Table of contents
Volume 447 Number 7143 pp353-500
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Editorials
Unwise branding p353
Equating animal-rights activism with terrorism increases the penalties for offenders and will please many of their victims. But it is not in the interests of science.
doi:10.1038/447353a
An unwieldy hybrid p353
A draft law will unnecessarily hinder embryo research.
doi:10.1038/447353b
Nobels in dubious causes p354
Top scientists should campaign only where they can truly make a difference.
doi:10.1038/447354a
News
Celebrity genomes alarm researchers p358
Scientists slam sequencing as élitist.
Erika Check
doi:10.1038/447358a
Plans forge ahead for better weather monitoring p358
Calibration is the name of the game.
Quirin Schiermeier
doi:10.1038/447358b
Website homes in on climate hazards p360
Online appraisal offers local risk assessments.
Lucy Odling-Smee
doi:10.1038/447360a
Help flies in for human genome p361
Geneticists enlist model organisms to help crack code.
Erika Check
doi:10.1038/447361a
Sidelines p362
doi:10.1038/447362a
Japan centres aim to put science in premier league p362
Universities gear up for international push.
David Cyranoski
doi:10.1038/447362b
NIH presents the mind of a child p362
Bank of brain scans offers benchmark for studies.
Alison Abbott
doi:10.1038/447362c
Darwin sceptic says views cost tenure p364
Astronomer blames setback on his support of intelligent design.
Geoff Brumfiel
doi:10.1038/447364a
News in brief p365
doi:10.1038/447365a
Correction p365
doi:10.1038/447365b
Business
London calling p367
Despite its critics, the Alternative Investment Market could still be attractive to America's small, innovative companies, reports Andrea Chipman.
doi:10.1038/447367a
News Features
Neuroscience: The molecular wake-up call p368
It is 50 years since Arvid Carlsson showed dopamine to be a neurotransmitter. Alison Abbott profiles a chemical and its champion.
doi:10.1038/447368a
See also: Editor's summary
Quantum cryptography: Seeking absolute security p372
Quantum cryptography is theoretically unbreakable, yet a handful of physicists are finding ways to hack into its secrets. Geoff Brumfiel finds out how.
doi:10.1038/447372a
See also: Editor's summary
Scientific activism: Signing on p374
When you win a Nobel prize, you become much in demand. Eric Sorensen takes a look at how laureates decide which worthy causes to lend their name to.
doi:10.1038/447374a
Correspondence
Look at biological systems through an engineer's eyes p376
R. S. Eisenberg
doi:10.1038/447376a
Endowments are necessary for museums to thrive p376
D. James Baker, Jeremy A. Sabloff & Peter A. Raven
doi:10.1038/447376b
Bright idea to improve prose but remain accurate p376
Brad Deutsch
doi:10.1038/447376c
Commentary
Laying solid foundations for Europe p377
European life-science infrastructure has been neglected for too long. The next generation of facilities needs better coordination and community support, argue Iain W. Mattaj and Glauco P. Tocchini-Valentini.
doi:10.1038/447377a
See also: Editor's summary
Books and Arts
Leading Los Alamos p379
To develop the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer changed Los Alamos — and it changed him.
Catherine Westfall reviews Oppenheimer: The Tragic Intellect by Charles Thorpe
doi:10.1038/447379a
Safety first p380
Allison Snow reviews Intervention: Confronting the Real Risks of Genetic Engineering and Life on a Biotech Planet by Denise Caruso
doi:10.1038/447380a
Intelligence in a changing world p381
Hiroaki Kitano reviews How the Body Shapes the Way We Think: A New View of Intelligence by Rolf Pfeifer & Josh Bongard
doi:10.1038/447381a
Science in culture: Surrealism bites back p382
Sink your teeth into Jean Painlevé's nature films at an exhibition in London.
Martin Kemp
doi:10.1038/447382a
Essay
ConceptOceanography: Power of pull p383
As the complex interplay of forces in the ocean responds to climate change, the dynamics of global ocean circulation are shifting.
Martin Visbeck
doi:10.1038/447383a
See also: Editor's summary
News and Views
Laser technology: Less excitement for more gain p385
In theory, semiconductor nanocrystals are highly suitable laser materials, not least because the colour of their light is tunable over a wide range. In practice, they are difficult — but not impossible — to deal with.
Todd D. Krauss
doi:10.1038/447385a
See also: Editor's summary
Circadian rhythms: Metabolic clockwork p386
The 'body clock' regulates the daily cycles of many physiological and metabolic processes, but just how is a mystery. New findings suggest that the cycling of energy metabolism is mediated by an activator of gene expression.
Benedetto Grimaldi & Paolo Sassone-Corsi
doi:10.1038/447386a
See also: Editor's summary
Biophysics: Bending over to attract p387
What forces shape the membranes of the biological cell? A computer simulation indicates that it is the concerted effort of many proteins, mediated by the lipid bilayer that forms the membrane matrix.
Michael M. Kozlov
doi:10.1038/447387a
See also: Editor's summary
Molecular medicine: MicroRNAs and the tell-tale heart p389
MicroRNAs are natural, single-stranded, small RNA molecules thought to control gene expression. Four studies indicate that specific microRNA sequences can regulate heart function in development and disease.
Kenneth R. Chien
doi:10.1038/447389a
Condensed-matter physics: A superfluid is born p390
For most of its existence, a superfluid droplet leads an essentially innocuous, classical life. But intense scrutiny reveals that the birth of such droplets is a turbulent and unpredictable quantum affair.
Henk T. C. Stoof
doi:10.1038/447390a
Molecular biology: RNA in control p391
In bacteria, some messenger RNAs can sense the need for their protein product and accordingly regulate expression of their own genes. A similar type of RNA regulation has now been revealed in higher organisms.
Benjamin J. Blencowe & May Khanna
doi:10.1038/447391a
50 & 100 Years Ago p391
doi:10.1038/447391b
Supernovae: Answers and questions p393
Do we understand the violent and cosmologically significant stellar explosions known as type-Ia supernovae? Yes and no, as astronomers participating in a conference in California agreed.
David Branch & Ken'ichi Nomoto
doi:10.1038/447393a
Hydrology: Flood of data p393
Tim Lincoln
doi:10.1038/447393b
Insight: Epigenetics -
Insight: Epigenetics
Epigenetics p395
Alex Eccleston, Natalie DeWitt, Chris Gunter, Barbara Marte & Deepa Nath
doi:10.1038/447395a
Articles
Single-exciton optical gain in semiconductor nanocrystals p441
Victor I. Klimov, Sergei A. Ivanov, Jagjit Nanda, Marc Achermann, Ilya Bezel, John A. McGuire & Andrei Piryatinski
doi:10.1038/nature05839
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (636K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Krauss
OGG1 initiates age-dependent CAG trinucleotide expansion in somatic cells p447
Irina V. Kovtun, Yuan Liu, Magnar Bjoras, Arne Klungland, Samuel H. Wilson & Cynthia T. McMurray
doi:10.1038/nature05778
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (602K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Atomic structures of amyloid cross-
spines reveal varied steric zippers p453
Michael R. Sawaya, Shilpa Sambashivan, Rebecca Nelson, Magdalena I. Ivanova, Stuart A. Sievers, Marcin I. Apostol, Michael J. Thompson, Melinda Balbirnie, Jed J. W. Wiltzius, Heather T. McFarlane, Anders Ø. Madsen, Christian Riekel & David Eisenberg
doi:10.1038/nature05695
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (3,029K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Letters
An unusually brilliant transient in the galaxy M85 p458
S. R. Kulkarni, E. O. Ofek, A. Rau, S. B. Cenko, A. M. Soderberg, D. B. Fox, A. Gal-Yam, P. L. Capak, D. S. Moon, W. Li, A. V. Filippenko, E. Egami, J. Kartaltepe & D. B. Sanders
doi:10.1038/nature05822
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (457K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Aggregation and vesiculation of membrane proteins by curvature-mediated interactions p461
Benedict J. Reynwar, Gregoria Illya, Vagelis A. Harmandaris, Martin M. Müller, Kurt Kremer & Markus Deserno
doi:10.1038/nature05840
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (871K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Kozlov
Intense hurricane activity over the past 5,000 years controlled by El Niño and the West African monsoon p465
Jeffrey P. Donnelly & Jonathan D. Woodruff
doi:10.1038/nature05834
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (347K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Evolution of cooperation in a finite homogeneous graph p469
Peter D. Taylor, Troy Day & Geoff Wild
doi:10.1038/nature05784
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (225K) | Supplementary information
An autopodial-like pattern of Hox expression in the fins of a basal actinopterygian fish p473
Marcus C. Davis, Randall D. Dahn & Neil H. Shubin
doi:10.1038/nature05838
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,055K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Transcriptional coactivator PGC-1
integrates the mammalian clock and energy metabolism p477
Chang Liu, Siming Li, Tiecheng Liu, Jimo Borjigin & Jiandie D. Lin
doi:10.1038/nature05767
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (921K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Grimaldi & Sassone-Corsi
Disulphide-isomerase-enabled shedding of tumour-associated NKG2D ligands p482
Brett K. Kaiser, Daesong Yim, I-Ting Chow, Segundo Gonzalez, Zhenpeng Dai, Henning H. Mann, Roland K. Strong, Veronika Groh & Thomas Spies
doi:10.1038/nature05768
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (578K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Redox-mediated substrate recognition by Sdp1 defines a new group of tyrosine phosphatases p487
G. C. Fox, M. Shafiq, D. C. Briggs, P. P. Knowles, M. Collister, M. J. Didmon, V. Makrantoni, R. J. Dickinson, S. Hanrahan, N. Totty, M. J. R. Stark, S. M. Keyse & N. Q. McDonald
doi:10.1038/nature05804
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (658K) | Supplementary information
Experimental and theoretical study of mitotic spindle orientation p493
Manuel Théry, Andrea Jiménez-Dalmaroni, Victor Racine, Michel Bornens & Frank Jülicher
doi:10.1038/nature05786
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,010K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Control of alternative RNA splicing and gene expression by eukaryotic riboswitches p497
Ming T. Cheah, Andreas Wachter, Narasimhan Sudarsan & Ronald R. Breaker
doi:10.1038/nature05769
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (382K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Blencowe & Khanna
Naturejobs
ProspectThe HHMI and Wellcome Trust come together for a tour de force postdoc experience. p501
Paul Smaglik
doi:10.1038/nj7143-501a
Region
Gates of opportunity p502
Seattle is reaping the benefits of having the world's largest health foundation in its backyard. Eric Sorensen gauges the impact.
Eric Sorensen
doi:10.1038/nj7143-502a
Career Views
Glenn Morris, director, Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida p504
Institute director takes on infectious disease in Florida.
Virginia Gewin
doi:10.1038/nj7143-504a
Northern exposure for EMBL p504
EMBL expands to the north.
Hannah Hoag
doi:10.1038/nj7143-504b
Perception versus reality p504
Do researchers in my field recognize the challenges of balancing work and kids?
Moira Sheehan
doi:10.1038/nj7143-504c
Highlights
Spotlight on Seattle
doi:10.1038/nj0160