Table of contents
Volume 425 Number 6955 pp223-327
In this issue (18 September 2003)
Editorials
Ecstasy's after-effects p223
Following the retraction of a high-profile paper, the US research agency that supports research on drug abuse needs to ensure its independence from intense political pressure to prove that recreational drugs are harmful.
doi:10.1038/425223a
A necessary setback for world trade p223
The world's poorer countries took a stand at Cancún to defend free trade in agriculture.
doi:10.1038/425223b
News
Drug companies snub antibiotics as pipeline threatens to run dry p225
Tom Clarke
doi:10.1038/425225a
Europe offers grants to young stars p225
Jim Giles
doi:10.1038/425225b
Software mogul turns to mouse for genetic atlas of the brain p226
Rex Dalton
doi:10.1038/425226a
California laboratory mourns loss of H-bomb pioneer p226
Jonathan Knight
doi:10.1038/425226b
Worm genes harnessed to tackle snail fever p227
David Cyranoski
doi:10.1038/425227a
Chemists seek image overhaul p227
Helen Pearson
doi:10.1038/425227b
African institute ready for meeting of mathematical minds p228
Tom Clarke
doi:10.1038/425228a
Academics sidelined in battle against computer worms p228
Declan Butler
doi:10.1038/425228b
Flight veteran embraces NASA's science wing p229
Tony Reichhardt
doi:10.1038/425229a
Galileo gears up for swansong as crash-landing looms p229
John Moore
doi:10.1038/425229b
News Features
Gene regulation: Switched on to RNA p232
Shape-shifting RNAs that sense the environment — 'riboswitches' — can alter gene activity. Jonathan Knight reports on a discovery that is explaining some of the mysteries of gene regulation.
doi:10.1038/425232a
Science education: Spare me the lecture p234
US research universities, with their enormous classes, have a poor reputation for teaching science. Experts agree that a shake-up is needed, but which strategies work best? Kendall Powell goes back to school.
doi:10.1038/425234a
Correspondence
It's time for the US and Muslims to work together p237
Each side has problems to solve and much to gain from contact with the wider world.
Dirie Ahmed
doi:10.1038/425237a
Bomb dosimetry unlikely to change risk estimates p237
Kenneth L. Mossman
doi:10.1038/425237b
Bomb dosimetry unlikely to change risk estimates p237
Kenneth L. Mossman
doi:10.1038/425237c
Nothing new under the Sun? p237
Merrick Moseley
doi:10.1038/425237d
Books and Arts
Cosmological questions p239
Can 'big science' shed light on dark matter and the nature of the cosmos?
Martin Rees reviews Connecting Quarks With the Cosmos: Eleven Science Questions for the New Century by the Committee on the Physics of the Universe, National Research Council of the National Academies
doi:10.1038/425239a
From Manhattan to Los Alamos p240
Herbert York reviews The National Labs: Science in an American System 1947–1974 by Peter J. Westwick
doi:10.1038/425240a
Life, the Universe and everything p241
Nicholas Wade reviews Magic Universe: The Oxford Guide to Modern Science by Nigel Calder
doi:10.1038/425241a
Exhibition: Building on nature p241
Peter Forbes
doi:10.1038/425241b
News and Views
Nanotechnology: Wires on water p243
A centuries-old technique for transporting timber is the inspiration for a new method of assembling nanowires into large-scale, ordered patterns that could form the basis of a new generation of electronic devices.
Peidong Yang
doi:10.1038/425243a
Molecular biology: MicroRNA is here to stay p244
A form of gene regulation that uses small RNA molecules to bind to longer RNAs was first described over a decade ago, but was thought to be of little significance in controlling cellular processes. No longer.
Philip N. Benfey
doi:10.1038/425244a
Electronics: Nanotechnology goes large p244
Ed Gerstner
doi:10.1038/425244b
Quantum optics: Single atom lases orderly light p246
A laser that operates through repeated emission from a single atom is very different from the lasers we know. The beam of light produced has a more orderly photon stream than even the quietest laser.
Howard Carmichael and Luis A. Orozco
doi:10.1038/425246a
Cancer: Cues for migration p247
Lack of oxygen causes the cells of certain tumours to spread to new locations. It also activates a homing mechanism that enables the migrating cells to target specific organs.
René Bernards
doi:10.1038/425247a
Palaeobotany: Fishing for the first plants p248
Sifting of organic residues from ancient rocks has netted a catch of tiny fossils that provide clues about when plant life first appeared on land.
Paul Kenrick
doi:10.1038/425248a
Global change: Probing early atmospheres p249
Information about atmospheric conditions far back in Earth's history is embedded in the isotopic composition of fossil microbes. Such studies are technically demanding, but hold considerable promise.
Stephen J. Mojzsis
doi:10.1038/425249a
Developmental biology: A tadpole's tale p250
Amanda Tromans
doi:10.1038/425250a
Viral genetics: Deadly partnerships p251
Pairs of viral genomes work together to destroy their hosts more quickly. How this might occur remains unknown, but study of the phenomenon should provide insight into how genetic systems evolve.
Steven A. Frank
doi:10.1038/425251a
100 and 50 years ago p251
doi:10.1038/425251b
News and views in brief p253
doi:10.1038/425253a
Brief Communications
Aquatic ecology: Delivery of pollutants by spawning salmon p255
Fish dump toxic industrial compounds in Alaskan lakes on their return from the ocean.
E. M. Krümmel, R. W. Macdonald, L. E. Kimpe, I. Gregory-Eaves, M. J. Demers, J. P. Smol, B. Finney and J. M. Blais
doi:10.1038/425255a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (174K)
Kinematics: Wide shear zones in granular bulk flow p256
Denis Fenistein and Martin van Hecke
doi:10.1038/425256a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (121K)
Article
Control of leaf morphogenesis by microRNAs p257
Javier F. Palatnik, Edwards Allen, Xuelin Wu, Carla Schommer, Rebecca Schwab, James C. Carrington and Detlef Weigel
doi:10.1038/nature01958
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (648K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Benfey
Letters to Nature
The formation of cluster elliptical galaxies as revealed by extensive star formation p264
J. A. Stevens, R. J. Ivison, J. S. Dunlop, Ian R. Smail, W. J. Percival, D. H. Hughes, H. J. A. Röttgering, W. J. M. van Breugel and M. Reuland
doi:10.1038/nature01976
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (298K)
Experimental realization of a one-atom laser in the regime of strong coupling p268
J. McKeever, A. Boca, A. D. Boozer, J. R. Buck and H. J. Kimble
doi:10.1038/nature01974
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (257K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Carmichael & Orozco
Quantum critical behaviour in a high-Tc superconductor p271
D. van der Marel, H. J. A. Molegraaf, J. Zaanen, Z. Nussinov, F. Carbone, A. Damascelli, H. Eisaki, M. Greven, P. H. Kes and M. Li
doi:10.1038/nature01978
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (279K)
High-performance thin-film transistors using semiconductor nanowires and nanoribbons p274
Xiangfeng Duan, Chunming Niu, Vijendra Sahi, Jian Chen, J. Wallace Parce, Stephen Empedocles and Jay L. Goldman
doi:10.1038/nature01996
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (370K) | Supplementary information
High CO2 levels in the Proterozoic atmosphere estimated from analyses of individual microfossils p279
Alan J. Kaufman and Shuhai Xiao
doi:10.1038/nature01902
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (380K)
Fragments of the earliest land plants p282
Charles H. Wellman, Peter L. Osterloff and Uzma Mohiuddin
doi:10.1038/nature01884
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (383K)
See also: News and Views by Kenrick
Inferring the palaeoenvironment of ancient bacteria on the basis of resurrected proteins p285
Eric A. Gaucher, J. Michael Thomson, Michelle F. Burgan and Steven A. Benner
doi:10.1038/nature01977
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (257K) | Supplementary information
Patterns of predation in a diverse predator–prey system p288
A. R. E. Sinclair, Simon Mduma and Justin S. Brashares
doi:10.1038/nature01934
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (188K) | Supplementary information
The evolutionary inheritance of elemental stoichiometry in marine phytoplankton p291
Antonietta Quigg, Zoe V. Finkel, Andrew J. Irwin, Yair Rosenthal, Tung-Yuan Ho, John R. Reinfelder, Oscar Schofield, Francois M. M. Morel and Paul G. Falkowski
doi:10.1038/nature01953
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (257K) | Supplementary information
Predicted recurrences of mass coral mortality in the Indian Ocean p294
Charles R. C. Sheppard
doi:10.1038/nature01987
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (544K) | Supplementary information
Monkeys reject unequal pay p297
Sarah F. Brosnan and Frans B. M. de Waal
doi:10.1038/nature01963
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (184K)
cdx4 mutants fail to specify blood progenitors and can be rescued by multiple hox genes p300
Alan J. Davidson, Patricia Ernst, Yuan Wang, Marcus P. S. Dekens, Paul D. Kingsley, James Palis, Stanley J. Korsmeyer, George Q. Daley and Leonard I. Zon
doi:10.1038/nature01973
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (657K) | Supplementary information
Chemokine receptor CXCR4 downregulated by von Hippel–Lindau tumour suppressor pVHL p307
Peter Staller, Jitka Sulitkova, Joanna Lisztwan, Holger Moch, Edward J. Oakeley and Wilhelm Krek
doi:10.1038/nature01874
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (477K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Bernards
The BTB protein MEL-26 is a substrate-specific adaptor of the CUL-3 ubiquitin-ligase p311
Lionel Pintard, John H. Willis, Andrew Willems, Jacque-Lynne F. Johnson, Martin Srayko, Thimo Kurz, Sarah Glaser, Paul E. Mains, Mike Tyers, Bruce Bowerman and Matthias Peter
doi:10.1038/nature01959
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (503K) | Supplementary information
BTB proteins are substrate-specific adaptors in an SCF-like modular ubiquitin ligase containing CUL-3 p316
Lai Xu, Yue Wei, Jerome Reboul, Philippe Vaglio, Tae-Ho Shin, Marc Vidal, Stephen J. Elledge and J. Wade Harper
doi:10.1038/nature01985
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (544K)
Naturejobs
ProspectsWorking for peanuts p323
Paul Smaglik
doi:10.1038/nj6955-323a
CAREERS AND RECRUITMENT
Biomedicine meets engineering p324
Steady philanthropic support, new federal funding and increased commercial interest are mixing in the United States to create a large and growing number of opportunities for a new breed of multidisciplinary researcher, says Virginia Gewin.
Virginia Gewin
doi:10.1038/nj6955-324a
Europe chips in for training p326
The United States may have more coordinated funding, but Europe is taking the lead in training biomedical engineers. Ralf Jox reports.
Ralf Jox
doi:10.1038/nj6955-326a
Engineering your own path p327
Prospects are good for biomedical engineers across industry — and there's still room for entrepreneurs, say Ralf Jox and Virginia Gewin.
Ralf Jox and Virginia Gewin
doi:10.1038/nj6955-327a