Table of contents
Volume 429 Number 6994 pp789-906
Editorials
Not quite shipshape p789
Japan is building a superb vessel for ocean drilling but seems reluctant to provide the necessary resources for using it. It is missing an opportunity to take a scientific lead.
doi:10.1038/429789a
PhD — club or history? p789
The decision by the University of Konstanz to retract the PhD of Jan Hendrik Schön is misguided.
doi:10.1038/429789b
News
Biologists seek stamp of approval to send live fruitflies by post p791
David Cyranoski
doi:10.1038/429791a
Experts challenge claims for space tourism p792
Helen Pearson
doi:10.1038/429792a
RNA therapy beckons as firms prepare for clinical trials p792
Erika Check
doi:10.1038/429792b
NASA reforms needed to give Moon–Mars plan a better shot p793
Tony Reichhardt
doi:10.1038/429793a
British drug company to put data online as criticism mounts p793
Jim Giles
doi:10.1038/429793b
Biologists take degrading route to tackle cancer p794
Alison Abbott
doi:10.1038/429794a
Scots propose SUPA plan for united approach to physics p794
Jim Giles
doi:10.1038/429794b
Climate researcher takes academy hot seat p795
Geoff Brumfiel
doi:10.1038/429795a
Last-ditch funding keeps ocean drilling project afloat p795
David Cyranoski
doi:10.1038/429795b
News Features
Venomous snails: One slip, and you're dead... p798
The lethal toxins produced by cone snails are in hot demand for neuroscience research, and are being developed as potent drugs. Laura Nelson visits a would-be snail 'farmer', for whom milking time is fraught with danger.
doi:10.1038/429798a
Ship scrapping: Breaking up is hard to do p800
Single-hulled ships are being rushed to the scrapyard in the wake of oil spills such as that of the Prestige. But will breaking them up cause environmental havoc too? Duncan Graham-Rowe finds out.
doi:10.1038/429800a
Correspondence
Rice, research and real life in the field p803
In the spirit of science, we should ask why studies don't reflect farmers' experiences.
A. Satyanarayana
doi:10.1038/429803a
Rice: location is vital in crop management p803
Huib Hengsdijk and Prem Bindraban
doi:10.1038/429803b
Opening the chamber of peer-review secrets p803
Erwin G. Van Meir
doi:10.1038/429803c
Commentary
More than meets the eye p804
Earth's real biodiversity is invisible, whether we like it or not.
doi:10.1038/429804a
Books and Arts
Paying for the pills p807
How much does it really cost to put a new drug on the market?
John E. Calfee reviews The $800 Million Pill: The Truth Behind the Cost of New Drugs by Merrill Goozner
doi:10.1038/429807a
Requiem for a supercollider p808
Geoff Brumfiel reviews A Hole in Texas by Herman Wouk
doi:10.1038/429808a
Bright blue dot p808
Douglas A. Vakoch reviews The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos is Designed for Discovery by Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay W. Richards
doi:10.1038/429808b
Exhibition: Eyes that follow you around the room p809
Alan Packer
doi:10.1038/429809a
Essay
Turning pointsMentors and manipulation p811
How Nobel assistance helped a young researcher test a crazy idea.
G. J. V. Nossal
doi:10.1038/429811a
News and Views
Ecology: Diversity in the deep blue sea p813
A large-scale survey of the diversity and abundance of plankton in different marine environments around the world has produced some thought-provoking similarities and contrasts with other ecosystems.
Peter J. Morin and Jeremy W. Fox
doi:10.1038/429813a
Planetary science: How Mercury got its spin p814
The orbital period of Mercury and its period of rotation are known to be in a 3/2 ratio, but the chances of the planet reaching this state seemed so small as to be unfeasible — until now.
Stanley F. Dermott
doi:10.1038/429814a
Condensed-matter physics: Plasmas put in order p815
Plasmas are usually a hot soup of dissociated electrons and ions. There are, however, techniques for cooling plasmas, and simulations show that an ultracold plasma could be made to crystallize.
Thomas C. Killian
doi:10.1038/429815a
Cell biology: A channel for protein waste p817
Cells destroy misshapen proteins; viruses use the same methods to destroy healthy cellular proteins that are involved in antiviral defences. A long-sought intermediary in the process has now been uncovered.
Randy Schekman
doi:10.1038/429817a
100 and 50 years ago p817
doi:10.1038/429817b
Cometary science: Fly-through at Wild 2 p818
The Stardust mission has made the closest approach ever to a comet. Its 'fly-through' of the gas and dust surrounding Wild 2 presents a unique opportunity to investigate the evolution of such bodies.
Michael F. A'Hearn
doi:10.1038/429818a
Heart disease: An ongoing genetic battle? p819
Babies born with physical defects in their hearts may survive, but they often suffer defects in heart function as adults. The physical and functional problems might, it seems, have the same genetic cause.
Deepak Srivastava
doi:10.1038/429819a
Metrology: Electrifying effects in colloids p822
The electric field generated in the sedimentation or centrifugation of charged colloidal particles could be exploited to determine the charge and the mass of macromolecules in a single experiment.
Patrick Warren
doi:10.1038/429822a
News and views in brief p823
doi:10.1038/429823a
Brief Communications
Physiology: Hibernation in a tropical primate p825
Even in the wound-down hibernating state, this lemur can warm up without waking up.
Kathrin H. Dausmann, Julian Glos, Jörg U. Ganzhorn and Gerhard Heldmaier
doi:10.1038/429825a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (322K) | Supplementary information
Plant biochemistry: A naturally decaffeinated arabica coffee p826
Maria B. Silvarolla, Paulo Mazzafera and Luiz C. Fazuoli
doi:10.1038/429826a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (268K) | Supplementary information
Review
Confronting the coral reef crisis p827
D. R. Bellwood, T. P. Hughes, C. Folke and M. Nyström
doi:10.1038/nature02691
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (462K)
Articles
A membrane protein required for dislocation of misfolded proteins from the ER p834
Brendan N. Lilley and Hidde L. Ploegh
doi:10.1038/nature02592
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (512K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Schekman
A membrane protein complex mediates retro-translocation from the ER lumen into the cytosol p841
Yihong Ye, Yoko Shibata, Chi Yun, David Ron and Tom A. Rapoport
doi:10.1038/nature02656
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (447K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Schekman
Letters to Nature
Mercury's capture into the 3/2 spin-orbit resonance as a result of its chaotic dynamics p848
Alexandre C. M. Correia and Jacques Laskar
doi:10.1038/nature02609
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (278K)
See also: News and Views by Dermott
Laser-induced ultrafast spin reorientation in the antiferromagnet TmFeO3 p850
A. V. Kimel, A. Kirilyuk, A. Tsvetkov, R. V. Pisarev and Th. Rasing
doi:10.1038/nature02659
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (496K)
Reduction of hysteresis losses in the magnetic refrigerant Gd5Ge2Si2 by the addition of iron p853
Virgil Provenzano, Alexander J. Shapiro and Robert D. Shull
doi:10.1038/nature02657
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (452K)
Evidence for a macroscopic electric field in the sedimentation profiles of charged colloids p857
Mircea Ra
a
and
Albert P. Philipse
doi:10.1038/nature02672
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (254K)
See also: News and Views by Warren
Role of CO2 in the formation of gold deposits p860
G. N. Phillips and K. A. Evans
doi:10.1038/nature02644
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (185K) | Supplementary information
Global biodiversity patterns of marine phytoplankton and zooplankton p863
Xabier Irigoien, Jef Huisman and Roger P. Harris
doi:10.1038/nature02593
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (471K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Morin & Fox
Coral communities are regionally enriched along an oceanic biodiversity gradient p867
Ronald H. Karlson, Howard V. Cornell and Terence P. Hughes
doi:10.1038/nature02685
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (208K)
Global patterns in human consumption of net primary production p870
Marc L. Imhoff, Lahouari Bounoua, Taylor Ricketts, Colby Loucks, Robert Harriss and William T. Lawrence
doi:10.1038/nature02619
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (207K)
A proteoglycan mediates inductive interaction during plant vascular development p873
Hiroyasu Motose, Munetaka Sugiyama and Hiroo Fukuda
doi:10.1038/nature02613
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (482K)
Rapid BDNF-induced retrograde synaptic modification in a developing retinotectal system p878
Jiu-lin Du and Mu-ming Poo
doi:10.1038/nature02618
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (581K) | Supplementary information
Gene regulation and DNA damage in the ageing human brain p883
Tao Lu, Ying Pan, Shyan-Yuan Kao, Cheng Li, Isaac Kohane, Jennifer Chan and Bruce A. Yankner
doi:10.1038/nature02661
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (652K) | Supplementary information
Mismatch repair genes identified using genetic screens in Blm-deficient embryonic stem cells p891
Ge Guo, Wei Wang and Allan Bradley
doi:10.1038/nature02653
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (318K) | Supplementary information
Genome-wide phenotype analysis in ES cells by regulated disruption of Bloom's syndrome gene p896
Kosuke Yusa, Kyoji Horie, Gen Kondoh, Michiyoshi Kouno, Yusuke Maeda, Taroh Kinoshita and Junji Takeda
doi:10.1038/nature02646
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (338K)
Essential role for de novo DNA methyltransferase Dnmt3a in paternal and maternal imprinting p900
Masahiro Kaneda, Masaki Okano, Kenichiro Hata, Takashi Sado, Naomi Tsujimoto, En Li and Hiroyuki Sasaki
doi:10.1038/nature02633
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (322K) | Supplementary information
Naturejobs
ProspectsStem-cell state lines p905
Paul Smaglik
doi:10.1038/nj6994-905a
Career View
Graduate Journal: Show us the money! p906
Tshaka Cunningham
doi:10.1038/nj6994-906a
Bricks & Mortar p906
Paul Smaglik
doi:10.1038/nj6994-906b
Movers p906
doi:10.1038/nj6994-906c