Table of contents
Volume 440 Number 7080 ppxiii-126
Authors
Making the paper: Linda Perry pxiii
Plant fossils reveal ancient trade and agriculture in South America.
doi:10.1038/7080xiiia
Abstractions pxiii
doi:10.1038/7080xiiib
Quantified: Malta pxiii
doi:10.1038/7080xiiic
Editorials
Everybody's fault p1
The Kashmiri earthquake highlights the urgent need for Pakistan and India to put aside their differences and build stronger scientific ties.
doi:10.1038/440001a
See also: Editor's summary
Evaluate this p1
The objective evaluation of research isn't working as it should.
doi:10.1038/440001b
Gradual force p2
A delicate probe, twenty years old this week, has transformed our understanding of the nanoscale.
doi:10.1038/440002a
See also: Editor's summary
News
Disease surveillance needs a revolution p6
Bird flu has highlighted serious deficiencies in epidemiology.
Declan Butler
doi:10.1038/440006a
Physicists told to confront those big questions p7
Foundation hunts for far-out research proposals.
Geoff Brumfiel
doi:10.1038/440007a
Bets are placed for next Harvard president p8
Researchers hope Summers's successor will share passion for science.
Helen Pearson
doi:10.1038/440008a
Scepticism greets EU plan for virtual institute p8
Boosting innovation will take serious cash, say critics.
Quirin Schiermeier
doi:10.1038/440008b
Rules tighten for stem-cell studies p9
International group aims to make research collaborations simpler
Jim Giles
doi:10.1038/440009a
Demo backs animal lab in Oxford p10
Proponents of animal testing out in force for first time at rally
Michael Hopkin
doi:10.1038/440010a
Sackings put editorial freedom on the spot p10
Owners of medical journal deny editors fired for political reasons.
Emma Marris
doi:10.1038/440010b
Sidelines p11
doi:10.1038/440011a
Alternative energy plan criticized p12
Analysts say US research push is not enough.
Jacqueline Ruttiman and Emma Marris
doi:10.1038/440012a
News Features
Molecular microscopy: Focus on the living p14
Atomic force microscopes have revolutionized the study of materials, but probing watery biological systems has proved more difficult. Jenny Hogan asks whether a fix is at hand.
doi:10.1038/440014a
See also: Editor's summary
Seismology: Shaking the foundations p16
Last autumn's deadly earthquake caught Pakistan's government and scientific community off guard. Now a handful of officials and academics are struggling to bring the country up to code. Geoff Brumfiel reports from the scene.
doi:10.1038/440016a
See also: Editor's summary
Biochemistry: The iceman of svalbard p20
Some say that life began in fire. Hauke Trinks thinks it began in ice, and is bent on taking the hard route to prove it. Quirin Schiermeier tells the Arctic adventurer's tale.
doi:10.1038/440020a
Business
Toshiba goes nuclear p23
A Japanese giant is betting big on nuclear power — but not everyone thinks the gamble will pay off, as Kurt Kleiner reports.
Kurt Kleiner
doi:10.1038/440023a
Correspondence
Top-down standards will not serve systems biology p24
John Quackenbush, Christian Stoeckert, Catherine Ball, Alvis Brazma, Robert Gentleman, Wolfgang Huber, Rafael Irizarry, Marc Salit, Gavin Sherlock, Paul Spellman and Neil Winegarden
doi:10.1038/440024a
Taxonomy on the fly in a European web project p24
Simon Tillier and Dave Roberts
doi:10.1038/440024b
Taxonomy: programmes developing in the South too p24
Carlos A. Joly
doi:10.1038/440024c
Commentary
Global network could avert pandemics p25
Good surveillance is key to responding to a bird flu pandemic. Jean-Paul Chretien, David L. Blazes and their colleagues propose a new network of labs modelled on existing military facilities.
doi:10.1038/440025a
See also: Editor's summary
Books and Arts
A Silent Spring for climate change? p27
Helping the public understand climate change is an important part of tackling the problem.
David S. Reay reviews The Winds of Change: Climate, Weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations by Eugene Linden and The Weather Makers: The History and Future Impact of Climate Change by Tim Flannery
doi:10.1038/440027a
See also: Editor's summary
Film: Big trip to the red planet p28
Jay Pasachoff reviews Roving Mars. An IMAX movie produced and directed by George Butler
doi:10.1038/440028a
Hidden depths p29
doi:10.1038/440029a
The chamber of wonders p29
Kathie Way reviews From Private to Public: Natural Collections and Museums edited by Marco Beretta
doi:10.1038/440029b
Theatre: A defining moment for bioethics p30
Alison Abbott reviews Biblioethics: A User's Dictionary. Directed by Luca Ronconi
doi:10.1038/440030a
News and Views
Earth science: Megathrust investigations p31
We know the basic events of 26 December 2004: a giant earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean generated a devastating tsunami. But geoscientists are still learning about processes initiated during the earthquake.
Charles J. Ammon
doi:10.1038/440031a
See also: Editor's summary
Cell biology: Ageing nucleus gets out of shape p32
In certain premature-ageing syndromes, the architecture of the cell nucleus is abnormal. An animal model shows similar malformations during normal ageing, corroborating the idea that genome instability underlies ageing.
Hannes Lans and Jan H. J. Hoeijmakers
doi:10.1038/440032a
Nanotechnology: How clean is too clean? p34
Silicon nanowires could form the building-blocks of future electronic devices, but under ultra-clean conditions, regulating their growth is difficult. Is the strictly controlled environment the problem?
Ulrich Gösele
doi:10.1038/440034a
See also: Editor's summary
Ecology: Corals fail a test of neutrality p35
Ecologists continue to wrestle with a central question in biodiversity studies — the prediction of species' distributions in various environments. A merger of different theories is the long-term prospect.
John M. Pandolfi
doi:10.1038/440035a
See also: Editor's summary
Device physics: Electrical solitons come of age p36
Individual packets of light energy, known as optical solitons, have long been the darlings of communications engineers. Finally, their electrical siblings are getting a look in — and could become the new favourites.
Thomas H. Lee
doi:10.1038/440036a
50 & 100 years ago p37
doi:10.1038/440037a
Behavioural ecology: Push on the marching crickets p38
Tim Lincoln
doi:10.1038/440038a
Cell biology: A break in the chain? p38
How chains of proteins link transmembrane cell–cell adhesion molecules to the cell's inner scaffold was standard textbook material. But recent research challenges the accepted model, opening a new chapter in the field.
Keith Burridge
doi:10.1038/440038b
Structural biology: Designer labels p40
An innovative approach to the isotopic labelling of proteins places the determination of the structures of larger proteins — particularly those in solution — within reach, while improving the accuracy of the method.
Stanley J. Opella
doi:10.1038/440040a
See also: Editor's summary
Hypothesis
Introns and the origin of nucleus–cytosol compartmentalization p41
William Martin and Eugene V. Koonin
doi:10.1038/nature04531
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (235K)
See also: Editor's summary
Articles
Plate-boundary deformation associated with the great Sumatra–Andaman earthquake p46
Cecep Subarya, Mohamed Chlieh, Linette Prawirodirdjo, Jean-Philippe Avouac, Yehuda Bock, Kerry Sieh, Aron J. Meltzner, Danny H. Natawidjaja and Robert McCaffrey
doi:10.1038/nature04522
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,757K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Ammon
Optimal isotope labelling for NMR protein structure determinations p52
Masatsune Kainosho, Takuya Torizawa, Yuki Iwashita, Tsutomu Terauchi, Akira Mei Ono and Peter Güntert
doi:10.1038/nature04525
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,200K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Opella
Letters
A magnetically collimated jet from an evolved star p58
Wouter H. T. Vlemmings, Philip J. Diamond and Hiroshi Imai
doi:10.1038/nature04466
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (208K)
See also: Editor's summary
Episodic outgassing as the origin of atmospheric methane on Titan p61
Gabriel Tobie, Jonathan I. Lunine and Christophe Sotin
doi:10.1038/nature04497
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (814K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Hidden magnetism and quantum criticality in the heavy fermion superconductor CeRhIn5 p65
Tuson Park, F. Ronning, H. Q. Yuan, M. B. Salamon, R. Movshovich, J. L. Sarrao and J. D. Thompson
doi:10.1038/nature04571
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (336K) | Supplementary information
The influence of the surface migration of gold on the growth of silicon nanowires p69
J. B. Hannon, S. Kodambaka, F. M. Ross and R. M. Tromp
doi:10.1038/nature04574
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (241K)
See also: Editor's summary
Uplift, thermal unrest and magma intrusion at Yellowstone caldera p72
Charles W. Wicks, Wayne Thatcher, Daniel Dzurisin and Jerry Svarc
doi:10.1038/nature04507
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,061K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Early maize agriculture and interzonal interaction in southern Peru p76
Linda Perry, Daniel H. Sandweiss, Dolores R. Piperno, Kurt Rademaker, Michael A. Malpass, Adán Umire and Pablo de la Vera
doi:10.1038/nature04294
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (255K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Coral reef diversity refutes the neutral theory of biodiversity p80
Maria Dornelas, Sean R. Connolly and Terence P. Hughes
doi:10.1038/nature04534
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (135K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by PandolfiErratum by Dornelas et al.
Optimal reactive vaccination strategies for a foot-and-mouth outbreak in the UK p83
Michael J. Tildesley, Nicholas J. Savill, Darren J. Shaw, Rob Deardon, Stephen P. Brooks, Mark E. J. Woolhouse, Bryan T. Grenfell and Matt J. Keeling
doi:10.1038/nature04324
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (301K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Sexual reproduction selects for robustness and negative epistasis in artificial gene networks p87
Ricardo B. R. Azevedo, Rolf Lohaus, Suraj Srinivasan, Kristen K. Dang and Christina L. Burch
doi:10.1038/nature04488
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (226K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | Corrigendum by Azevedo et al.
Dissociable neural mechanisms supporting visual short-term memory for objects p91
Yaoda Xu and Marvin M. Chun
doi:10.1038/nature04262
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (387K) | Supplementary information
Mitoferrin is essential for erythroid iron assimilation p96
George C. Shaw, John J. Cope, Liangtao Li, Kenneth Corson, Candace Hersey, Gabriele E. Ackermann, Babette Gwynn, Amy J. Lambert, Rebecca A. Wingert, David Traver, Nikolaus S. Trede, Bruce A. Barut, Yi Zhou, Emmanuel Minet, Adriana Donovan, Alison Brownlie, Rena Balzan, Mitchell J. Weiss, Luanne L. Peters, Jerry Kaplan, Leonard I. Zon and Barry H. Paw
doi:10.1038/nature04512
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (377K) | Supplementary information
How guanylate-binding proteins achieve assembly-stimulated processive cleavage of GTP to GMP p101
Agnidipta Ghosh, Gerrit J. K. Praefcke, Louis Renault, Alfred Wittinghofer and Christian Herrmann
doi:10.1038/nature04510
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (316K) | Supplementary information
Role of genomic instability and p53 in AID-induced c-myc–Igh translocations p105
Almudena R. Ramiro, Mila Jankovic, Elsa Callen, Simone Difilippantonio, Hua-Tang Chen, Kevin M. McBride, Thomas R. Eisenreich, Junjie Chen, Ross A. Dickins, Scott W. Lowe, Andre Nussenzweig and Michel C. Nussenzweig
doi:10.1038/nature04495
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (353K) | Supplementary information
An acidic protein aligns magnetosomes along a filamentous structure in magnetotactic bacteria p110
André Scheffel, Manuela Gruska, Damien Faivre, Alexandros Linaroudis, Jürgen M. Plitzko and Dirk Schüler
doi:10.1038/nature04382
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (494K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Development of the signal in sensory rhodopsin and its transfer to the cognate transducer p115
Rouslan Moukhametzianov, Johann P. Klare, Rouslan Efremov, Christian Baeken, Annika Göppner, Jörg Labahn, Martin Engelhard, Georg Büldt and Valentin I. Gordeliy
doi:10.1038/nature04520
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (623K) | Supplementary information
Naturejobs
ProspectChina syndrome p121
China is catching up with the West in science funding, education and investment.
Paul Smaglik
doi:10.1038/nj7080-121a
Special Report
After-school programmes p122
PhD students, postdocs and even senior scientists are taking continuing-education courses to improve their scientific 'hard skills' or branch out beyond the lab. Robert Rentzsch had a look around to see what's on offer.
Robert Rentzsch
doi:10.1038/nj7080-122a
Highlights
Highlight: The National Institutes of Health
doi:10.1038/nj0114
Futures
Applied mathematical theology p126
You have a message.
Gregory Benford
doi:10.1038/440126a