Table of contents
Volume 448 Number 7149 pp1-104
(this content only available online) indicates content that is available online only
Editorials
Parallel worlds galore p1
The 50th anniversary of an astonishing scientific hypothesis deserves celebration. So too do the truly astounding tales of a literary genre that anticipated it.
doi:10.1038/448001a
See also: Editor's summary
Enough talk already p1
Governments should act on researchers' attempts to engage the public over nanotechnology.
doi:10.1038/448001b
Discriminating on genes p2
The United States is belatedly establishing necessary protections in law. Others, take note.
doi:10.1038/448002a
News
The petaflop challenge p6
Future supercomputers could leave scientists scrabbling for software.
Declan Butler
doi:10.1038/448006a
UK science reshuffled p7
New minister, new ministry.
Katharine Sanderson
doi:10.1038/448007a
No solar hiding place for greenhouse sceptics p8
Sun not to blame for global warming.
Quirin Schiermeier
doi:10.1038/448008a
Cosmic-ray results auger well for future p8
Physicists excited by initial findings.
Jenny Hogan
doi:10.1038/448008b
The great gig in the South p9
Live Earth unleashes its Antarctic monkeys.
Katharine Sanderson
doi:10.1038/448009a
Sidelines p10
doi:10.1038/448010a
Faster still and faster p10
Gene-sequencing advances drive rapid progress.
Erika Check
doi:10.1038/448010b
War of words erupts over fossil dig p12
Researchers clash over access to Olduvai Gorge.
Rex Dalton
doi:10.1038/448012a
Business
Abbott's AIDS fight-back p14
Most drug companies have tried to avoid making enemies of AIDS activist groups. But Abbott Laboratories' patience has snapped, as Erika Check reports.
doi:10.1038/448014a
News Features
Many worlds: See me here, see me there p15
Fifty years ago, a physics student dissatisfied with the standard view of quantum mechanics came up with a radical new interpretation. Mark Buchanan reports on the ensuing debate.
doi:10.1038/448015a
See also: Editor's summary
The biologists strike back p18
Time machines, spaceships, atomic blasters — the icons of science fiction tend to come from the physical sciences. But science fiction has a biological side too, finding drama and pathos in everything from alien evolution to the paradoxes of consciousness. Nature brought together four science-fiction writers with a background in the biological sciences to talk about life-science fiction.
doi:10.1038/448018a
Full Text | PDF (1,644K) | Supplementary information
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Correspondence
Not so good when 75% of grant applications fail p22
Philip Strange
doi:10.1038/448022a
Admission that intelligent design is a religious view p22
H. A. Lessios
doi:10.1038/448022b
Terrorists are activists who renounce non-violence p22
Sarah Reichard, Thomas M. Hinckley & H. D. Bradshaw, Jr
doi:10.1038/448022c
Activists: arson risks killing innocent people p22
Mike Fainzilber
doi:10.1038/448022d
Activists: some walls are not meant to be breached p22
Beverly E. Barton
doi:10.1038/448022e
Commentary
Many lives in many worlds p23
Accepting quantum physics to be universally true, argues Max Tegmark, means that you should also believe in parallel universes.
doi:10.1038/448023a
See also: Editor's summary
Books and Arts
Surfing the multiverse p25
The 'many worlds' of quantum mechanics spawned many more of science fiction.
Gary Wolfe
doi:10.1038/448025a
See also: Editor's summary
Exhibition: Art shadowing science p26
Colin Martin reviews Systema metropolis by Mark Dion
doi:10.1038/448026a
Falling victim to balance p27
Timothy Miles reviews Balance: In Search of the Lost Sense by Scot McCredie
doi:10.1038/448027a
See also: Editor's summary
Science with flare p27
Jan Stenflo reviews The Sun Kings: The Unexpected Tragedy of Richard Carrington and the Tale of How Modern Astronomy Began by Stuart Clark
doi:10.1038/448027b
A greener education p28
Peter Hopkinson reviews Degrees that Matter: Climate Change and the University by Ann Rappaport & Sarah Hammond Creighton
doi:10.1038/448028a
Essay
ConceptAstronomy: A constant surprise p29
Whether ancient or new, in distant galaxies or our own cosmic back-yard, stars have dramatic similarities that hint at remarkably robust formative processes.
John Cowan
doi:10.1038/448029a
See also: Editor's summary
News and Views
Mars: Ancient fingerprints in the clay p31
The thermodynamics of ancient clays on Mars seems inconsistent with the idea that a thick atmosphere of carbon dioxide caused a warm, wet era in the planet's early history. What did cause it remains an enigma.
David C. Catling
doi:10.1038/448031a
See also: Editor's summary
Synthetic biology: Designs for life p32
The genome of one bacterium has been successfully replaced with that of a different bacterium, transforming one species into another. This development is a harbinger of whole-genome engineering for practical ends.
Philip Ball
doi:10.1038/448032a
Molecular medicine: Entry granted p33
The inability to efficiently deliver small interfering RNAs to target organs hinders their therapeutic application. So a demonstration of siRNA delivery to a notoriously difficult organ — the brain — is very exciting indeed.
Edouard M. Cantin & John J. Rossi
doi:10.1038/448033a
See also: Editor's summary
Evolutionary biology: Mimicry on the edge p34
The latest turn in studies of mimicry in the animal world involves great tits as predators and almonds as prey. When it comes to being unpalatable, it seems that some mimics may neither flatter nor deceive.
Thomas N. Sherratt
doi:10.1038/448034a
See also: Editor's summary
50 & 100 Years Ago p35
doi:10.1038/448035a
Immunology: How a T cell sees sugar p36
T cells of the immune system recognize lipids, as well as peptides, extending our ideas about such target antigens. A crystal structure of a T-cell receptor docked to antigen shows how a sugar controls lipid recognition.
D. Branch Moody
doi:10.1038/nature05890
Planetary science: Hyperion the sponge p37
Richard Webb
doi:10.1038/448037a
See also: Editor's summary
Articles
Transvascular delivery of small interfering RNA to the central nervous system p39
Priti Kumar, Haoquan Wu, Jodi L. McBride, Kyeong-Eun Jung, Moon Hee Kim, Beverly L. Davidson, Sang Kyung Lee, Premlata Shankar & N. Manjunath
doi:10.1038/nature05901
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (841K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Cantin & Rossi
CD1d–lipid-antigen recognition by the semi-invariant NKT T-cell receptor p44
Natalie A. Borg, Kwok S. Wun, Lars Kjer-Nielsen, Matthew C. J. Wilce, Daniel G. Pellicci, Ruide Koh, Gurdyal S. Besra, Mandvi Bharadwaj, Dale I. Godfrey, James McCluskey & Jamie Rossjohn
doi:10.1038/nature05907
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (857K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Moody
Letters
Hyperion's sponge-like appearance p50
P. C. Thomas, J. W. Armstrong, S. W. Asmar, J. A. Burns, T. Denk, B. Giese, P. Helfenstein, L. Iess, T. V. Johnson, A. McEwen, L. Nicolaisen, C. Porco, N. Rappaport, J. Richardson, L. Somenzi, P. Tortora, E. P. Turtle & J. Veverka
doi:10.1038/nature05779
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (432K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Webb
Surface composition of Hyperion p54
D. P. Cruikshank, J. B. Dalton, C. M. Dalle Ore, J. Bauer, K. Stephan, G. Filacchione, A. R. Hendrix, C. J. Hansen, A. Coradini, P. Cerroni, F. Tosi, F. Capaccioni, R. Jaumann, B. J. Buratti, R. N. Clark, R. H. Brown, R. M. Nelson, T. B. McCord, K. H. Baines, P. D. Nicholson, C. Sotin, A. W. Meyer, G. Bellucci, M. Combes, J.-P. Bibring, Y. Langevin, B. Sicardy, D. L. Matson, V. Formisano, P. Drossart & V. Mennella
doi:10.1038/nature05948
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (436K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Webb
Low-energy acoustic plasmons at metal surfaces p57
Bogdan Diaconescu, Karsten Pohl, Luca Vattuone, Letizia Savio, Philip Hofmann, Vyacheslav M. Silkin, Jose M. Pitarke, Eugene V. Chulkov, Pedro M. Echenique, Daniel Farías & Mario Rocca
doi:10.1038/nature05975
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (392K) | Supplementary information
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Early geochemical environment of Mars as determined from thermodynamics of phyllosilicates p60
Vincent Chevrier, Francois Poulet & Jean-Pierre Bibring
doi:10.1038/nature05961
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (462K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Catling
Co-mimics have a mutualistic relationship despite unequal defences p64
Hannah M. Rowland, Eira Ihalainen, Leena Lindström, Johanna Mappes & Michael P. Speed
doi:10.1038/nature05899
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (431K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Sherratt
Mutation of FIG4 causes neurodegeneration in the pale tremor mouse and patients with CMT4J p68
Clement Y. Chow, Yanling Zhang, James J. Dowling, Natsuko Jin, Maja Adamska, Kensuke Shiga, Kinga Szigeti, Michael E. Shy, Jun Li, Xuebao Zhang, James R. Lupski, Lois S. Weisman & Miriam H. Meisler
doi:10.1038/nature05876
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (893K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Novel neurotrophic factor CDNF protects and rescues midbrain dopamine neurons in vivo p73
Päivi Lindholm, Merja H. Voutilainen, Juha Laurén, Johan Peränen, Veli-Matti Leppänen, Jaan-Olle Andressoo, Maria Lindahl, Sanna Janhunen, Nisse Kalkkinen, Tõnis Timmusk, Raimo K. Tuominen & Mart Saarma
doi:10.1038/nature05957
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,287K) | Supplementary information
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TRIC channels are essential for Ca2+ handling in intracellular stores p78
Masayuki Yazawa, Christopher Ferrante, Jue Feng, Kazuhiro Mio, Toshihiko Ogura, Miao Zhang, Pei-Hui Lin, Zui Pan, Shinji Komazaki, Kazuhiro Kato, Miyuki Nishi, Xiaoli Zhao, Noah Weisleder, Chikara Sato, Jianjie Ma & Hiroshi Takeshima
doi:10.1038/nature05928
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,189K) | Supplementary information
Intronic microRNA precursors that bypass Drosha processing p83
J. Graham Ruby, Calvin H. Jan & David P. Bartel
doi:10.1038/nature05983
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (355K) | Supplementary information
Crystal structures of histone demethylase JMJD2A reveal basis for substrate specificity p87
Stanley S. Ng, Kathryn L. Kavanagh, Michael A. McDonough, Danica Butler, Ewa S. Pilka, Benoit M. R. Lienard, James E. Bray, Pavel Savitsky, Opher Gileadi, Frank von Delft, Nathan R. Rose, John Offer, Johanna C. Scheinost, Tomasz Borowski, Michael Sundstrom, Christopher J. Schofield & Udo Oppermann
doi:10.1038/nature05971
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,029K) | Supplementary information
Structural snapshots along the reaction pathway of ferredoxin–thioredoxin reductase p92
Shaodong Dai, Rosmarie Friemann, Dominique A. Glauser, Florence Bourquin, Wanda Manieri, Peter Schürmann & Hans Eklund
doi:10.1038/nature05937
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,756K) | Supplementary information
Naturejobs
ProspectProspects p97
Getting under-represented groups into science is still a work in progress.
Gene Russo
doi:10.1038/nj7149-097a
Special Reports
Beyond the glass ceiling p98
Women and under-represented minorities are earning historically high numbers of science doctorates in the United States. So why aren't they making it to the professorial ranks? Kendall Powell investigates.
Kendall Powell
doi:10.1038/nj7149-098a
Closing the gender gap p101
Across Europe, women in science are typically outnumbered by men at every level. Magdalena Wutte explores how institutions, networking organizations and women themselves can help correct the imbalance.
Magdalena Wutte
doi:10.1038/nj7149-101a
Highlights
Opportunities: The National Institutes of Health
doi:10.1038/nj0164
Futures
Olympic talent p104
Fit...for nothing?
Richard A. Lovett
doi:10.1038/448104a
See also: Editor's summary
