Table of contents
Volume 423 Number 6942 pp787-901
Editorials
Pros and cons of centralization p787
A proposal by Germany's science minister to concentrate power over much of the country's best research is less monstrous than some are suggesting, but still leaves plenty to worry about.
doi:10.1038/423787a
Silence of the neuroengineers p787
Researchers funded by a defence agency should stop skirting the ethical issues involved.
doi:10.1038/423787b
News
US army attacked over published patent for 'bioweapons grenade' p789
Erika Check
doi:10.1038/423789a
Whaling group backs conservation p789
Charlotte Westney
doi:10.1038/423789b
Traditional wheat breeder fights for funding p790
Rex Dalton
doi:10.1038/423790a
German reform plan arouses fears for autonomy p790
Quirin Schiermeier
doi:10.1038/423790b
China and Germany join forces over SARS p791
Alison Abbott
doi:10.1038/423791a
Clinical data marshalled to treat HIV p791
Tom Clarke
doi:10.1038/423791b
British panel bans use of antidepressant to treat children p792
Alison Abbott
doi:10.1038/423792a
Researchers rattled as Kyoto Protocol hangs in the balance p792
Quirin Schiermeier
doi:10.1038/423792b
Ecologists seek to turn tide on Colorado River p793
Rex Dalton
doi:10.1038/423793a
Hive beetle causes a buzz in Europe p793
Philipp Graf
doi:10.1038/423793b
news feature
Neuroengineering: Remote control p796
Could wiring up soldiers' brains to the fighting machines they control be the future face of warfare? Hannah Hoag investigates the US military's futuristic neuroengineering research programme.
Hannah Hoag
doi:10.1038/423796a
Structural biology: The crystal's in the mail... p799
Do you need to solve the structure of a complex biological molecule quickly, or require some expert help doing it? No problem. Tracy Smith Schmidt samples the delights of 'mail-in' crystallography.
Tracy Smith Schmidt
doi:10.1038/423799a
Correspondence
How e-mail raises the spectre of a digital Dark Age p801
Records can be wiped out by a click of the mouse or rendered unreadable by upgrades.
Errol C. Friedberg, Herbert K. Hagler and Kevin J. Land
doi:10.1038/423801a
Britannica: source of a passion for physics p801
Min-Liang Wong
doi:10.1038/423801b
Britannica: which edition inspired Schwinger? p801
Anita Wolff
doi:10.1038/423801c
Books and Arts
A walk to the gallows p803
Could scientific advances be hastening the end of the world?
Don Brownlee reviews Our Final Hour: A Scientist's Warning: How Terror, Error, and Environmental Disaster Threatens Humankind's Future in this Century – On Earth and Beyond/ Our Final Century: Will the Human Race Survive the Twenty-First Century? by Martin Rees
doi:10.1038/423803a
Four legs bad, two legs good p804
Lorenzo Rook reviews Lowly Origin: Where, When, and Why Our Ancestors First Stood Up by Jonathan Kingdon
doi:10.1038/423804a
Towards a biology of the mind p805
Alva Noë reviews Brain-Wise: Studies in Neurophilosophy by Patricia Smith Churchland
doi:10.1038/423805a
Exhibition: The medicine man's museum p805
Alison Abbott
doi:10.1038/423805b
News and Views
-ray bursts: The supernova connection p809
They are the most energetic events in the Universe, but the origin of 
-ray bursts has been hard to establish. Observations of a burst close to our Galaxy now show that supernovae are, as suspected, likely culprits.
Peter Mészáros
doi:10.1038/423809a
Genome biology: Tales of the Y chromosome p810
Determining the sequence of the human Y chromosome presented a daunting challenge to genome researchers. But the task is now done, and the secrets revealed justify the effort.
Huntington F. Willard
doi:10.1038/423810a
100 and 50 years ago p811
doi:10.1038/423811a
Global change: Ups and downs in the Red Sea p813
Changes in past conditions in the Red Sea have been exploited to provide a detailed record of sea-level variation over much of the last glacial period. That record might tie in with events in the far south and north.
Frank Sirocko
doi:10.1038/423813a
Gene regulation: Versatile assembler p814
The protein machines that assemble and remodel chromosomal proteins often contain a common component. The role of this component in maintaining stability during development is now revealed.
Steven Henikoff
doi:10.1038/423814a
Echolocation: Volume control p815
Amanda Tromans
doi:10.1038/423815a
Cosmology: Beyond the inflationary border p817
Observational data now offer strong support for inflation — a period of exponentially fast expansion in the early history of the Universe. But is the theory complete?
Steven Gratton and Paul Steinhardt
doi:10.1038/423817a
Materials science: Rings of excitement p818
Magdalena Helmer
doi:10.1038/423818a
Cell cycle: Degradation ensures integrity p818
Protein degradation terminates a range of biochemical activities in living cells. New work shows that a component of the 'licensing' system for DNA replication must be degraded to prevent re-replication during cell division.
Anatoliy Li and J. Julian Blow
doi:10.1038/423818b
news and views in brief p820
doi:10.1038/423820a
Brief Communications
Palaeobiology: The missing link in Ginkgo evolution p821
The modern maidenhair tree has barely changed since the days of the dinosaurs.
Zhiyan Zhou and Shaolin Zheng
doi:10.1038/423821a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (160K) | Supplementary information
Ion channels: Opposite thermosensor in fruitfly and mouse p822
Veena Viswanath, Gina M. Story, Andrea M. Peier, Matt J. Petrus, Van M. Lee, Sun Wook Hwang, Ardem Patapoutian and Tim Jegla
doi:10.1038/423822a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (135K)
RNA interference: Producing decaffeinated coffee plants p823
Shinjiro Ogita, Hirotaka Uefuji, Yube Yamaguchi, Nozomu Koizumi and Hiroshi Sano
doi:10.1038/423823a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (335K)
Ecology (communication arising): Mycorrhizal weathering in base-poor forests p823
Shaun A. Watmough and Peter J. Dillon
doi:10.1038/423823b
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (335K)
Ecology (communication arising): Mycorrhizal weathering in base-poor forests p824
Joel D. Blum, Andrea Klaue, Carmen A. Nezat, Charles T. Driscoll, Chris E. Johnson, Thomas G. Siccama, Christopher Eagar, Timothy J. Fahey and Gene E. Likens
doi:10.1038/423824a
Articles
The male-specific region of the human Y chromosome is a mosaic of discrete sequence classes p825
Helen Skaletsky, Tomoko Kuroda-Kawaguchi, Patrick J. Minx, Holland S. Cordum, LaDeana Hillier, Laura G. Brown, Sjoerd Repping, Tatyana Pyntikova, Johar Ali, Tamberlyn Bieri, Asif Chinwalla, Andrew Delehaunty, Kim Delehaunty, Hui Du, Ginger Fewell, Lucinda Fulton, Robert Fulton, Tina Graves, Shun-Fang Hou, Philip Latrielle, Shawn Leonard, Elaine Mardis, Rachel Maupin, John McPherson, Tracie Miner, William Nash, Christine Nguyen, Philip Ozersky, Kymberlie Pepin, Susan Rock, Tracy Rohlfing, Kelsi Scott, Brian Schultz, Cindy Strong, Aye Tin-Wollam, Shiaw-Pyng Yang, Robert H. Waterston, Richard K. Wilson, Steve Rozen and David C. Page
doi:10.1038/nature01722
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (735K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Willard
Hes1 is a target of microRNA-23 during retinoic-acid-induced neuronal differentiation of NT2 cells p838
Hiroaki Kawasaki and Kazunari Taira
doi:10.1038/nature01730
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (362K) | Supplementary information
Letters to Nature
Structure in the early afterglow light curve of the -ray burst of 29 March 2003 p843
Makoto Uemura, Taichi Kato, Ryoko Ishioka, Hitoshi Yamaoka, Berto Monard, Daisaku Nogami, Hiroyuki Maehara, Atsushi Sugie and Susumu Takahashi
doi:10.1038/nature01735
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (241K)
See also: News and Views by Mészáros
The bright optical afterglow of the nearby -ray burst of 29 March 2003 p844
P. A. Price, D. W. Fox, S. R. Kulkarni, B. A. Peterson, B. P. Schmidt, A. M. Soderberg, S. A. Yost, E. Berger, S. G. Djorgovski, D. A. Frail, F. A. Harrison, R. Sari, A. W. Blain and S. C. Chapman
doi:10.1038/nature01734
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (408K)
See also: News and Views by Mészáros
A very energetic supernova associated with the -ray burst of 29 March 2003 p847
Jens Hjorth, Jesper Sollerman, Palle Møller, Johan P. U. Fynbo, Stan E. Woosley, Chryssa Kouveliotou, Nial R. Tanvir, Jochen Greiner, Michael I. Andersen, Alberto J. Castro-Tirado, José María Castro Cerón, Andrew S. Fruchter, Javier Gorosabel, Páll Jakobsson, Lex Kaper, Sylvio Klose, Nicola Masetti, Holger Pedersen, Kristian Pedersen, Elena Pian, Eliana Palazzi, James E. Rhoads, Evert Rol, Edward P. J. van den Heuvel, Paul M. Vreeswijk, Darach Watson and Ralph A. M. J. Wijers
doi:10.1038/nature01750
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (336K)
See also: News and Views by Mészáros
Beating the superparamagnetic limit with exchange bias p850
Vassil Skumryev, Stoyan Stoyanov, Yong Zhang, George Hadjipanayis, Dominique Givord and Josep Nogués
doi:10.1038/nature01687
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (251K)
Sea-level fluctuations during the last glacial cycle p853
M. Siddall, E. J. Rohling, A. Almogi-Labin, Ch. Hemleben, D. Meischner, I. Schmelzer and D. A. Smeed
doi:10.1038/nature01690
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (675K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Sirocko
Archaean ultra-depleted komatiites formed by hydrous melting of cratonic mantle p858
A. H. Wilson, S. B. Shirey and R. W. Carlson
doi:10.1038/nature01701
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (315K)
Automatic gain control in the echolocation system of dolphins p861
Whitlow W. L. Au and Kelly J. Benoit-Bird
doi:10.1038/nature01727
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (312K)
See also: News and Views by Tromans
Involvement of Notch and Delta genes in spider segmentation p863
Angelika Stollewerk, Michael Schoppmeier and Wim G. M. Damen
doi:10.1038/nature01682
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (262K) | Supplementary information
Somatosensory basis of speech production p866
Stéphanie Tremblay, Douglas M. Shiller and David J. Ostry
doi:10.1038/nature01710
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (340K)
The influence of visual motion on fast reaching movements to a stationary object p869
David Whitney, David A. Westwood and Melvyn A. Goodale
doi:10.1038/nature01693
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (241K) | Supplementary information
Abundant gene conversion between arms of palindromes in human and ape Y chromosomes p873
Steve Rozen, Helen Skaletsky, Janet D. Marszalek, Patrick J. Minx, Holland S. Cordum, Robert H. Waterston, Richard K. Wilson and David C. Page
doi:10.1038/nature01723
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (329K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Willard
Fibronectin requirement in branching morphogenesis p876
Takayoshi Sakai, Melinda Larsen and Kenneth M. Yamada
doi:10.1038/nature01712
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (641K) | Supplementary information
Regulation of flowering time by light quality p881
Pablo D. Cerdán and Joanne Chory
doi:10.1038/nature01636
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (463K) | Supplementary information
CUL-4 ubiquitin ligase maintains genome stability by restraining DNA-replication licensing p885
Weiwei Zhong, Hui Feng, Fernando E. Santiago and Edward T. Kipreos
doi:10.1038/nature01747
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (534K)
See also: News and Views by Li & Blow
RecBCD enzyme is a DNA helicase with fast and slow motors of opposite polarity p889
Andrew F. Taylor and Gerald R. Smith
doi:10.1038/nature01674
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (387K) | Supplementary information
RecBCD enzyme is a bipolar DNA helicase p893
Mark S. Dillingham, Maria Spies and Stephen C. Kowalczykowski
doi:10.1038/nature01673
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (309K) | Supplementary information
Naturejobs
ProspectsCareer-change carousel p899
Paul Smaglik
doi:10.1038/nj6942-899a
POSTDOCS
Home truths p900
Economic conditions are making it harder for young German postdocs to stay in their home country. But a few programmes offer some hope, says Quirin Schiermeier.
Quirin Schiermeier
doi:10.1038/nj6942-900a