a
Behavioural genetics: Family matters p491
Differential activation of genes inherited from mothers and fathers will manifest itself as conflict in families. The effects are being explored experimentally with mice.
David Haig
doi:10.1038/421491a
100 and 50 years ago p492
doi:10.1038/421492a
news and views in brief p493
doi:10.1038/421493a
Brief Communications
Neurophysiology: Sensing temperature without ion channels p495
A remarkable gel under the shark's skin enables it to locate prey-rich thermal fronts.
Brandon R. Brown
doi:10.1038/421495a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (92K)
Nanoelectromechanical systems: Nanodevice motion at microwave frequencies p496
Xue Ming Henry Huang, Christian A. Zorman, Mehran Mehregany and Michael L. Roukes
doi:10.1038/421496a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (284K)
Genomic function (communication arising): Rate of evolution and gene dispensability p496
Csaba Pál, Balázs Papp and Laurence D. Hurst
doi:10.1038/421496b
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (284K)
Genomic function (communication arising): Rate of evolution and gene dispensability p497
Aaron E. Hirsh and Hunter B. Fraser
doi:10.1038/421497a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (373K)
Cosmology (communication arising): Do black holes constrain varying constants? p498
Steven Carlip and Sachindeo Vaidya
doi:10.1038/421498a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (159K)
Article
DNA damage activates ATM through intermolecular autophosphorylation and dimer dissociation p499
Christopher J. Bakkenist and Michael B. Kastan
doi:10.1038/nature01368
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (561K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Bartek & Lukas
Letters to Nature
An extrasolar planet that transits the disk of its parent star p507
Maciej Konacki, Guillermo Torres, Saurabh Jha and Dimitar D. Sasselov
doi:10.1038/nature01379
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (307K)
See also: News and Views by Brown
Long-distance teleportation of qubits at telecommunication wavelengths p509
I. Marcikic, H. de Riedmatten, W. Tittel, H. Zbinden and N. Gisin
doi:10.1038/nature01376
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (261K)
A colloidal model system with an interaction tunable from hard sphere to soft and dipolar p513
Anand Yethiraj and Alfons van Blaaderen
doi:10.1038/nature01328
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (645K)
See also: News and Views by Russel
High-temperature superconductor bulk magnets that can trap magnetic fields of over 17 tesla at 29 K p517
Masaru Tomita and Masato Murakami
doi:10.1038/nature01350
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (361K)
The effects of surfactants on spilling breaking waves p520
Xinan Liu and James H. Duncan
doi:10.1038/nature01357
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (549K)
Damage to the shallow Landers fault from the nearby Hector Mine earthquake p524
John E. Vidale and Yong-Gang Li
doi:10.1038/nature01354
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (255K)
Head and backbone of the Early Cambrian vertebrate Haikouichthys p526
D.-G. Shu, S. Conway Morris, J. Han, Z.-F. Zhang, K. Yasui, P. Janvier, L. Chen, X.-L. Zhang, J.-N. Liu, Y. Li and H.-Q. Liu
doi:10.1038/nature01264
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (419K) | Supplementary information
Effects of household dynamics on resource consumption and biodiversity p530
Jianguo Liu, Gretchen C. Daily, Paul R. Ehrlich and Gary W. Luck
doi:10.1038/nature01359
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (248K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Keilman
The genetic basis of family conflict resolution in mice p533
Reinmar Hager and Rufus A. Johnstone
doi:10.1038/nature01239
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (170K)
See also: News and Views by Haig
A spatially organized representation of colour in macaque cortical area V2 p535
Youping Xiao, Yi Wang and Daniel J. Felleman
doi:10.1038/nature01372
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (362K) | Supplementary information
Inhibitory feedback required for network oscillatory responses to communication but not prey stimuli p539
Brent Doiron, Maurice J. Chacron, Leonard Maler, André Longtin and Joseph Bastian
doi:10.1038/nature01360
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (339K) | Supplementary information
Fidelity in planar cell polarity signalling p543
Dali Ma, Chung-hui Yang, Helen McNeill, Michael A. Simon and Jeffrey D. Axelrod
doi:10.1038/nature01366
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (484K)
Haematopoietic stem cells retain long-term repopulating activity and multipotency in the absence of stem-cell leukaemia SCL/tal-1 gene p547
Hanna K. A. Mikkola, Jenny Klintman, Haidi Yang, Hanno Hock, Thorsten M. Schlaeger, Yuko Fujiwara and Stuart H. Orkin
doi:10.1038/nature01345
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (401K)
Crystal structure of the human angiotensin-converting enzyme–lisinopril complex p551
Ramanathan Natesh, Sylva L. U. Schwager, Edward D. Sturrock and K. Ravi Acharya
doi:10.1038/nature01370
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (863K) | Supplementary information
New on the Market
Proteomics paraphernalia p555
Synthesis, analysis and screening.
doi:10.1038/421555a
Naturejobs
ProspectsVisions of Europe's future p557
Paul Smaglik
doi:10.1038/nj6922-557a
movers
Movers p558
doi:10.1038/nj6922-558a