Table of contents
Volume 428 Number 6980 pp239-350
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Editorials
Don't mention the 'F' word p239
The National Institutes of Health's plan for obesity research is undermined by the refusal of the Bush administration to commit to regulation. More attention needs to be paid to public health and less to the interests of the food industry.
doi:10.1038/428239a
Making data dreams come true p239
If new bioinformatics initiatives deliver, cancer researchers can expect a gradual revolution in working practice.
doi:10.1038/428239b
News
Battle lines are drawn as French researchers resign en masse p241
Declan Butler
doi:10.1038/428241a
Geneticists study chimp–human divergence p242
Erika Check
doi:10.1038/428242a
Plague professor gets two years in bioterror case p242
Erika Check
doi:10.1038/428242b
Two arrested for trade in body parts from donor programme p243
Rex Dalton
doi:10.1038/428243a
Outspoken nuclear scientist 'forced out' over polygraph row p243
Jonathan Knight
doi:10.1038/428243b
Varmus advises 'vow of chastity' over NIH staff consultancies p244
Meredith Wadman
doi:10.1038/428244a
Health experts find obesity measures too lightweight p244
Declan Butler
doi:10.1038/428244b
Pentagon attempts to bend light to its will p245
Geoff Brumfiel
doi:10.1038/428245a
Biomedical institute wins reprieve from relocation p245
Laura Nelson
doi:10.1038/428245b
News Features
US science policy: Mission impossible? p250
Mounting criticism of the way the Bush administration handles scientific advice has put John Marburger, the US president's science adviser, in the hot seat. Geoff Brumfiel takes the temperature.
doi:10.1038/428250a
Science of dieting: Slim pickings p252
The dieting industry is a massive money-spinner. Yet across the developed world, waistlines continue to expand. Declan Butler examines the sparse scientific evidence behind the claims made for leading diet plans.
doi:10.1038/428252a
Correspondence
Concern is more than just 'ruffled feathers' p255
If a government abuses science to justify its policies, scientists have a duty to speak out.
Kai M. A. Chan, Stephen Porder, Paul A. T. Higgins and Sasha B. Kramer
doi:10.1038/428255a
Health-aid efforts rely on local infrastructure p255
Clive Shiff
doi:10.1038/428255b
Confidential reports may improve peer review p255
Pedro Cintas
doi:10.1038/428255c
Books and Arts
Shooting time's arrow p257
The laws of physics mean that the Universe is slowly dying.
Paul Davies reviews The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene
doi:10.1038/428257a
Touring artificial minds p258
John L. Casti reviews Alan Turing: Life and Legacy of a Great Thinker
doi:10.1038/428258a
In Newton's long shadow p258
Lewis Pyenson reviews From Newton to Hawking: A History of Cambridge University's Lucasian Professors of Mathematics
doi:10.1038/428258b
Science in culture p259
Eduardo Chillida's sculptures are a form of 'rebellion' against Newton.
Stefano Grillo reviews
doi:10.1038/428259a
Essay
Turning pointsFrom 'not wrong' to (maybe right) p261
How ignoring glaring problems can sometimes lead to fruitful theories.
Frank Wilczek
doi:10.1038/428261a
News and Views
RNA finds a simpler way p263
Is there no end to the versatility of RNA? The latest feat to be revealed is RNA's ability to switch off genes through a neatly straightforward mechanism. So it isn't only proteins that can repress gene activity.
Thomas R. Cech
doi:10.1038/428263a
Astronomy: We can see clearly now... p264
The mystery of the diffuse 
-ray glow that pervades the Milky Way has been solved, thanks to a space telescope with the power to resolve compact -ray sources in the Galaxy.
Nicholas White
doi:10.1038/428264a
Cell biology: The strain of being a prion p265
Prions are remarkable infectious agents associated with certain brain diseases. But they also occur in fungi, experiments with which now provide plausible answers to some critical questions about prion biology.
Mick F. Tuite
doi:10.1038/428265a
100 and 50 years ago p265
doi:10.1038/428265b
Cancer: Survival pathways meet their end p267
Conventional chemotherapeutic approaches to treating tumours can be hit-and-miss. One way to ensure successful treatment may be to go for the jugular of cancer-cell survival signalling as well.
Frank McCormick
doi:10.1038/428267a
Semiconductor physics: Quick-set thin films p269
Transistors that have active components based on thin films, rather than silicon, are attractive for many applications. The latest thin-film fabrication technique has the potential for industrial-scale production.
Mercouri G. Kanatzidis
doi:10.1038/428269a
Cancer: Dangerous liaisons p271
The cells of multicellular organisms are highly communicative and so can strongly influence one another's behaviour. One line of communication is particularly important in keeping cell growth in check.
Allan Balmain and Rosemary J. Akhurst
doi:10.1038/428271a
Planetary science: X-ray eyes on Saturn p272
May Chiao
doi:10.1038/428272a
News and views in brief p273
doi:10.1038/428273a
News and Views Feature
The cultural wealth of nations p275
Why, when the human race shows comparatively little genetic variation, are cultural differences so widespread and enduring? Thinking about cultures in terms of biological species provides some provocative answers.
Mark Pagel and Ruth Mace
doi:10.1038/428275a
Brief Communications
Opsin expression: New mechanism for modulating colour vision p279
Single cones start making a different opsin as young salmon move to deeper waters.
Christiana L. Cheng and Iñigo Novales Flamarique
doi:10.1038/428279a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (392K)
Buckminsterfullerenes: A non-metal system for nitrogen fixation p279
Yoshiaki Nishibayashi, Makoto Saito, Sakae Uemura, Shin-ichi Takekuma, Hideko Takekuma and Zen-ichi Yoshida
doi:10.1038/428279b
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (392K)
Top of page
Brief Communications Arising
Earth science: An alternative origin for the 'Silverpit crater'
John R. Underhill
doi:10.1038/nature02476
Earth science: An alternative origin for the 'Silverpit crater' (reply)
Simon A. Stewart and Philip J. Allen
doi:10.1038/nature02480
Articles
Control of gene expression by a natural metabolite-responsive ribozyme p281
Wade C. Winkler, Ali Nahvi, Adam Roth, Jennifer A. Collins and Ronald R. Breaker
doi:10.1038/nature02362
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (398K)
See also: News and Views by R. Cech
Crystal structure of spinach major light-harvesting complex at 2.72 Å resolution p287
Zhenfeng Liu, Hanchi Yan, Kebin Wang, Tingyun Kuang, Jiping Zhang, Lulu Gui, Xiaomin An and Wenrui Chang
doi:10.1038/nature02373
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (374K) | Supplementary information
Letters to Nature
Compact sources as the origin of the soft 
-ray emission of the Milky Way p293
F. Lebrun, R. Terrier, A. Bazzano, G. Bélanger, A. Bird, L. Bouchet, A. Dean, M. Del Santo, A. Goldwurm, N. Lund, H. Morand, A. Parmar, J. Paul, J.-P. Roques, V. Schönfelder, A. W. Strong, P. Ubertini, R. Walter and C. Winkler
doi:10.1038/nature02407
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (278K)
Structural relaxation in supercooled water by time-resolved spectroscopy p296
Renato Torre, Paolo Bartolini and Roberto Righini
doi:10.1038/nature02409
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (322K)
High-mobility ultrathin semiconducting films prepared by spin coating p299
David B. Mitzi, Laura L. Kosbar, Conal E. Murray, Matthew Copel and Ali Afzali
doi:10.1038/nature02389
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (441K)
See also: News and Views by Kanatzidis
A 'snowball Earth' climate triggered by continental break-up through changes in runoff p303
Yannick Donnadieu, Yves Goddéris, Gilles Ramstein, Anne Nédélec and Joseph Meert
doi:10.1038/nature02408
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (161K)
Millennial and orbital variations of El Niño/Southern Oscillation and high-latitude climate in the last glacial period p306
Chris S. M. Turney, A. Peter Kershaw, Steven C. Clemens, Nick Branch, Patrick T. Moss and L. Keith Fifield
doi:10.1038/nature02386
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (390K) | Supplementary information
Experimental evidence for apparent competition in a tropical forest food web p310
Rebecca J. Morris, Owen T. Lewis and H. Charles J. Godfray
doi:10.1038/nature02394
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (184K)
Ban on triazine herbicides likely to reduce but not negate relative benefits of GMHT maize cropping p313
J. N. Perry, L. G. Firbank, G. T. Champion, S. J. Clark, M. S. Heard, M. J. May, C. Hawes, G. R. Squire, P. Rothery, I. P. Woiwod and J. D. Pidgeon
doi:10.1038/nature02374
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (184K)
Cortical activity reductions during repetition priming can result from rapid response learning p316
Ian G. Dobbins, David M. Schnyer, Mieke Verfaellie and Daniel L. Schacter
doi:10.1038/nature02400
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (231K)
Protein-only transmission of three yeast prion strains p319
Chih-Yen King and Ruben Diaz-Avalos
doi:10.1038/nature02391
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (423K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Tuite
Conformational variations in an infectious protein determine prion strain differences p323
Motomasa Tanaka, Peter Chien, Nariman Naber, Roger Cooke and Jonathan S. Weissman
doi:10.1038/nature02392
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (368K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Tuite
The candidate tumour suppressor protein ING4 regulates brain tumour growth and angiogenesis p328
Igor Garkavtsev, Sergey V. Kozin, Olga Chernova, Lei Xu, Frank Winkler, Edward Brown, Gene H. Barnett and Rakesh K. Jain
doi:10.1038/nature02329
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (383K) | Supplementary information
Survival signalling by Akt and eIF4E in oncogenesis and cancer therapy p332
Hans-Guido Wendel, Elisa de Stanchina, Jordan S. Fridman, Abba Malina, Sagarika Ray, Scott Kogan, Carlos Cordon-Cardo, Jerry Pelletier and Scott W. Lowe
doi:10.1038/nature02369
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (578K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by McCormick
Bmi1 is essential for cerebellar development and is overexpressed in human medulloblastomas p337
Carly Leung, Merel Lingbeek, Olga Shakhova, James Liu, Ellen Tanger, Parvin Saremaslani, Maarten van Lohuizen and Silvia Marino
doi:10.1038/nature02385
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (373K) | Supplementary information
The protein kinase PKR is required for macrophage apoptosis after activation of Toll-like receptor 4 p341
Li-Chung Hsu, Jin Mo Park, Kezhong Zhang, Jun-Li Luo, Shin Maeda, Randal J. Kaufman, Lars Eckmann, Donald G. Guiney and Michael Karin
doi:10.1038/nature02405
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (481K) | Supplementary information
Naturejobs
ProspectsCapping active volcanoes p347
Paul Smaglik
doi:10.1038/nj6980-347a
Careers and Recruitment
Growth industry p348
Drug companies are seeking help in their efforts to use the new understanding of cancer's complexities.
Ricki Lewis
doi:10.1038/nj6980-348a
Career View
Graduate Journal: Choosing a boss p350
Amber Jenkins
doi:10.1038/nj6980-350a
Scientists & Societies p350
Eric Anderson
doi:10.1038/nj6980-350b
Movers p350
doi:10.1038/nj6980-350c