Editorials

If it ain't broke, don't fix it (much) p709

Modest structural reforms could help the US National Institutes of Health to maintain its independence — and the public's confidence.

doi:10.1038/424709a

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Welcome to the Anthropocene p709

The sizzling, soaraway summer mustn't get in the way of European climate scientists' objectivity.

doi:10.1038/424709b

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News

Chinese fusion method promises fresh route to human stem cells p711

Carina Dennis

doi:10.1038/424711a

Full Text | PDF (149K)

Alpine thaw breaks ice over permafrost's role p712

Quirin Schiermeier

doi:10.1038/424712a

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Flowers' sick trick gives botanists double trouble p712

John Whitfield

doi:10.1038/424712b

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Plant-disease experts blighted by red tape p713

Jonathan Knight

doi:10.1038/424713a

Full Text | PDF (102K)

Gold-mine conversion eases closer p713

Geoff Brumfiel

doi:10.1038/424713b

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Astronomers count the cost of thinking big p714

Carina Dennis

doi:10.1038/424714a

Full Text | PDF (141K)

Bush accused of power abuse over science p715

Erika Check

doi:10.1038/424715a

Full Text | PDF (112K)

Biologists call for tracking as mammal numbers dive p715

Rex Dalton

doi:10.1038/424715b

Full Text | PDF (112K)

News in brief p716

doi:10.1038/424716a

Full Text | PDF (95K)

News Features

Lab architecture: Do you want to work here? p718

The architects behind a new generation of laboratories believe their designs can stimulate good science. Laura Bonetta finds out how, and looks at research that may one day help to test their claims.

doi:10.1038/424718a

Full Text | PDF (251K)

Terahertz imaging: T-ray specs p721

Radiation from a previously unexploited region of the electromagnetic spectrum could hold the key to a new generation of security devices. Catherine Zandonella investigates.

doi:10.1038/424721a

Full Text | PDF (270K)

Correspondence

Lack of concern deepens the oceans' problems p723

Research has exposed flaws in marine conservation, yet little is written and less is cited.

Beth F. Kochin and Phillip S. Levin

doi:10.1038/424723a

Full Text | PDF (55K)

Impact factors: just part of a research treadmill p723

Leopoldo de Meis, Maria Scarlet do Carmo and Carla de Meis

doi:10.1038/424723b

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Books and Arts

A stranger in a strange land p725

Bill Bryson's latest journey takes him through the unfamiliar world of science.

Walter Gratzer reviews A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

doi:10.1038/424725a

Full Text | PDF (128K)

Living with the Neanderthals p726

Michael A. Goldman reviews Darwin's Children: Evolution Has Changed the Face of the World by Greg Bear

doi:10.1038/424726a

Full Text | PDF (117K)

Art: Seeing the light p726

David Cyranoski

doi:10.1038/424726b

Full Text | PDF (117K)

The last of its kind? p727

Donat Agosti reviews Pheidole in the New World: A Dominant, Hyperdiverse Ant Genus by Edward O. Wilson

doi:10.1038/424727a

Full Text | PDF (94K)

Lifelines

Oleg Krishtal: Conscious efforts p728

doi:10.1038/424728a

Full Text | PDF (78K)

News and Views

Neurobiology: New player in pain p729

Long-term pain must be accompanied by long-term alterations in neuronal signalling — but what causes the changes? In rats, immune-like spinal cells are implicated, together with a molecule new to the field of pain.

Edwin W. McCleskey

doi:10.1038/424729a

Full Text | PDF (99K)

Solid-state physics: Drawing quantum circuitry p730

An atomic-force microscope, operating at low temperatures, can be used to create and tailor quantum electronic devices, and could provide a means of building the intricate circuits needed for quantum computing.

Ray Ashoori

doi:10.1038/424730a

Full Text | PDF (82K)

Global change: The heat on Lake Tanganyika p731

Warming of surface waters and declining fish catches in Lake Tanganyika have been linked to global climate change. The impact of global warming on natural ecosystems may be starting to affect local economies.

Dirk Verschuren

doi:10.1038/424731a

Full Text | PDF (121K)

Cancer: Protective packaging for DNA p732

Histone proteins are best known for their structural role in packaging DNA into a compact form. But it seems that one such protein also works as a tumour suppressor, helping to prevent cancer developing.

Jessica A. Downs and Stephen P. Jackson

doi:10.1038/424732a

Full Text | PDF (4,044K)

Atmospheric physics: A new dawn for aurora p734

A new type of aurora has been observed. Although similar in shape to conventional aurora, it lacks their intensity and dynamics, instead rotating quietly with the Earth.

Patrick T. Newell

doi:10.1038/424734a

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100 and 50 years ago p735

doi:10.1038/424735a

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Immunology: Another toll road p736

The immune response to microbes involves a well-known signalling cascade — but this doesn't control all aspects of anti-pathogen warfare. A second cascade, involving a new 'adaptor' protein, helps fill the gap.

Wen-Chen Yeh and Nien-Jung Chen

doi:10.1038/424736a

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Earth science: Glaciers at work p737

Glaciers have been powerful agents in redistributing sediment and reshaping parts of the Earth's surface. Little is known about how exactly they do it, but a new hypothesis looks set to improve matters.

Jan A. Piotrowski

doi:10.1038/424737a

Full Text | PDF (107K)

Signal transduction: Aspirin, ubiquitin and cancer p738

Tumours sidestep the body's rules and regulations in myriad ways. The latest discovery ties together a benign tumour syndrome with two hot subjects of biological research: the proteins NF-B and ubiquitin.

Keith D. Wilkinson

doi:10.1038/424738a

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News and views in brief p740

doi:10.1038/424740a

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Brief Communications

Marine ecosystems: Bacterial photosynthesis genes in a virus p741

A bacteriophage may protect itself and its host against a deadly effect of bright sunlight.

Nicholas H. Mann, Annabel Cook, Andrew Millard, Shaun Bailey and Martha Clokie

doi:10.1038/424741a

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (106K) | Supplementary information

Cell signalling (communication arising): Cell survival and a Gadd45-factor deficiency p741

Arshad Amanullah, Naiyer Azam, Arthur Balliet, Christine Hollander, Barbara Hoffman, Albert Fornace, Jr and Dan Liebermann

doi:10.1038/424741b

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (106K)

Cell signalling (communication arising): Cell survival and a Gadd45-factor deficiency p742

Francesca Zazzeroni, Salvatore Papa, Enrico De Smaele and Guido Franzoso

doi:10.1038/424742a

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (78K)

Article

Identification of Lps2 as a key transducer of MyD88-independent TIR signalling p743

K. Hoebe, X. Du, P. Georgel, E. Janssen, K. Tabeta, S. O. Kim, J. Goode, P. Lin, N. Mann, S. Mudd, K. Crozat, S. Sovath, J. Han and B. Beutler

doi:10.1038/nature01889

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (539K) | Supplementary information

See also: News and Views by Yeh & Chen

Letters to Nature

A -ray burst with a high-energy spectral component inconsistent with the synchrotron shock model p749

M. M. González, B. L. Dingus, Y. Kaneko, R. D. Preece, C. D. Dermer and M. S. Briggs

doi:10.1038/nature01869

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (247K)

Erasable electrostatic lithography for quantum components p751

Rolf Crook, Abi C. Graham, Charles G. Smith, Ian Farrer, Harvey E. Beere and David A. Ritchie

doi:10.1038/nature01841

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (687K)

See also: News and Views by Ashoori

Climate-driven changes to the atmospheric CO₂ sink in the subtropical North Pacific Ocean p754

John E. Dore, Roger Lukas, Daniel W. Sadler and David M. Karl

doi:10.1038/nature01885

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (332K)

Stabilizing feedbacks in glacier-bed erosion p758

R. B. Alley, D. E. Lawson, G. J. Larson, E. B. Evenson and G. S. Baker

doi:10.1038/nature01839

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (133K)

See also: News and Views by Piotrowski

Intense equatorial flux spots on the surface of the Earth's core p760

Andrew Jackson

doi:10.1038/nature01879

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (658K)

In situ experimental evidence of the fate of a phytodetritus pulse at the abyssal sea floor p763

U. Witte, F. Wenzhöfer, S. Sommer, A. Boetius, P. Heinz, N. Aberle, M. Sand, A. Cremer, W.-R. Abraham, B. B. Jørgensen and O. Pfannkuche

doi:10.1038/nature01799

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (266K)

Climate change decreases aquatic ecosystem productivity of Lake Tanganyika, Africa p766

Catherine M. O'Reilly, Simone R. Alin, Pierre-Denis Plisnier, Andrew S. Cohen and Brent A. McKee

doi:10.1038/nature01833

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (177K) | Supplementary information

See also: News and Views by Verschuren

Action plans used in action observation p769

J. Randall Flanagan and Roland S. Johansson

doi:10.1038/nature01861

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (421K)

Prediction of auditory spatial acuity from neural images on the owl's auditory space map p771

Avinash D. S. Bala, Matthew. W. Spitzer and Terry T. Takahashi

doi:10.1038/nature01835

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (775K)

Direct modulation of synaptic vesicle priming by GABA_B receptor activation at a glutamatergic synapse p775

Takeshi Sakaba and Erwin Neher

doi:10.1038/nature01859

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (421K) | Supplementary information

P2X₄ receptors induced in spinal microglia gate tactile allodynia after nerve injury p778

Makoto Tsuda, Yukari Shigemoto-Mogami, Schuichi Koizumi, Akito Mizokoshi, Shinichi Kohsaka, Michael W. Salter and Kazuhide Inoue

doi:10.1038/nature01786

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (460K) | Supplementary information

See also: News and Views by McCleskey

A camelid antibody fragment inhibits the formation of amyloid fibrils by human lysozyme p783

Mireille Dumoulin, Alexander M. Last, Aline Desmyter, Klaas Decanniere, Denis Canet, Göran Larsson, Andrew Spencer, David B. Archer, Jurgen Sasse, Serge Muyldermans, Lode Wyns, Christina Redfield, André Matagne, Carol V. Robinson and Christopher M. Dobson

doi:10.1038/nature01870

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (647K)

Comparative analyses of multi-species sequences from targeted genomic regions p788

J. W. Thomas, J. W. Touchman, R. W. Blakesley, G. G. Bouffard, S. M. Beckstrom-Sternberg, E. H. Margulies, M. Blanchette, A. C. Siepel, P. J. Thomas, J. C. McDowell, B. Maskeri, N. F. Hansen, M. S. Schwartz, R. J. Weber, W. J. Kent, D. Karolchik, T. C. Bruen, R. Bevan, D. J. Cutler, S. Schwartz, L. Elnitski, J. R. Idol, A. B. Prasad, S.-Q. Lee-Lin, V. V. B. Maduro, T. J. Summers, M. E. Portnoy, N. L. Dietrich, N. Akhter, K. Ayele, B. Benjamin, K. Cariaga, C. P. Brinkley, S. Y. Brooks, S. Granite, X. Guan, J. Gupta, P. Haghighi, S.-L. Ho, M. C. Huang, E. Karlins, P. L. Laric, R. Legaspi, M. J. Lim, Q. L. Maduro, C. A. Masiello, S. D. Mastrian, J. C. McCloskey, R. Pearson, S. Stantripop, E. E. Tiongson, J. T. Tran, C. Tsurgeon, J. L. Vogt, M. A. Walker, K. D. Wetherby, L. S. Wiggins, A. C. Young, L.-H. Zhang, K. Osoegawa, B. Zhu, B. Zhao, C. L. Shu, P. J. De Jong, C. E. Lawrence, A. F. Smit, A. Chakravarti, D. Haussler, P. Green, W. Miller and E. D. Green

doi:10.1038/nature01858

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (376K) | Supplementary information

CYLD is a deubiquitinating enzyme that negatively regulates NF-B activation by TNFR family members p793

Eirini Trompouki, Eudoxia Hatzivassiliou, Theodore Tsichritzis, Hannah Farmer, Alan Ashworth and George Mosialos

doi:10.1038/nature01803

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (422K) | Supplementary information

Loss of the cylindromatosis tumour suppressor inhibits apoptosis by activating NF-B p797

Thijn R. Brummelkamp, Sebastian M. B. Nijman, Annette M. G. Dirac and René Bernards

doi:10.1038/nature01811

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (392K) | Supplementary information

The tumour suppressor CYLD negatively regulates NF-B signalling by deubiquitination p801

Andrew Kovalenko, Christine Chable-Bessia, Giuseppina Cantarella, Alain Israël, David Wallach and Gilles Courtois

doi:10.1038/nature01802

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (417K) | Supplementary information

Rationalization of the effects of mutations on peptide andprotein aggregation rates p805

Fabrizio Chiti, Massimo Stefani, Niccolò Taddei, Giampietro Ramponi and Christopher M. Dobson

doi:10.1038/nature01891

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (197K) | Supplementary information

Insight

Photonic technologies p809

Liesbeth Venema

doi:10.1038/424809a

Full Text | PDF (121K)

A revolution in optical manipulation p810

David G. Grier

doi:10.1038/nature01935

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (435K)

Discretizing light behaviour in linear and nonlinear waveguide lattices p817

Demetrios N. Christodoulides, Falk Lederer and Yaron Silberberg

doi:10.1038/nature01936

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (421K)

Surface plasmon subwavelength optics p824

William L. Barnes, Alain Dereux and Thomas W. Ebbesen

doi:10.1038/nature01937

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (295K)

Recent developments in compact ultrafast lasers p831

Ursula Keller

doi:10.1038/nature01938

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (298K)

Optical microcavities p839

Kerry J. Vahala

doi:10.1038/nature01939

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (419K)

Photonic crystal fibres p847

Jonathan C. Knight

doi:10.1038/nature01940

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (309K)

Photonic structures in biology p852

Pete Vukusic and J. Roy Sambles

doi:10.1038/nature01941

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (489K)

Naturejobs

Upping the ante p857

Paul Smaglik

doi:10.1038/nj6950-857a

Full Text | PDF (93K)

Inspiration from architecture: Building a better scientific rapport p858

Kendall Powell

doi:10.1038/nj6950-858a

Full Text | PDF (204K)