Table of contents
Volume 427 Number 6969 pp1-85
Editorials
Complacency about misconduct p1
Plagiarism is a serious sin, but universities and journals do not always respond appropriately. A case reported this week suggests that some in the physical sciences have yet to appreciate the threat to confidence in science.
doi:10.1038/427001a
Nature's twentieth-century highs p1
Celebrating a book about discoveries that changed science.
doi:10.1038/427001b
News
Plagiarism in Cambridge physics lab prompts calls for guidelines p3
Jim Giles
doi:10.1038/427003a
Primate lab faces closure threat over mistreatment charge p4
Quirin Schiermeier
doi:10.1038/427004a
Ecologists hit out at plan to export Argentinian parrots p4
Rex Dalton
doi:10.1038/427004b
Mars satellite flies into hunt for lost Beagle 2 p5
Declan Butler
doi:10.1038/427005a
Beef blockade greets first mad cow in United States p5
Rex Dalton and Erika Check
doi:10.1038/427005b
News Features
Music and Chemistry: Organ failure p8
Across continental Europe, historical instruments are falling silent, muted by a new and mysterious form of corrosion. Tom Clarke speaks to the chemical detectives who are striving to protect our musical heritage.
doi:10.1038/427008a
Oceanography: All wired up p10
The ocean floor is being covered with remote-controlled observatories, letting oceanographers keep tabs on the sea without getting wet. Jon Copley investigates.
doi:10.1038/427010a
Correspondence
Tough lessons for survival in hard academic times p13
Should young scientists still follow their hearts or do they have to follow the money?
John A. Duley
doi:10.1038/427013a
White House cost-cutting undermines productivity p13
Matthew C. Salanga
doi:10.1038/427013b
Joint efforts needed to forecast space weather p13
Julian Hunt and Andrew Coates
doi:10.1038/427013c
Books and Arts
The hidden cost of health care p15
Is biomedical research justified on moral and ethical grounds?
Arthur Caplan reviews What Price Better Health? Hazards of the Research Imperative by Daniel Callahan
doi:10.1038/427015a
Characters from the dawn of chemistry p16
John Emsley reviews The Last Sorcerers: The Path from Alchemy to the Periodic Table by Richard Morris
doi:10.1038/427016a
The bits that make up the Universe p16
Michael A. Nielsen reviews Information: The New Language of Science by Hans Christian von Baeyer
doi:10.1038/427016b
Virtual art: Art that draws you in p17
Alison Abbott
doi:10.1038/427017a
News and Views
Astrobiology: Water, water, everywhere? p19
On Earth, no living organism can function without water. It is, in the words of Albert Szent-Györgyi, the matrix of life. But is it reasonable to assume that this maxim holds on other worlds too?
Philip Ball
doi:10.1038/427019a
Vision: The need for speed p20
Neurons in the retina turn on and off rapidly in response to light. With the discovery of mutations in human genes that mediate this quick turn-off, we have the first picture of its importance in visual perception.
Kendall J. Blumer
doi:10.1038/427020a
Semiconductor physics: Relativity on a chip p21
The manipulation of electronic spins — 'spintronics' — might be the basis of future device technology. A subtle relativistic effect offers a way to flip spins inside a semiconducting material.
Michael E. Flatté
doi:10.1038/427021a
Palaeontology: Chinese lantern for early primates p22
A fossil skull from China, dating to 55 million years ago, provides much-needed substantial evidence of early primates in Asia. Interpretation of the creature's eye size and activity pattern will spark debate.
Robert D. Martin
doi:10.1038/427022a
Oceanography: The southern supplier p23
Physical processes in the Southern Ocean largely control nutrient distribution in the global marine environment, a finding that further highlights the influence of this oceanic region on Earth's climate.
Joachim Ribbe
doi:10.1038/427023a
100 and 50 years ago p23
doi:10.1038/427023b
Cell biology: Shape-shifting protein channel p24
Newly made proteins are moved across cellular membranes through a protein channel. The crystal structure of this channel is now revealed and confirms expectations that it must change shape to allow proteins to pass.
Jordi Benach and John F. Hunt
doi:10.1038/427024a
Atmospheric pollution: The veil of two cities p25
Juliane Mössinger
doi:10.1038/427025a
News and views in brief p27
doi:10.1038/427027a
Brief Communications
Secrets of successful stone-skipping p29
Hitting the water at a magic angle gives top performance in a time-honoured pastime.
Christophe Clanet, Fabien Hersen and Lydéric Bocquet
doi:10.1038/427029a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (155K)
Plant degradation: A nematode expansin acting on plants p30
Ling Qin, Urszula Kudla, Erwin H. A. Roze, Aska Goverse, Herman Popeijus, Jeroen Nieuwland, Hein Overmars, John T. Jones, Arjen Schots, Geert Smant, Jaap Bakker and Johannes Helder
doi:10.1038/427030a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (67K)
Review
Reconstructing galaxy histories from globular clusters p31
Michael J. West, Patrick Côté, Ronald O. Marzke and Andrés Jordán
doi:10.1038/nature02235
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (247K)
Article
X-ray structure of a protein-conducting channel p36
Bert van den Berg, William M. Clemons, Jr, Ian Collinson, Yorgo Modis, Enno Hartmann, Stephen C. Harrison and Tom A. Rapoport
doi:10.1038/nature02218
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (501K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Benach & Hunt
Letters to Nature
A correlation between the cosmic microwave background and large-scale structure in the Universe p45
Stephen Boughn and Robert Crittenden
doi:10.1038/nature02139
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (141K) | Supplementary information
A large population of 'Lyman-break' galaxies in a protocluster at redshift z 
4.1 p47
George K. Miley, Roderik A. Overzier, Zlatan I. Tsvetanov, Rychard J. Bouwens, Narciso Benítez, John P. Blakeslee, Holland C. Ford, Garth D. Illingworth, Marc Postman, Piero Rosati, Mark Clampin, George F. Hartig, Andrew W. Zirm, Huub J. A. Röttgering, Bram P. Venemans, David R. Ardila, Frank Bartko, Tom J. Broadhurst, Robert A. Brown, Chris J. Burrows, E. S. Cheng, Nicholas J. G. Cross, Carlos De Breuck, Paul D. Feldman, Marijn Franx, David A. Golimowski, Caryl Gronwall, Leopoldo Infante, André R. Martel, Felipe Menanteau, Gerhardt R. Meurer, Marco Sirianni, Randy A. Kimble, John E. Krist, William B. Sparks, Hien D. Tran, Richard L. White and Wei Zheng
doi:10.1038/nature02125
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (295K)
Coherent spin manipulation without magnetic fields in strained semiconductors p50
Y. Kato, R. C. Myers, A. C. Gossard and D. D. Awschalom
doi:10.1038/nature02202
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (316K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Flatté
The interface between silicon and a high-k oxide p53
Clemens J. Först, Christopher R. Ashman, Karlheinz Schwarz and Peter E. Blöchl
doi:10.1038/nature02204
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (240K)
High-latitude controls of thermocline nutrients and low latitude biological productivity p56
J. L. Sarmiento, N. Gruber, M. A. Brzezinski and J. P. Dunne
doi:10.1038/nature02127
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (371K)
See also: News and Views by Ribbe
Stability of magnesite and its high-pressure form in the lowermost mantle p60
Maiko Isshiki, Tetsuo Irifune, Kei Hirose, Shigeaki Ono, Yasuo Ohishi, Tetsu Watanuki, Eiji Nishibori, Masaki Takata and Makoto Sakata
doi:10.1038/nature02181
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (326K)
Unmatched tempo of evolution in Southern African semi-desert ice plants p63
C. Klak, G. Reeves and T. Hedderson
doi:10.1038/nature02243
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (176K)
A euprimate skull from the early Eocene of China p65
Xijun Ni, Yuanqing Wang, Yaoming Hu and Chuankui Li
doi:10.1038/nature02126
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (430K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Martin
Unsaturated fatty acid content in seston and tropho-dynamic coupling in lakes p69
Dörthe C. Müller-Navarra, Michael T. Brett, Sangkyu Park, Sudeep Chandra, Ashley P. Ballantyne, Eduardo Zorita and Charles R. Goldman
doi:10.1038/nature02210
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (226K) | Supplementary information
SOS response promotes horizontal dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes p72
John W. Beaber, Bianca Hochhut and Matthew K. Waldor
doi:10.1038/nature02241
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (200K) | Supplementary information
Defects in RGS9 or its anchor protein R9AP in patients with slow photoreceptor deactivation p75
Koji M. Nishiguchi, Michael A. Sandberg, Aart C. Kooijman, Kirill A. Martemyanov, Jan W. R. Pott, Stephanie A. Hagstrom, Vadim Y. Arshavsky, Eliot L. Berson and Thaddeus P. Dryja
doi:10.1038/nature02170
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (277K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Blumer
Expression and function of orphan nuclear receptor TLX in adult neural stem cells p78
Yanhong Shi, D. Chichung Lie, Philippe Taupin, Kinichi Nakashima, Jasodhara Ray, Ruth T. Yu, Fred H. Gage and Ronald M. Evans
doi:10.1038/nature02211
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (505K) | Supplementary information