Editorials

Blair's failure p129

Britain's research base is flourishing, and Tony Blair's last two governments can take much of the credit for it. But his third needs to focus on the troubled state of the universities.

doi:10.1038/435129a

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Proposals, please p129

You have one more month to submit proposals for ESOF2006, a fledgling but important forum for European science.

doi:10.1038/435129b

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News

'Refusal to share' leaves agency struggling to monitor bird flu p131

The WHO isn't being sent samples of deadly H5N1 virus.

Declan Butler

doi:10.1038/435131a

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Nations spar over erosion of nuclear treaty p132

Non-proliferation meeting can't even agree agenda.

Geoff Brumfiel

doi:10.1038/435132a

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Polio fight falters as Yemen and Java report fresh cases p133

Carina Dennis

doi:10.1038/435133a

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Competition boosts bid to find human genes p134

Teams race to develop better predictive software.

Alison Abbott

doi:10.1038/435134a

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Early martian visitors are caught on camera p134

Tony Reichhardt

doi:10.1038/435134b

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Cleaner skies leave global warming forecasts uncertain p135

Will reduced air pollution hasten climate change?

Quirin Schiermeier

doi:10.1038/435135a

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Wanted: scientists to shape Europe's future research policy p135

New agency's governing council will soon be named.

Alison Abbott

doi:10.1038/435135b

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news in brief p136

doi:10.1038/435136a

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Editorial note p137

doi:10.1038/435137a

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News Features

Chinese clinical trials:  Consenting adults? Not necessarily... p138

Companies and scientists in the West are keen to test their drugs in China, which is an important future market. But those running clinical trials need to be on their guard, says David Cyranoski.

doi:10.1038/435138a

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See also: Editor's summary

Spanish astronomy:  Rising star p140

As construction on the world's largest optical telescope nears completion in Spain, the country's astronomers are gearing up for an expanded role on the global stage. Mark Peplow follows the preparations for first light.

doi:10.1038/435140a

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Correspondence

Universities should foster neglected-disease work p143

Shifting the focus from patents and revenue to human welfare would speed progress.

Dave A. Chokshi

doi:10.1038/435143a

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Two-stage drug approval would reduce the risks p143

John A. Frantz

doi:10.1038/435143b

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Seeing clearly is not necessarily believing p143

Mott T. Greene

doi:10.1038/435143c

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Books and Arts

Death on the farm p145

Is the control of foot-and-mouth worse than the disease?

Matthew Baylis reviews A Manufactured Plague: The History of Foot-and-Mouth Disease in Britain by Abigail Woods

doi:10.1038/435145a

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Hitting the right note p146

Fernando Nottebohm reviews Nature's Music: The Science of Birdsong edited by Peter Marler & Hans Slabbekoorn

doi:10.1038/435146a

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Science in culture: Womb with a view? p147

All is not as it seems in a television programme on the life of a fetus.

Martin Kemp

doi:10.1038/435147a

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An autistic look at animals p147

Marian Stamp Dawkins reviews Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behaviour by Temple Grandin & Catherine Johnson

doi:10.1038/435147b

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Don't panic! p148

Joanne Baker reviews The Science of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Michael Hanlon

doi:10.1038/435148a

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Essay

Natural symmetry p149

Directional inference: scientific convention applies conclusions from animal studies to humans but not the reverse, contradicting current evidence.

G. A. Bradshaw & Barbara L. Finlay

doi:10.1038/435149a

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News and Views

Immunology:  Insulin trigger for diabetes p151

Type I diabetes occurs when the immune system destroys crucial cells in the pancreas. But what prompts the body to turn against itself so disastrously? It seems that insulin is the key.

Matthias von Herrath

doi:10.1038/435151a

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See also: Editor's summary

High-energy physics:  An emptier emptiness? p152

Temperatures similar to those reached an instant after the Big Bang can be created in collisions of gold atoms. The resulting fireballs may allow us a glimpse of a world that is more symmetrical than our own.

Frank Wilczek

doi:10.1038/435152a

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100 and 50 years ago p153

doi:10.1038/435153a

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Developmental biology:  Asymmetrical threat averted p155

The somites are embryonic elements that give rise to the muscles, skeleton and some skin layers of the trunk. They form in a symmetrical fashion, but to do so they must be shielded from asymmetrical cues.

Eran Hornstein & Clifford J. Tabin

doi:10.1038/435155a

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Planetary science:  Magnetic impact craters p156

Aerial surveys of the Vredefort impact crater in South Africa suggest that it is only weakly magnetic. The rocks themselves tell a different story, but does this apply to giant impact basins on Mars?

David J. Dunlop

doi:10.1038/435156a

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Sensory physiology:  Brainless eyes p157

The visual equipment of box jellyfish includes eight optically advanced eyes that operate with only a rudimentary nervous system. As they produce blurred images, their function remains an open question.

Rüdiger Wehner

doi:10.1038/435157a

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Granular media:  Information propagation p159

The transmission of force through granular matter such as sand is a crucial consideration in certain applications. The behaviour observed depends on the particle interactions as well as on the length scale involved.

Stefan Luding

doi:10.1038/435159a

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Obituary:  Stanley J. Korsmeyer (1950–2005) p161

H. Robert Horvitz

doi:10.1038/435161a

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Research highlights p162

doi:10.1038/435162a

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Brief Communications

Robotics: Self-reproducing machines p163

A set of modular robot cubes accomplish a feat fundamental to biological systems.

Victor Zykov, Efstathios Mytilinaios, Bryant Adams & Hod Lipson

doi:10.1038/435163a

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (315K) | Supplementary information

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Botany:  A record-breaking pollen catapult p164

Joan Edwards, Dwight Whitaker, Sarah Klionsky & Marta J. Laskowski

doi:10.1038/435164a

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (153K) | Supplementary information

Articles

Letters to Nature

A link between prompt optical and prompt -ray emission in -ray bursts p178

W. T. Vestrand, P. R. Wozniak, J. A. Wren, E. E. Fenimore, T. Sakamoto, R. R. White, D. Casperson, H. Davis, S. Evans, M. Galassi, K. E. McGowan, J. A. Schier, J. W. Asa, S. D. Barthelmy, J. R. Cummings, N. Gehrels, D. Hullinger, H. A. Krimm, C. B. Markwardt, K. McLean, D. Palmer, A. Parsons & J. Tueller

doi:10.1038/nature03515

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (324K) | Supplementary information

An infrared flash contemporaneous with the -rays of GRB 041219a p181

C. H. Blake, J. S. Bloom, D. L. Starr, E. E. Falco, M. Skrutskie, E. E. Fenimore, G. Duchêne, A. Szentgyorgyi, S. Hornstein, J. X. Prochaska, C. McCabe, A. Ghez, Q. Konopacky, K. Stapelfeldt, K. Hurley, R. Campbell, M. Kassis, F. Chaffee, N. Gehrels, S. Barthelmy, J. R. Cummings, D. Hullinger, H. A. Krimm, C. B. Markwardt, D. Palmer, A. Parsons, K. McLean & J. Tueller

doi:10.1038/nature03520

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (310K) | Supplementary information

Albedo of the south pole on Mars determined by topographic forcing of atmosphere dynamics p184

Anthony Colaprete, Jeffrey R. Barnes, Robert M. Haberle, Jeffery L. Hollingsworth, Hugh H. Kieffer & Timothy N. Titus

doi:10.1038/nature03561

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Friction enhances elasticity in granular solids p188

C. Goldenberg & I. Goldhirsch

doi:10.1038/nature03497

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (339K)

See also: News and Views by Luding

Nonlinear elasticity in biological gels p191

Cornelis Storm, Jennifer J. Pastore, F. C. MacKintosh, T. C. Lubensky & Paul A. Janmey

doi:10.1038/nature03521

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (231K)

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Plate-wide stress relaxation explains European Palaeocene basin inversions p195

Søren B. Nielsen, Erik Thomsen, David L. Hansen & Ole R. Clausen

doi:10.1038/nature03599

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (744K)

Palaeomagnetism of the Vredefort meteorite crater and implications for craters on Mars p198

Laurent Carporzen, Stuart A. Gilder & Rodger J. Hart

doi:10.1038/nature03560

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See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Dunlop

Advanced optics in a jellyfish eye p201

Dan-E. Nilsson, Lars Gislén, Melissa M. Coates, Charlotta Skogh & Anders Garm

doi:10.1038/nature03484

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (422K)

See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Wehner

The flight paths of honeybees recruited by the waggle dance p205

J. R. Riley, U. Greggers, A. D. Smith, D. R. Reynolds & R. Menzel

doi:10.1038/nature03526

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The origin of bursts and heavy tails in human dynamics p207

Albert-László Barabási

doi:10.1038/nature03459

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Fast vesicle replenishment allows indefatigable signalling at the first auditory synapse p212

Claudius B. Griesinger, Christopher D. Richards & Jonathan F. Ashmore

doi:10.1038/nature03567

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (567K) | Supplementary information

Prime role for an insulin epitope in the development of type 1 diabetes in NOD mice p220

Maki Nakayama, Norio Abiru, Hiroaki Moriyama, Naru Babaya, Edwin Liu, Dongmei Miao, Liping Yu, Dale R. Wegmann, John C. Hutton, John F. Elliott & George S. Eisenbarth

doi:10.1038/nature03523

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (330K)

See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by von Herrath

Expanded T cells from pancreatic lymph nodes of type 1 diabetic subjects recognize an insulin epitope p224

Sally C. Kent, Yahua Chen, Lisa Bregoli, Sue M. Clemmings, Norma Sue Kenyon, Camillo Ricordi, Bernhard J. Hering & David A. Hafler

doi:10.1038/nature03625

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (271K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by von Herrath

Enhancement of cellular memory by reducing stochastic transitions p228

Murat Acar, Attila Becskei & Alexander van Oudenaarden

doi:10.1038/nature03524

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (296K) | Supplementary information

Corrigendum: Iron and phosphorus co-limit nitrogen fixation in the eastern tropical North Atlantic p232

Matthew M. Mills, Celine Ridame, Margaret Davey, Julie La Roche & Richard J. Geider

doi:10.1038/nature03632

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Technology Features

Hot from the vent p235

doi:10.1038/435235b

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PCR:  Replicating success p235

PCR often gets taken for granted, but there are ways of making it faster, more accurate and easier to perform. Pete Moore investigates.

Pete Moore

doi:10.1038/435235a

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Amplifying the signal p236

doi:10.1038/435236a

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Photocopiers for DNA p237

doi:10.1038/435237a

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Simplifying the probe set p238

doi:10.1038/435238a

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Table of suppliers p239

doi:10.1038/435239a

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Futures

A life with a semisent p246

Two's company.

Gregory Benford

doi:10.1038/435246a

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Naturejobs

Generous advice p241

Paul Smaglik

doi:10.1038/nj7039-241a

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The staff dreams are made of p242

Being the boss is new territory for young investigators. Kendall Powell screens strategies for managing a successful group.

Kendall Powell

doi:10.1038/nj7039-242a

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Graduate Journal:  Defensive moves p244

Anne Margaret Lee

doi:10.1038/nj7039-244a

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Scientists & Societies p244

Jacinta Lodge

doi:10.1038/nj7039-244b

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Movers p244

doi:10.1038/nj7039-244c

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