Editorials

Risks and benefits of dual-use research p855

Negotiations over a sensitive scientific publication that could be misused by bioterrorists highlight trouble ahead unless appropriate guidelines are developed.

doi: 10.1038/435855a

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Save the people, too p855

Conservationists must pay attention to the needs of local human, as well as animal, populations.

doi: 10.1038/435855b

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Much whaling and gnashing of teeth p856

The International Whaling Commission may be messy, but it's the only game in town.

doi: 10.1038/435856a

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Research Highlights

Research highlights p858

doi: 10.1038/435858a

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News

Biologists asked to breed a culture of responsibility in face of terrorism p860

International conference says scientists must face up to the risks of their own research.

Erika Check

doi: 10.1038/435860a

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US teams join hands to build dexterous robots p861

Competition with Asia prompts united effort in robotics.

Gregory Huang

doi: 10.1038/435861a

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Whaling divisions deepen as Japan pushes for credibility p861

Pro-whaling allies likely to edge their first majority at international whaling conference.

David Cyranoski

doi: 10.1038/435861b

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Gloomy outlook for Blair p862

British prime minister Tony Blair hopes to make significant progress on climate change at the upcoming G8 summit. The United States is standing in his way, but his efforts may at least benefit climate research.

doi: 10.1038/435862a

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Geologists call time on dating dispute p865

Relations thaw as opposing sides vote on what to call latest geological period.

Jim Giles

doi: 10.1038/435865a

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Sidelines p866

doi: 10.1038/435866a

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German tobacco papers reveal lump sums for health experts p866

Critics say payments responsible for country's lax smoking laws.

Quirin Schiermeier

doi: 10.1038/435866b

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Look out for rough drafts of mammal genomes p867

Biologists disappointed that many new genome project species will get only low-density coverage.

Erika Check

doi: 10.1038/435867a

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News in brief p868

doi: 10.1038/435868a

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News Features

Conservation in Myanmar:  Under the gun p870

Western conservation biologists working in Myanmar have been accused of colluding with a brutal military regime — charges they deny. Duncan Graham-Rowe reports from this pariah state.

doi: 10.1038/435870a

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See also: Editor's summary

Science education:  Hothouse High p874

Do US high schools dedicated to science generate future academics or burnt-out whiz kids? Kendall Powell catches up with some of the first pupils to graduate from 'nerd school'.

doi: 10.1038/435874a

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Stem-cell therapies:  The first wave p877

Treatments that use stem cells to replace damaged or diseased tissues are thought to lie many years away. But the cells might find other clinical applications in the near future, says Catherine Zandonella.

doi: 10.1038/435877a

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Business

No longer the upstart p879

The US biotechnology industry's lobby shop is at last making its mark. Its incoming president may have taken some flak for quitting Congress but, as Meredith Wadman discovers, he's relishing the change.

doi: 10.1038/435879a

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Correspondence

Coordinating vaccine use is best way to combat polio p881

Irving S. Johnson

doi: 10.1038/435881a

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Don't drop current vaccine until we have new ones p881

Vadim I. Agol, Konstantin Chumakov, Ellie Ehrenfeld and Eckard Wimmer

doi: 10.1038/435881b

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Images: keep a distinction between beauty and truth p881

Daniel A. Peterson

doi: 10.1038/435881c

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Commentary

Japan's whaling plan under scrutiny p883

Useful science or unregulated commercial whaling? Nicholas J. Gales, Toshio Kasuya, Phillip J. Clapham and Robert L. Brownell Jr consider the scientific merits of Japan's whaling activities.

doi: 10.1038/435883a

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See also: Editor's summary

Books and Arts

Crash and burn p885

Even 'artificial organisms' such as commercial companies find immortality out of reach.

Adrian Woolfson reviews Why Most Things Fail: Evolution, Extinction and Economics by Paul Ormerod

doi: 10.1038/435885a

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Politics and disease p886

Adrian Sleigh reviews Twenty-First Century Plague: The Story of SARS by Thomas Abraham

doi: 10.1038/435886a

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The power of collecting p887

Brendan Tobin reviews Trading the Genome by Bronwyn Parry

doi: 10.1038/435887a

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Science in culture:  Trees of knowledge p888

Georg Lichtenberg visualized a new branch of science.

Martin Kemp

doi: 10.1038/435888a

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News and Views

Low-temperature physics:  Tunnelling into the chill p889

The trend towards ever smaller electronic instruments had left refrigerators out in the cold. Now a practical, compact device uses quantum mechanical tunnelling to cool close to absolute zero.

Jukka Pekola

doi: 10.1038/435889a

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Genetics:  LINEs in mind p890

At least half the human genome consists of mobile elements, such as LINEs, some of which can jump around the genome. These elements have been crucial in genome evolution, but they may also contribute to human diversity.

Eric M. Ostertag and Haig H. Kazazian, Jr

doi: 10.1038/435890a

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Malaria:  Fungal allies enlisted p891

The mosquito-killing capabilities of fungi can in principle be deployed in the fight against malaria. But long experience of unfulfilled hopes in this complex arena shows the need to proceed cautiously.

Yannis Michalakis and François Renaud

doi: 10.1038/435891a

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Engineering:  Skimming the surface p893

Models of the microscopic contact area between two surfaces work surprisingly well, or fail completely, depending on the aspects of adhesion or friction being investigated. A simulation now shows how the details matter.

Jacob N. Israelachvili

doi: 10.1038/435893a

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50 and 100 years ago p894

doi: 10.1038/435894a

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Cell biology:  Powerful curves p895

A cell's contents are organized by a scaffolding of microtubules. These long, thin polymers continuously grow and shrink, and the structures of two forms of the constituent protein provide clues to how this occurs.

L. Mahadevan and T. J. Mitchison

doi: 10.1038/435895a

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Nuclear physics:  Elusive magic numbers p897

Gaps in nuclear levels, which cause nuclei with 'magic' numbers of protons or neutrons to be especially stable, seem to be different for nuclei with an excess of neutrons. But are all magic numbers aberrant in exotic species?

Robert V. F. Janssens

doi: 10.1038/435897a

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Developmental biology:  One source for muscle p898

Producing muscle as an embryo, and making or repairing it as an adult, could be considered to be quite different processes. But it seems that cells that share a common origin carry out both of these tasks.

Iain W. McKinnell and Michael A. Rudnicki

doi: 10.1038/435898a

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Cell biology:  New cog for a familiar machine p899

During cell division, intricate cellular machinery separates duplicated DNA into daughter cells. Unexpectedly, the assembly of this crucial apparatus seems to rely on components other than proteins and DNA.

Mary Dasso

doi: 10.1038/435899a

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Corrections p900

doi: 10.1038/435900a

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Brief Communications

Genetics:  Relatedness among east African coelacanths p901

Scattered groups of these ancient fish may all stem from a single remote population.

Manfred Schartl, Ute Hornung, Karen Hissmann, Jürgen Schauer and Hans Fricke

doi: 10.1038/435901a

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (200K) | Supplementary information

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Brief Communications Arising

Food-web topology:  Universal scaling in food-web structure? pE3

J. Camacho and A. Arenas

doi: 10.1038/nature03839

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (176K)

Food-web topology:  Universal scaling in food-web structure? (reply) pE4

Diego Garlaschelli, Guido Caldarelli and Luciano Pietronero

doi: 10.1038/nature03840

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (85K)

Articles

Somatic mosaicism in neuronal precursor cells mediated by L1 retrotransposition p903

Alysson R. Muotri, Vi T. Chu, Maria C. N. Marchetto, Wei Deng, John V. Moran and Fred H. Gage

doi: 10.1038/nature03663

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (496K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Ostertag & Kazazian

Nucleotide-dependent bending flexibility of tubulin regulates microtubule assembly p911

Hong-Wei Wang and Eva Nogales

doi: 10.1038/nature03606

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (360K) | Supplementary information

See also: News and Views by Mahadevan & Mitchison

Letters

Widespread magma oceans on asteroidal bodies in the early Solar System p916

Richard C. Greenwood, Ian A. Franchi, Albert Jambon and Paul C. Buchanan

doi: 10.1038/nature03612

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (160K) | Supplementary information

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High-frequency acoustic waves are not sufficient to heat the solar chromosphere p919

Astrid Fossum and Mats Carlsson

doi: 10.1038/nature03695

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (145K)

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'Magic' nucleus ⁴²Si p922

J. Fridmann, I. Wiedenhöver, A. Gade, L. T. Baby, D. Bazin, B. A. Brown, C. M. Campbell, J. M. Cook, P. D. Cottle, E. Diffenderfer, D.-C. Dinca, T. Glasmacher, P. G. Hansen, K. W. Kemper, J. L. Lecouey, W. F. Mueller, H. Olliver, E. Rodriguez-Vieitez, J. R. Terry, J. A. Tostevin and K. Yoneda

doi: 10.1038/nature03619

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (483K)

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

Triplet−singlet spin relaxation via nuclei in a double quantum dot p925

A. C. Johnson, J. R. Petta, J. M. Taylor, A. Yacoby, M. D. Lukin, C. M. Marcus, M. P. Hanson and A. C. Gossard

doi: 10.1038/nature03815

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (325K) | Supplementary information

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The breakdown of continuum models for mechanical contacts p929

Binquan Luan and Mark O. Robbins

doi: 10.1038/nature03700

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (301K) | Supplementary information

See also: News and Views by Israelachvili

Extent, duration and speed of the 2004 Sumatra−Andaman earthquake imaged by the Hi-Net array p933

Miaki Ishii, Peter M. Shearer, Heidi Houston and John E. Vidale

doi: 10.1038/nature03675

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (416K) | Supplementary information

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Tracking the rupture of the M_w = 9.3 Sumatra earthquake over 1,150 km at teleseismic distance p937

Frank Krüger and Matthias Ohrnberger

doi: 10.1038/nature03696

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (815K) | Supplementary information

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Cortical growth marks reveal extended juvenile development in New Zealand moa p940

Samuel T. Turvey, Owen R. Green and Richard N. Holdaway

doi: 10.1038/nature03635

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (304K)

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The initiation of liver development is dependent on Foxa transcription factors p944

Catherine S. Lee, Joshua R. Friedman, James T. Fulmer and Klaus H. Kaestner

doi: 10.1038/nature03649

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A Pax3/Pax7-dependent population of skeletal muscle progenitor cells p948

Frédéric Relaix, Didier Rocancourt, Ahmed Mansouri and Margaret Buckingham

doi: 10.1038/nature03594

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (545K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by McKinnell & Rudnicki

A common somitic origin for embryonic muscle progenitors and satellite cells p954

Jérôme Gros, Marie Manceau, Virginie Thomé and Christophe Marcelle

doi: 10.1038/nature03572

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (428K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by McKinnell & Rudnicki

Notch/-secretase inhibition turns proliferative cells in intestinal crypts and adenomas into goblet cells p959

Johan H. van Es, Marielle E. van Gijn, Orbicia Riccio, Maaike van den Born, Marc Vooijs, Harry Begthel, Miranda Cozijnsen, Sylvie Robine, Doug J. Winton, Freddy Radtke and Hans Clevers

doi: 10.1038/nature03659

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (407K) | Supplementary information

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Notch signals control the fate of immature progenitor cells in the intestine p964

Silvia Fre, Mathilde Huyghe, Philippos Mourikis, Sylvie Robine, Daniel Louvard and Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas

doi: 10.1038/nature03589

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

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In vivo imaging of specialized bone marrow endothelial microdomains for tumour engraftment p969

Dorothy A. Sipkins, Xunbin Wei, Juwell W. Wu, Judith M. Runnels, Daniel Côté, Terry K. Means, Andrew D. Luster, David T. Scadden and Charles P. Lin

doi: 10.1038/nature03703

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (382K) | Supplementary information

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Stem cell division is regulated by the microRNA pathway p974

S. D. Hatfield, H. R. Shcherbata, K. A. Fischer, K. Nakahara, R. W. Carthew and H. Ruohola-Baker

doi: 10.1038/nature03816

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (450K) | Supplementary information

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Crystal structure of thymine DNA glycosylase conjugated to SUMO-1 p979

Daichi Baba, Nobuo Maita, Jun-Goo Jee, Yasuhiro Uchimura, Hisato Saitoh, Kaoru Sugasawa, Fumio Hanaoka, Hidehito Tochio, Hidekazu Hiroaki and Masahiro Shirakawa

doi: 10.1038/nature03634

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (346K) | Supplementary information

Structural basis for the promiscuous biosynthetic prenylation of aromatic natural products p983

Tomohisa Kuzuyama, Joseph P. Noel and Stéphane B. Richard

doi: 10.1038/nature03668

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (329K) | Supplementary information

Technology Features

Genomics:  Getting down to details p991

MicroRNAs that tweak gene expression, single nucleotide polymorphisms in population genetics, and individual genome sequencing: Caitlin Smith takes a look at three fast-moving areas in genomics.

Caitlin Smith

doi: 10.1038/435991a

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Genomics:  Big tasks for small molecules p991

doi: 10.1038/435991b

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Genomics:  Genotyping gets up to speed p992

doi: 10.1038/435992a

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Genomics:  SNPs and human disease p993

doi: 10.1038/435993a

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Table of suppliers p995

doi: 10.1038/435995a

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Naturejobs

A global view p997

Paul Smaglik

doi:10.1038/nj7044-997a

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An eastern promise of regeneration p998

The East Coast corridor of New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania is poised for renewed growth in biomedicine. Claudia Caruana investigates.

Claudia Caruana

doi:10.1038/nj7044-998a

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Spotlight on Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey

doi:10.1038/nj0072

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Futures

Damned if you don't p1002

A casual conversation.

Lucy Bergman

doi: 10.1038/4351002a

Full Text | PDF (503K)