In the News and Views article “Granular matter: A tale of tails” by Martin van Hecke (Nature 435, 1041–1042; 2005), an author's name was misspelt in reference 9. The correct reference is Torquato, S., Truskett, T. M. & Debenedetti, P. G. Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 2064–2067 (2000).