Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Volume 421 Issue 6925, 20 February 2003

Editorial

  • Hopeful authors of research papers will help themselves by reading our new Guide to Authors before submission. This also highlights the need and opportunity to communicate more effectively with important non-specialist audiences.

    Editorial

    Advertisement

  • Despite recent gloom, there are worse things on which to spend personal wealth than a hunt for intelligent extraterrestrials.

    Editorial
  • As discussed in a Commentary by Tony Fauci on page 787, the threat of bioterrorism requires active consideration by scientists. On 9 January 2003, the US National Academy of Sciences held a discussion meeting on the balance between scientific openness and security (see Nature 421, 197; 2003). The next day, a group of editors* met to discuss the issues with specific reference to the scientific publication process. The following statement has emerged from that meeting. The statement was conceived in a US context, but the principles discussed will be considered and followed through by Nature and its related journals in their international arenas.

    Editorial
Top of page ⤴

News

Top of page ⤴

News in Brief

Top of page ⤴

News Feature

  • From wobbly bridges to new speech-recognition systems, the concept of synchrony seems to pervade our world. Steve Nadis reports on attempts to understand it, and the applications that may be on the horizon.

    • Steve Nadis
    News Feature
  • How do you run an experiment that takes thousands of years? As scientists studying nuclear-waste disposal are finding out, the answer is to look back in time. Philip Ball reports.

    • Philip Ball
    News Feature
Top of page ⤴

Correspondence

Top of page ⤴

Commentary

Top of page ⤴

Book Review

Top of page ⤴

Lifeline

Top of page ⤴

News & Views

  • It has long been known that cells repair chemically or physically damaged DNA. But the discovery that damaged RNA can also be repaired may come as a surprise. What's more, some of the same enzymes are involved.

    • Thomas J. Begley
    • Leona D. Samson
    News & Views
  • Small, but consistent, steps are being taken towards the realization of a quantum computer. The demonstration of the coupling of two quantum bits in a solid-state device moves us closer to that goal.

    • Gianni Blatter
    News & Views
  • The brain's hippocampal region contains many classes of interneurons, which, it transpires, show different patterns of activity. They might contribute to memory by shaping the dynamics of neuronal networks.

    • Edvard I. Moser
    News & Views
  • Self-organized systems can evolve by small parameter shifts that produce large changes in outcome. Concepts from mathematical ecology show how the way swarming bees dance helps to achieve unanimous decisions.

    • P. Kirk Visscher
    News & Views
  • Using the methods of polymer deposition that are employed in making integrated circuits, light-emitting polymers can be patterned for application in flat-screen, full-colour displays.

    • Andrew Holmes
    News & Views
  • Molecular chaperones are generally thought to protect newly synthesized proteins and ensure that they fold into the correct shape. But it seems that two chaperones also help to target certain proteins to mitochondria.

    • R. John Ellis
    News & Views
  • The confinement of photons in a resonant cavity is the basis of laser operation. A device that has a resonant cavity for acoustic phonons inside an optical cavity enhances the interaction between sound and light.

    • John M. Worlock
    • Michael L. Roukes
    News & Views
Top of page ⤴

Brief Communication

Top of page ⤴

Correction

Top of page ⤴

Review Article

Top of page ⤴

Article

Top of page ⤴

Letter

Top of page ⤴

New on the Market

Top of page ⤴

Prospects

Top of page ⤴

Special Report

  • Forensics offers career opportunities for the Sherlock Holmes of the future — and the work is far from elementary, says Susan Myers.

    • Susan Myers
    Special Report
Top of page ⤴
Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Quick links