Table of contents

Business

Across China's frontier p781

China has become the preferred place for international firms to open research labs — and Japan is leading the way, reports Ichiko Fuyuno.

doi:10.1038/439781a

Full Text | PDF (251K)

Correspondence

Why negatives should be viewed as positives p782

Bob O'Hara, Mike S. Fowler and Christine A. Johnson

doi:10.1038/439782a

Full Text | PDF (130K)

A simple system of checks and balances to cut fraud p782

Xiangzhong Yang, K. Eggan, G. Seidel, Jr, R. Jaenisch and D. Melton

doi:10.1038/439782b

Peer review could be improved by market forces p782

Klaus Jaffe

doi:10.1038/439782c

Bureaucracy won't change the character of a cheat p782

Phil Bentley

doi:10.1038/439782d

Full Text | PDF (149K)

Pressure also leads to worthless publications p784

Lindomar B. de Carvalho

doi:10.1038/439784a

It's difficult to publish contradictory findings p784

Thomas E. DeCoursey

doi:10.1038/439784b

Data audit would reduce unethical behaviour p784

Adil E. Shamoo

doi:10.1038/439784c

Discourse among referees and editors would help p784

Debomoy K. Lahiri

doi:10.1038/439784d

Commentary

Mapping disaster zones p787

Google Earth software proved effective during relief efforts in New Orleans and Pakistan, say Illah Nourbakhsh and colleagues. Is there more to be gained than lost from opening up disaster operations to the wider public?

doi:10.1038/439787a

Full Text | PDF (365K)

See also: Editor's summary

Books and Arts

Enough is enough p789

Economic growth should be viewed as a means to an end, not an end in itself.

Robert Costanza reviews The Logic of Sufficiency by Thomas Princen

doi:10.1038/439789a

Full Text | PDF (3,064K)

Super science p790

Stephen Baxter reviews The Physics of Superheroes by James Kakalios, Death Rays, Jet Packs, Stunts and Supercars: The Fantastic Physics of Film's Most Celebrated Secret Agent by Barry Parker, A Teaspoon and an Open Mind: The Science of Doctor Who by Michael White and The Science of Doctor Who by Paul Parsons

doi:10.1038/439790a

Full Text | PDF (3,200K)

Incomplete mathematics p790

Ivor Grattan-Guinness reviews Meta Math! The Quest for Omega by Gregory Chaitin

doi:10.1038/439790b

Full Text | PDF (3,357K)

Exhibition: Classifying the past p791

Alexis Clements

doi:10.1038/439791a

Full Text | PDF (267K)

News and Views

Global change: The water cycle freshens up p793

Rivers are delivering increasing amounts of fresh water to the ocean. The cause seems to be the influence that higher concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide are having on water use by plants.

Damon Matthews

doi:10.1038/439793a

Full Text | PDF (693K)

See also: Editor's summary

Developmental biology: Two paths to silence merge p794

To maintain their identity across generations, specialized cells must heritably repress swathes of genes — keeping active only genes necessary for the cell's purpose. Now it seems two repressive pathways join forces.

Panthea Taghavi and Maarten van Lohuizen

doi:10.1038/439794a

Full Text | PDF (456K)

Chemistry: Volatile times for ionic liquids p797

Ionic liquids are useful substances, but in certain applications their utility is limited because they are involatile — or so we thought. In fact, some ionic liquids can be distilled, and even thermally separated.

Peter Wasserscheid

doi:10.1038/439797a

Full Text | PDF (245K)

See also: Editor's summary

Genetics: Copies count p798

Some genes have more than one copy, and the copy number can differ among individuals. But does this variation affect the person involved? It seems susceptibility to certain common diseases can be altered.

Joseph H. Nadeau and Charles Lee

doi:10.1038/439798a

Full Text | PDF (213K)

See also: Editor's summary

Spectroscopy: NMR down to Earth p799

High-precision nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy generally requires the use of powerful magnets. But using Earth's magnetic field allows us to gain some of the same information on the cheap.

Janez Stepi s caron nik

doi:10.1038/439799a

Full Text | PDF (376K)

50 & 100 years ago p799

doi:10.1038/439799b

Full Text | PDF (150K)

Cartography: A popular perspective p800

Richard Webb

doi:10.1038/439800a

Full Text | PDF (301K)

Chemistry: Brevity for bonds p801

Fashion design? Game-playing? Designing the shortest bond between two carbon atoms can seem to have elements of such apparently ephemeral pursuits. But it can also stretch the chemist's creativity.

Jay S. Siegel

doi:10.1038/439801a

Full Text | PDF (237K)

Microbiology: Protection racket p802

Helen Dell

doi:10.1038/439802a

Full Text | PDF (189K)

Brief Communications

Invasion and the evolution of speed in toads p803

Cane toads seem to have honed their dispersal ability to devastating effect over the generations.

Benjamin L. Phillips, Gregory P. Brown, Jonathan K. Webb and Richard Shine

doi:10.1038/439803a

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (252K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary

Articles

Compartmentalization of S-RNase and HT-B degradation in self-incompatible Nicotiana p805

Ariel Goldraij, Katsuhiko Kondo, Christopher B. Lee, C. Nathan Hancock, Mayandi Sivaguru, Sonia Vazquez-Santana, Sunran Kim, Thomas E. Phillips, Felipe Cruz-Garcia and Bruce McClure

doi:10.1038/nature04491

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,302K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary

Histone demethylation by a family of JmjC domain-containing proteins p811

Yu-ichi Tsukada, Jia Fang, Hediye Erdjument-Bromage, Maria E. Warren, Christoph H. Borchers, Paul Tempst and Yi Zhang

doi:10.1038/nature04433

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (532K) | Supplementary information

Letters

Transient radio bursts from rotating neutron stars p817

M. A. McLaughlin, A. G. Lyne, D. R. Lorimer, M. Kramer, A. J. Faulkner, R. N. Manchester, J. M. Cordes, F. Camilo, A. Possenti, I. H. Stairs, G. Hobbs, N. D'Amico, M. Burgay and J. T. O'Brien

doi:10.1038/nature04440

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (532K) | Supplementary information

Iron meteorites as remnants of planetesimals formed in the terrestrial planet region p821

William F. Bottke, David Nesvorný, Robert E. Grimm, Alessandro Morbidelli and David P. O'Brien

doi:10.1038/nature04536

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (690K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary

A spin triplet supercurrent through the half-metallic ferromagnet CrO₂ p825

R. S. Keizer, S. T. B. Goennenwein, T. M. Klapwijk, G. Miao, G. Xiao and A. Gupta

doi:10.1038/nature04499

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (252K)

See also: Editor's summary

Scale invariance and universality of force networks in static granular matter p828

Srdjan Ostojic, Ellák Somfai and Bernard Nienhuis

doi:10.1038/nature04549

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (597K) | Supplementary information

The distillation and volatility of ionic liquids p831

Martyn J. Earle, José M.S.S. Esperança, Manuela A. Gilea, José N. Canongia Lopes, Luís P.N. Rebelo, Joseph W. Magee, Kenneth R. Seddon and Jason A. Widegren

doi:10.1038/nature04451

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (183K) | Supplementary information

Detection of a direct carbon dioxide effect in continental river runoff records p835

N. Gedney, P. M. Cox, R. A. Betts, O. Boucher, C. Huntingford and P. A. Stott

doi:10.1038/nature04504

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (198K) | Supplementary information

Skull of the large non-macrostomatan snake Yurlunggur from the Australian Oligo-Miocene p839

John D. Scanlon

doi:10.1038/nature04137

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (224K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary

Positive and negative effects of widespread badger culling on tuberculosis in cattle p843

Christl A. Donnelly, Rosie Woodroffe, D. R. Cox, F. John Bourne, C. L. Cheeseman, Richard S. Clifton-Hadley, Gao Wei, George Gettinby, Peter Gilks, Helen Jenkins, W. Thomas Johnston, Andrea M. Le Fevre, John P. McInerney and W. Ivan Morrison

doi:10.1038/nature04454

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (222K) | Supplementary information

Proteorhodopsin lateral gene transfer between marine planktonic Bacteria and Archaea p847

Niels-Ulrik Frigaard, Asuncion Martinez, Tracy J. Mincer and Edward F. DeLong

doi:10.1038/nature04435

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (449K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary

Copy number polymorphism in Fcgr3 predisposes to glomerulonephritis in rats and humans p851

Timothy J. Aitman, Rong Dong, Timothy J. Vyse, Penny J. Norsworthy, Michelle D. Johnson, Jennifer Smith, Jonathan Mangion, Cheri Roberton-Lowe, Amy J. Marshall, Enrico Petretto, Matthew D. Hodges, Gurjeet Bhangal, Sheetal G. Patel, Kelly Sheehan-Rooney, Mark Duda, Paul R. Cook, David J. Evans, Jan Domin, Jonathan Flint, Joseph J. Boyle, Charles D. Pusey and H. Terence Cook

doi:10.1038/nature04489

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (366K) | Supplementary information

A bottom-up approach to gene regulation p856

Nicholas J. Guido, Xiao Wang, David Adalsteinsson, David McMillen, Jeff Hasty, Charles R. Cantor, Timothy C. Elston and J. J. Collins

doi:10.1038/nature04473

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (634K) | Supplementary information

Origins of extrinsic variability in eukaryotic gene expression p861

Dmitri Volfson, Jennifer Marciniak, William J. Blake, Natalie Ostroff, Lev S. Tsimring and Jeff Hasty

doi:10.1038/nature04281

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (337K) | Supplementary information

The primate amygdala represents the positive and negative value of visual stimuli during learning p865

Joseph J. Paton, Marina A. Belova, Sara E. Morrison and C. Daniel Salzman

doi:10.1038/nature04490

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (624K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary

The Polycomb group protein EZH2 directly controls DNA methylation p871

Emmanuelle Viré, Carmen Brenner, Rachel Deplus, Loïc Blanchon, Mario Fraga, Céline Didelot, Lluis Morey, Aleyde Van Eynde, David Bernard, Jean-Marie Vanderwinden, Mathieu Bollen, Manel Esteller, Luciano Di Croce, Yvan de Launoit and François Fuks

doi:10.1038/nature04431

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (302K) | Supplementary information

A lever-arm rotation drives motility of the minus-end-directed kinesin Ncd p875

Nicholas F. Endres, Craig Yoshioka, Ronald A. Milligan and Ronald D. Vale

doi:10.1038/nature04320

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (269K) | Supplementary information

Crystal structures of catalytic complexes of the oxidative DNA/RNA repair enzyme AlkB p879

Bomina Yu, William C. Edstrom, Jordi Benach, Yoshitomo Hamuro, Patricia C. Weber, Brian R. Gibney and John F. Hunt

doi:10.1038/nature04561

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (552K) | Supplementary information

Naturejobs

Prospect

Valuable lessons p885

Help in developing the 'soft' skills.

Paul Smaglik

doi:10.1038/nj7078-885a

Full Text | PDF (151K)

Special Report

Drug hunt p886

In the first of a series of articles on the drug pipeline, Hannah Hoag looks at the opportunities in selecting leads.

Hannah Hoag

doi:10.1038/nj7078-886a

Full Text | PDF (435K)

Career Views

Giulio Superti-Furga, scientific director and chief executive, Research Center for Molecular Medicine, Austrian Academy of Sciences p888

Proteomics expert returns to academia after a stint in biotech.

Corie Lok

doi:10.1038/nj7078-888a

The changing face of Japan p888

Government invests in careers of young Japanese researchers.

Ichiko Fuyuno

doi:10.1038/nj7078-888b

The end of the affair p888

Final-year graduate student looks beyond the bench for future career.

Katja Bargum

doi:10.1038/nj7078-888c