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Disputes over who truly deserves the credit — or blame — for published work can result in bruised egos, damaged careers and court cases. Helen Pearson looks at ways to avoid fights over authorship.
The two Roger Pielkes can be obstructionist pains in the neck, say their colleagues. So why is this likeable father–son pair such a welcome addition to the debate on global climate change? Kendall Powell clears the air.
Many of the genes affecting mitochondria — tiny energy suppliers of cells — reside in the cell nucleus. Nick Lane joins the hunt for these sequences that may underpin diseases such as diabetes.
Does the enormous computing power of neurons mean consciousness can be explained within a purely neurobiological framework, or is there scope for quantum computation in the brain?
In the 1980s, a large lake — Lago Guri — was created as part of a hydroelectric project in Venezuela. Islands in the lake have enabled ecologists to test a fundamental hypothesis in their discipline.
Propeller-shaped structures seem to reveal the presence of moonlets, about 100 metres in diameter, embedded in Saturn's rings. This discovery adds to our picture of how the rings formed and are evolving.
How does the brain store sequences of experience? Clues come from brain recordings of rats running along a track. The animals' memories seem to be consolidated in an unexpected way as they rest between runs.
From probing living cells under a microscope to scanning the heavens for gravity waves, the limitations of precision measurements constrain our capacity to discover more about the world. But what exactly are those limits?
Aperiodic materials do not surrender details of their structure as readily as do their crystalline counterparts. The latest computational solution to this problem brings aspects of ‘the beautiful game’ into play.
If intelligence is partly determined by our genes, how does brain development relate to IQ? An attempt to answer this question measures the size of the outer layer of the brain, the cortex, with surprising results.
A simulation of galaxy formation that follows evolution from the earliest stages of formation through to the point where the resulting galaxy is in its final form as a present-day elliptical.
Four longitudinal double-streaks in an otherwise bland part of Saturn's mid-A ring have been observed. It seems that embedded moonlets approximately 40 to 120 metres in diameter cause these ‘propeller’-shaped perturbations to arise.
Using vortices trapped inside a superconductor that repel each other it can be demonstrated that particle–particle interactions can lead to multiple drift reversal of a ratchet effect, very different from the single particle behaviour.
Two novel algorithms for nanostructure reconstruction from precise unassigned interatomic distances makes sub-ångström resolution structure solution of nanomaterials possible.
By determining the solidus of carbonated peridotite at high pressure it was demonstrated that melting beneath mid-ocean ridges may occur at greater depths than usually assumed — down to 330 kilometres or more.
Resolving the enigma of the evolution of altruism is helped along by models showing that the coexistence of many tags makes the evolution of cooperation using a recognition mechanism more likely.
Rather than using genome sequence data to make conclusions about how an organism lives, the reverse approach can be adopted — using gene networks generated for a group of related organisms with similar lifestyles to infer the gene content of another member of the group.
An analysis of human chromosome 15 — which is altered in Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes — reveals that it resembles a hall of mirrors, as it contains a number of sequence duplications throughout its length. The evolutionary events that may have led to the high number of duplications was also reconstructed.
Cancer cells that express the receptor protein RANK migrate to bone tissue where the RANK ligand, RANKL, is found. This contributes to bone metastases and offers a potential therapeutic approach to prevent cancer metastases.
A fluorescence resonance energy transfer biosensor called Rango enables examination of the Ran–importin-β system in cells. Small changes in RanGTP concentration tip the balance between positive and negative mitotic regulators, thereby promoting spindle assembly and function.
A putative DNA replication origin at the INK4/ARF locus — which encodes three tumour suppressors — has been identified that can mediate its transcriptional silencing.
Research into angiogenesis has survived the 1990s hype about an imminent cure for cancer, and shows promising results in many areas — but don't tell the newspapers, says Ricki Lewis.