Table of contents
Volume 432 Number 7019 pp785-931
Editorials
Strength through diversity p785
A plan to reform appropriations committees in the US Congress — and create one devoted to science — is unlikely to come to fruition. Which is just as well.
doi:10.1038/432785a
Fishing's secretive controllers p785
Those who are publicly funded to regulate harvesting of the oceans should stop barring the public from their discussions.
doi:10.1038/432785b
News
NASA administrator quits post to launch career as academic p787
Tony Reichhardt
doi:10.1038/432787a
Tempers flare over plan to move Pasteur labs p788
French researchers revolt over relocation scheme.
Declan Butler
doi:10.1038/432788a
Relaxed rules open path to genomic data on disease p788
HapMap Project allows data to be published in other databases.
David Cyranoski
doi:10.1038/432788b
Pentagon blocks MIT inquiry into missile data fraud claims p789
Results of missile defence tests kept under wraps.
Geoff Brumfiel
doi:10.1038/432789a
Absence of promised bioterror committee worries researchers p789
Nine-month-old government initiative still not off the ground.
Erika Check
doi:10.1038/432789b
Oil refinery site may be home to ancient relics p790
Land sale may threaten archaeological artefacts in Arizona.
Rex Dalton
doi:10.1038/432790a
Frenchman is most thanked computer scientist p790
Olivier Danvy bags most acknowledgements in research papers.
Declan Butler
doi:10.1038/432790b
Growing nanotech trade hit by questions over quality p791
Booming business may mean surge in shoddy supplies.
Jim Giles
doi:10.1038/432791a
Researchers call for more materials science in school p791
Science is more than just chemistry, biology and physics, say teachers.
David Cyranoski
doi:10.1038/432791b
News Features
Islamic science: Rebuilding the past p794
Western science owes much to Islam's golden age — a debt that is often forgotten. To help redress the balance, Fuat Sezgin has reconstructed a host of scientific treasures using ancient Arabic texts. Alison Abbott reports.
doi:10.1038/432794a
Invasive species: The toads are coming! p796
Cane toads are infamous for wreaking havoc on Australian ecosystems. But, as Peter Aldhous discovers, we're only now about to learn whether their fearsome reputation is deserved.
doi:10.1038/432796a
Correspondence
Genome news highlights loss of chicken strains p799
Future research is already under threat, as budget cuts wipe out irreplaceable lines.
Marcia M. Miller
doi:10.1038/432799a
Media affect opinions less than they would like p799
Peter Melchett
doi:10.1038/432799b
Brazil's efforts to reverse decline in scholarships p799
Erney Plessmann Camargo
doi:10.1038/432799c
EPA not responsible for 'uninvitation' of a critic p799
James J. Jones
doi:10.1038/432799d
Commentary
Harnessing nature in Africa p801
Biological pest control can benefit the pocket, health and the environment.
doi:10.1038/432801a
Books and Arts
Echo of the big bang p803
An end to the boom in popular science books may actually raise standards.
Peter Tallack reviews
doi:10.1038/432803a
Scientist wins Guardian First Book Award p803
doi:10.1038/432803b
The search for meaning p804
W. Tecumseh Fitch reviews The Dynamic Dance: Nonvocal Communication in African Great Apes by Barbara J. King
doi:10.1038/432804a
Back to the roots p805
Jan Salick reviews Ethnoflora of the Soqotra Archipelago by Anthony G. Miller and Miranda Morris
doi:10.1038/432805a
Reforming research p806
Brian Heap reviews Scrutinising Science: The Changing UK Government of Science by Rebecca Boden, Deborah Cox, Maria Nedeva and Katherine Barker
doi:10.1038/432806a
Secret sex p806
doi:10.1038/432806b
Erratum p806
doi:10.1038/432806c
Essay
ConceptDivide, conquer and unify p807
Fluid dynamics: Ludwig Prandtl's ideas brought hydraulics and hydrodynamics together to found a new field.
Roddam Narasimha
doi:10.1038/432807a
News and Views
Electrons frozen in motion p809
A single electron cloud in molecular nitrogen has been photographed. The snapshot is recorded so rapidly that it might become possible to image electron clouds as they change during fundamental molecular processes.
Henrik Stapelfeldt
doi:10.1038/432809a
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies: Scrapie control under new strain p810
Sheep believed to be resistant to scrapie are succumbing to atypical infections and a newly identified strain of the disease. Eradication programmes based on selective breeding should be reappraised.
Matthew Baylis and K. Marie McIntyre
doi:10.1038/432810a
Cell biology: Iron thievery p811
Bacteria have many ways of stealing iron from the organisms they infect. But this thievery is not one-sided, and a newly discovered device in the mammalian tool kit does a good job of keeping bacteria in check.
Jonathan Barasch and Kiyoshi Mori
doi:10.1038/432811a
100 and 50 years ago p812
doi:10.1038/432812a
Archaeology: Much rowing for fish p813
A thousand years ago, there was a shift in the fish diet in England from freshwater to marine species. The relevant case history, derived from picking through leftovers, has a contemporary resonance.
Daniel Pauly
doi:10.1038/432813a
Palaeoclimate: A balmy Arctic p814
Analyses of sediments retrieved from a drifting ice island suggest that the Arctic Ocean may have been ice free and as warm as 15 °C about 70 million years ago. Therein is a challenge for climate models.
Christopher J. Poulsen
doi:10.1038/432814a
Planetary science: An ill solar wind p814
Christopher Surridge
doi:10.1038/432814b
Cell biology: Popping out of the nucleus p815
Previous structural snapshots have provided insight into how proteins are imported into the cell nucleus. The structure of an export complex now completes the molecular picture of the nuclear transport cycle.
André Hoelz and Günter Blobel
doi:10.1038/432815a
Evolutionary biology: Chromosome chain makes a link p817
The platypus' sex chromosomes are as peculiar as its appearance. Five X and five Y chromosomes form a remarkable chain-like configuration in male reproductive cells that ensures appropriate sperm formation.
Laura Carrel
doi:10.1038/432817a
Infectious disease: Past and future of an old foe p817
Rory Howlett
doi:10.1038/432817b
Brief Communications
Laboratory animal welfare: Cage enrichment and mouse behaviour p821
Test responses by laboratory mice are unperturbed by more entertaining housing.
David P. Wolfer, Oxana Litvin, Samuel Morf, Roger M. Nitsch, Hans-Peter Lipp and Hanno Würbel
doi:10.1038/432821a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (175K) | Supplementary information
Neurosurgery: Functional regeneration after laser axotomy p822
Mehmet Fatih Yanik, Hulusi Cinar, Hediye Nese Cinar, Andrew D. Chisholm, Yishi Jin and Adela Ben-Yakar
doi:10.1038/432822a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (149K) | Supplementary information
Insight
introductionChemical space p823
Peter Kirkpatrick and Clare Ellis
doi:10.1038/432823a
Chemical space and biology p824
Christopher M. Dobson
doi:10.1038/nature03192
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,021K)
review article
Lessons from natural molecules p829
Jon Clardy and Christopher Walsh
doi:10.1038/nature03194
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (488K)
Natural and engineered nucleic acids as tools to explore biology p838
Ronald R. Breaker
doi:10.1038/nature03195
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (359K)
Exploring biology with small organic molecules p846
Brent R. Stockwell
doi:10.1038/nature03196
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (821K)
Navigating chemical space for biology and medicine p855
Christopher Lipinski and Andrew Hopkins
doi:10.1038/nature03193
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (386K)
commentary
Virtual screening of chemical libraries p862
Brian K. Shoichet
doi:10.1038/nature03197
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (764K)
Articles
Tomographic imaging of molecular orbitals p867
J. Itatani, J. Levesque, D. Zeidler, Hiromichi Niikura, H. Pépin, J. C. Kieffer, P. B. Corkum and D. M. Villeneuve
doi:10.1038/nature03183
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (403K)
See also: News and Views by Stapelfeldt
Structural basis for the assembly of a nuclear export complex p872
Yoshiyuki Matsuura and Murray Stewart
doi:10.1038/nature03144
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (501K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Hoelz & Blobel
Letters to Nature
An extreme distortion of the Van Allen belt arising from the 'Hallowe'en' solar storm in 2003 p878
D. N. Baker, S. G. Kanekal, X. Li, S. P. Monk, J. Goldstein and J. L. Burch
doi:10.1038/nature03116
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (474K)
Hall-effect evolution across a heavy-fermion quantum critical point p881
S. Paschen, T. Lühmann, S. Wirth, P. Gegenwart, O. Trovarelli, C. Geibel, F. Steglich, P. Coleman and Q. Si
doi:10.1038/nature03129
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (433K) | Supplementary information
Lensless imaging of magnetic nanostructures by X-ray spectro-holography p885
S. Eisebitt, J. Lüning, W. F. Schlotter, M. Lörgen, O. Hellwig, W. Eberhardt and J. Stöhr
doi:10.1038/nature03139
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (216K)
High temperatures in the Late Cretaceous Arctic Ocean p888
Hugh C. Jenkyns, Astrid Forster, Stefan Schouten and Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté
doi:10.1038/nature03143
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (372K)
See also: News and Views by Poulsen
Recycling lower continental crust in the North China craton p892
Shan Gao, Roberta L. Rudnick, Hong-Ling Yuan, Xiao-Ming Liu, Yong-Sheng Liu, Wen-Liang Xu, Wen-Li Ling, John Ayers, Xuan-Che Wang and Qing-Hai Wang
doi:10.1038/nature03162
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (617K) | Supplementary information
The impact of surface-adsorbed phosphorus on phytoplankton Redfield stoichiometry p897
Sergio A. Sañudo-Wilhelmy, Antonio Tovar-Sanchez, Fei-Xue Fu, Douglas G. Capone, Edward J. Carpenter and David A. Hutchins
doi:10.1038/nature03125
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (252K) | Supplementary information
Public health vaccination policies for containing an anthrax outbreak p901
Ron Brookmeyer, Elizabeth Johnson and Robert Bollinger
doi:10.1038/nature03087
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (248K)
Transmissibility of 1918 pandemic influenza p904
Christina E. Mills, James M. Robins and Marc Lipsitch
doi:10.1038/nature03063
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (148K) | Supplementary information
Trail geometry gives polarity to ant foraging networks p907
Duncan E. Jackson, Mike Holcombe and Francis L. W. Ratnieks
doi:10.1038/nature03105
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (207K) | Supplementary information
Genome sequence of Silicibacter pomeroyi reveals adaptations to the marine environment p910
Mary Ann Moran, Alison Buchan, José M. González, John F. Heidelberg, William B. Whitman, Ronald P. Kiene, James R. Henriksen, Gary M. King, Robert Belas, Clay Fuqua, Lauren Brinkac, Matt Lewis, Shivani Johri, Bruce Weaver, Grace Pai, Jonathan A. Eisen, Elisha Rahe, Wade M. Sheldon, Wenying Ye, Todd R. Miller, Jane Carlton, David A. Rasko, Ian T. Paulsen, Qinghu Ren, Sean C. Daugherty, Robert T. Deboy, Robert J. Dodson, A. Scott Durkin, Ramana Madupu, William C. Nelson, Steven A. Sullivan, M. J. Rosovitz, Daniel H. Haft, Jeremy Selengut and Naomi Ward
doi:10.1038/nature03170
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (228K) | Supplementary information
In the platypus a meiotic chain of ten sex chromosomes shares genes with the bird Z and mammal X chromosomes p913
Frank Grützner, Willem Rens, Enkhjargal Tsend-Ayush, Nisrine El-Mogharbel, Patricia C. M. O'Brien, Russell C. Jones, Malcolm A. Ferguson-Smith and Jennifer A. Marshall Graves
doi:10.1038/nature03021
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (305K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Carrel
Lipocalin 2 mediates an innate immune response to bacterial infection by sequestrating iron p917
Trude H. Flo, Kelly D. Smith, Shintaro Sato, David J. Rodriguez, Margaret A. Holmes, Roland K. Strong, Shizuo Akira and Alan Aderem
doi:10.1038/nature03104
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (375K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Barasch & Mori
Modelling how ribavirin improves interferon response rates in hepatitis C virus infection p922
Narendra M. Dixit, Jennifer E. Layden-Almer, Thomas J. Layden and Alan S. Perelson
doi:10.1038/nature03153
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (245K) | Supplementary information
Substrate recognition strategy for botulinum neurotoxin serotype A p925
Mark A. Breidenbach and Axel T. Brunger
doi:10.1038/nature03123
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (379K) | Supplementary information