Editorials

The university of the future p949

The traditional model of the US research university — based on the pre-eminence of the single-discipline department — needs to be stretched and challenged.

doi:10.1038/446949a

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Taking the first step p949

China will join efforts to cut carbon emissions, but should not be expected to lead them.

doi:10.1038/446949b

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Conflicted contractors p950

Government agencies should act to ensure the neutrality of research contractors.

doi:10.1038/446950a

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Research Highlights

Research highlights p952

doi:10.1038/446952a

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News

China struggles to square growth and emissions p954

Rapid development is seeing carbon dioxide levels soar.

David Cyranoski

doi:10.1038/446954a

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Primate work faces German veto p955

State parliament calls for halt to macaque research.

Quirin Schiermeier

doi:10.1038/446955a

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Elusive flowering signal pruned of mystery at last p956

Biologists home in on the chemical that puts plants in bloom.

Heidi Ledford

doi:10.1038/446956a

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Brain's speech site is revisited and revised p956

Scans of pickled organs shed fresh light on Broca's area.

Kerri Smith

doi:10.1038/446956b

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Sidelines p957

doi:10.1038/446957a

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Regulators pull contract for chemical review p958

Industry links force firm out of environmental study.

Geoff Brumfiel

doi:10.1038/446958a

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Online resources threaten livelihood of libraries p958

Closures restrict public access to documents from US agencies.

Lucy Odling-Smee

doi:10.1038/446958b

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Rival genetics projects build bridges p960

Biodiversity researchers try to bury the hatchet over barcoding.

Erika Check

doi:10.1038/446960a

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News in brief p961

doi:10.1038/446961a

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Correction p961

doi:10.1038/446961b

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Business

Nanotech growing pains p963

A licensing dispute over fuel additives could spell trouble for one of Britain's nanotechnology stars, as Katharine Sanderson reports.

doi:10.1038/446963a

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News Features

Immunology: Pimp my antibody p964

Antibody therapies have had more than their fair share of crashes. But designers are at work on faster, fancier new models, finds Erika Check.

doi:10.1038/446964a

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US higher education: Medicinal properties p971

doi:10.1038/446971a

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Correspondence

A logged forest in Borneo is better than none at all p974

Erik Meijaard & Douglas Sheil

doi:10.1038/446974a

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Millennium: invest in country statistical systems p974

Sarah B. Macfarlane, Madeleine Thomson & Carla L. AbouZahr

doi:10.1038/446974b

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Millennium: big effort has produced statistical results p974

Paul Cheung

doi:10.1038/446974c

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Commentary

When good drugs go bad p975

How can we best reduce the risk of severe adverse reactions to marketed drugs? An international group of scientists argues that a global research network is needed to identify genetically at-risk populations.

doi:10.1038/446975a

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Books and Arts

In a hole in the ground... p979

What happens when you find a hobbit — or a unicorn?

Henry Gee reviews The Discovery of the Hobbit: The Scientific Breakthrough that Changed the Face of Human History by Mike Morwood & Penny Van Oosterzee

doi:10.1038/446979a

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A user's guide to technology p980

Andrew Nahum reviews The Shock of the Old: Technology in Global History Since 1900 by David Edgerton

doi:10.1038/446980a

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The fall of a wonder drug p981

Hugh Pennington reviews Penicillin: Triumph and Tragedy by Robert Bud

doi:10.1038/446981a

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Science in culture: A sense of proportion p982

A painting of Federico Zuccari, the founder of the academy of arts in Rome, clearly demonstrates his credentials in geometry.

Martin Kemp

doi:10.1038/446982a

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Essay

Disappearing act p983

The bizarre absence of certain gene classes in eukaryotes is key to understanding their evolution and complex links with prokaryotes.

James A. Lake

doi:10.1038/446983a

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News and Views

Plant ecology: Resourceful invaders p985

Plant species that colonize new environments tend to favour habitats with ample water and nutrients. But invasive plants can be more efficient in their use of resources than that observation might imply.

Tim Seastedt

doi:10.1038/446985a

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Astrophysics: The answer is blowing in the wind p986

A source of astoundingly energetic -rays associated with a star cluster might provide a clue to a century-old question: where do the cosmic rays that constantly bombard Earth come from?

Yousaf M. Butt

doi:10.1038/446986a

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Neuroscience: The brain's garbage men p987

Microglial cells, the immune elements of the brain, are activated in disease or following injury. New findings indicate how these cells are switched on to remove damaged cells and cellular debris.

Helmut Kettenmann

doi:10.1038/nature05713

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Biogeochemistry: Iron findings p989

A huge phytoplankton bloom in the Southern Ocean yields estimates of how a continuous supply of iron affects oceanic carbon sequestration. But iron is not the only factor — nutrient supply is crucial too.

Philip W. Boyd

doi:10.1038/446989a

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50 & 100 Years Ago p990

doi:10.1038/446990a

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Atmospheric chemistry: A forest air of chirality p991

A sophisticated survey of certain volatile organic compounds in the air over forest ecosystems shows how such work can reveal varied emission patterns of different chiral, or mirror-image, forms of these compounds.

Euripides G. Stephanou

doi:10.1038/446991a

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Computing: The security of knowing nothing p992

'Zero-knowledge' proofs are all about knowing more, while knowing nothing. When married to cryptographic techniques, they are one avenue being explored towards improving the security of online transactions.

Bernard Chazelle

doi:10.1038/446992a

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Chemical biology: Dressed-up proteins p993

Proteins aren't just defined by their constituent amino acids — structural modifications can yield complex mixtures of protein forms. An approach that controls the addition of such modifications may help to define their role.

Gijsbert Grotenbreg & Hidde Ploegh

doi:10.1038/446993a

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Applied physics: Weight inside p994

Liesbeth Venema

doi:10.1038/446994a

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Mathematical physics: Added dimensions to grain growth p995

A long-standing mathematical model for the growth of grains in two dimensions has been generalized to three and higher dimensions. This will aid our practical understanding of certain crucial properties of materials.

David Kinderlehrer

doi:10.1038/446995a

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Stem cells: Blood lines from embryo to adult p996

Does blood formation in mammalian embryos and adults have separate origins or a common source? The most recent investigations into the question add a further chapter to this long-running story.

Hiroo Ueno & Irving L. Weissman

doi:10.1038/446996a

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Obituary: John Backus (1924–2007) p998

Inventor of science's most widespread programming language, Fortran.

Martin Campbell-Kelly

doi:10.1038/446998a

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Articles

The von Neumann relation generalized to coarsening of three-dimensional microstructures p1053

Robert D. MacPherson & David J. Srolovitz

doi:10.1038/nature05745

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (188K) | Supplementary information

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

Cell tracing shows the contribution of the yolk sac to adult haematopoiesis p1056

Igor M. Samokhvalov, Natalia I. Samokhvalova & Shin-ichi Nishikawa

doi:10.1038/nature05725

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (921K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Ueno & Weissman

Letters

Chlorine isotope homogeneity of the mantle, crust and carbonaceous chondrites p1062

Z. D. Sharp, J. D. Barnes, A. J. Brearley, M. Chaussidon, T. P. Fischer & V. S. Kamenetsky

doi:10.1038/nature05748

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (212K) | Supplementary information

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Weighing of biomolecules, single cells and single nanoparticles in fluid p1066

Thomas P. Burg, Michel Godin, Scott M. Knudsen, Wenjiang Shen, Greg Carlson, John S. Foster, Ken Babcock & Scott R. Manalis

doi:10.1038/nature05741

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,177K) | Supplementary information

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

Effect of natural iron fertilization on carbon sequestration in the Southern Ocean p1070

Stéphane Blain, Bernard Quéguiner, Leanne Armand, Sauveur Belviso, Bruno Bombled, Laurent Bopp, Andrew Bowie, Christian Brunet, Corina Brussaard, François Carlotti, Urania Christaki, Antoine Corbière, Isabelle Durand, Frederike Ebersbach, Jean-Luc Fuda, Nicole Garcia, Loes Gerringa, Brian Griffiths, Catherine Guigue, Christophe Guillerm, Stéphanie Jacquet, Catherine Jeandel, Patrick Laan, Dominique Lefèvre, Claire Lo Monaco, Andrea Malits, Julie Mosseri, Ingrid Obernosterer, Young-Hyang Park, Marc Picheral, Philippe Pondaven, Thomas Remenyi, Valérie Sandroni, Géraldine Sarthou, Nicolas Savoye, Lionel Scouarnec, Marc Souhaut, Doris Thuiller, Klaas Timmermans, Thomas Trull, Julia Uitz, Pieter van Beek, Marcel Veldhuis, Dorothée Vincent, Eric Viollier, Lilita Vong & Thibaut Wagener

doi:10.1038/nature05700

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (510K) | Supplementary information

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

The role of fluids in lower-crustal earthquakes near continental rifts p1075

Martin Reyners, Donna Eberhart-Phillips & Graham Stuart

doi:10.1038/nature05743

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (713K) | Supplementary information

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Resource-use efficiency and plant invasion in low-resource systems p1079

Jennifer L. Funk & Peter M. Vitousek

doi:10.1038/nature05719

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (189K) | Supplementary information

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

How swifts control their glide performance with morphing wings p1082

D. Lentink, U. K. Müller, E. J. Stamhuis, R. de Kat, W. van Gestel, L. L. M. Veldhuis, P. Henningsson, A. Hedenström, J. J. Videler & J. L. van Leeuwen

doi:10.1038/nature05733

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (716K) | Supplementary information

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Opioids block long-term potentiation of inhibitory synapses p1086

Fereshteh S. Nugent, Esther C. Penick & Julie A. Kauer

doi:10.1038/nature05726

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UDP acting at P2Y₆ receptors is a mediator of microglial phagocytosis p1091

Schuichi Koizumi, Yukari Shigemoto-Mogami, Kaoru Nasu-Tada, Yoichi Shinozaki, Keiko Ohsawa, Makoto Tsuda, Bhalchandra V. Joshi, Kenneth A. Jacobson, Shinichi Kohsaka & Kazuhide Inoue

doi:10.1038/nature05704

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,074K) | Supplementary information

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

Phosphorylation of Erp1 by p90rsk is required for cytostatic factor arrest in Xenopus laevis eggs p1096

Tomoko Nishiyama, Keita Ohsumi & Takeo Kishimoto

doi:10.1038/nature05696

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A direct link of the Mos–MAPK pathway to Erp1/Emi2 in meiotic arrest of Xenopuslaevis eggs p1100

Daigo Inoue, Munemichi Ohe, Yoshinori Kanemori, Toshiya Nobui & Noriyuki Sagata

doi:10.1038/nature05688

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (2,266K) | Supplementary information

Expanding the diversity of chemical protein modification allows post-translational mimicry p1105

Sander I. van Kasteren, Holger B. Kramer, Henrik H. Jensen, Sandra J. Campbell, Joanna Kirkpatrick, Neil J. Oldham, Daniel C. Anthony & Benjamin G. Davis

doi:10.1038/nature05757

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (691K) | Supplementary information

See also: News and Views by Grotenbreg & Ploegh

Naturejobs

Declining female participation may be harbinger for computer science as a whole. p1111

Paul Smaglik

doi:10.1038/nj7139-1111a

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Bioscience in the sun p1112

Flush with funds, Florida is enjoying a state-backed bioscience boom, says Gene Russo.

Gene Russo

doi:10.1038/nj7139-1112a

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Frank Gannon, director-general, Science Foundation Ireland, Dublin, Ireland p1114

Frank Gannon tries to maintain the Irish science boom as head of Science Foundation Ireland.

Virginia Gewin

doi:10.1038/nj7139-1114a

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Postdoc redefined p1114

NIH award may not be enough to ferry postdocs towards research independence.

Monya Baker

doi:10.1038/nj7139-1114b

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All ears p1114

My old research area seems to be heating up. Did I miss the wave or start it?

Moira Sheehan

doi:10.1038/nj7139-1114c

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The inside track from academia and industry: Talents and technologies p1116

More universities are offering career and technology-transfer advice — but not enough scientists are utilizing these offices.

Michael Alvarez

doi:10.1038/nj7139-1116a

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Spotlight on Florida

doi:10.1038/nj0157

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