Table of contents
Volume 449 Number 7160 pp259-376
In this issue (20 September 2007)
Also this week
(this content only available online) indicates content that is available online only
Editorials
Epo, by any other name p259
Regulators must be given ways to approve follow-on 'biosimilars' when proteins fall out of patent if the fruits of molecular biology are to have the greatest possible effect on health care.
doi:10.1038/449259a
Regulatory failures p259
Outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease have revealed unacceptable shortcomings in UK regulation.
doi:10.1038/449259b
Drill often, drill deep p260
Splice the mainbrace: the greatest scientific ocean-drilling vessel ever built is going to sea.
doi:10.1038/449260a
News
Fusion project faces axe p264
Princeton stellarator threatened with closure
Geoff Brumfiel
doi:10.1038/449264a
Florida courts German life-sciences institute p264
Max Planck lab goes Stateside
Erika Check
doi:10.1038/449264b
Sidelines p265
doi:10.1038/449265a
Debt collectors channel cash to corals p266
National debt excused for reef protection
Ewen Callaway
doi:10.1038/449266a
Malaria research should go 'back to basics' p266
Too many ineffectual vaccines threaten vital work
Ewen Callaway
doi:10.1038/449266b
Snapshot: Beneath the skin p267
Alison Abbott
doi:10.1038/449267a
Arctic melt opens Northwest passage p267
Record low for se-ice retreat
Daniel Cressey
doi:10.1038/449267b
Opiates for the masses p268
Afghanistan produces almost all of the world's illegal opiates. Should it eradicate the poppy trade or experiment with legalizing it to make painkillers for the developing world? Katharine Sanderson reports.
Katharine Sanderson
doi:10.1038/449268a
Worse quake to come, Indonesia warned p270
A series of earthquakes might not have reached its peak
David Cyranoski
doi:10.1038/449270a
Gene therapy might not have caused patient's death p270
Case was complicated by immunosuppressant drug regime
Meredith Wadman
doi:10.1038/449270b
Japan names institutes in search for global excellence p271
doi:10.1038/449271a
California gets Australia's top stem-cell scientist p271
doi:10.1038/449271b
Judge backs US states' bid to curb exhaust emissions p271
doi:10.1038/449271c
Climate-change science programme 'lacks impact' p271
doi:10.1038/449271d
Fly to the Moon and land $20 million, urges Google p271
doi:10.1038/449271e
NASA photos are used in court case over divine bridge p271
doi:10.1038/449271f
Business
The shipping forecast p272
Although cargo vessels are currently spared emissions restrictions, the industry is planning ahead. Kurt Kleiner looks at the ideas being floated to improve energy efficiency on the high seas.
Kurt Kleiner
doi:10.1038/449272a
In brief p273
doi:10.1038/449273a
Market watch p273
Emma Marris
doi:10.1038/449273b
News Features
Biotechs go generic: The Same but Different p274
As several lucrative protein-based drugs are poised to go off patent, makers of biopharmaceuticals argue that their products are too complex to be reproduced as generics. Heidi Ledford investigates how close 'biosimilar' drugs can get to the original.
doi:10.1038/449274a
See also: Editor's summary
Ocean drilling: In the zone p278
The world's biggest, best-equipped research drilling vessel is about to set off on its first scientific voyage. David Cyranoski previews its quest to catch a formidable earthquake in the act.
doi:10.1038/449278a
See also: Editor's summary
Correspondence
Doping destroys the story at the heart of cycling p281
Steven Riley
doi:10.1038/449281a
Doping: drugs misused for sports put athletes at risk p281
Piero Dolara
doi:10.1038/449281b
Life on Mars may be hidden like Earth's extremophiles p281
Samuel Kounaves
doi:10.1038/449281c
Turning up the heat on scientific accuracy p281
Alexandros Kiupakis
doi:10.1038/449281d
Olduvai fossils need more than one research team p281
Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo, Audax Mabulla & Henry Bunn
doi:10.1038/449281e
Books and Arts
Real science on show p283
The revamped museum at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will offer the public access to science in action, as more museums should, argues director John Durant.
John Durant
doi:10.1038/449283a
See also: Editor's summary
Earth's green heroes p284
Richard Fortey reviews Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet by Oliver Morton
doi:10.1038/449284a
Science and the Supreme Court p285
Henry T. Greely reviews The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin
doi:10.1038/449285a
The real 'theory of everything' p286
Mark Haw reviews Four Laws that Drive the Universe by Peter Atkins
doi:10.1038/449286a
News and Views
Computing: The wireless epidemic p287
As wireless communication technologies spread, so the potential for viruses to exploit them grows. Biological models of virus transmission will assume new relevance for assessing the emerging threat.
Jon Kleinberg
doi:10.1038/449287a
See also: Editor's summary
Ageing: From stem to stern p288
Immortality is the stuff of myth and legend, but lifespan extension is the subject of serious scientific inquiry. Exploring the causes and effects of ageing in stem cells should aid this quest.
Anne Brunet & Thomas A. Rando
doi:10.1038/449288a
Palaeoanthropology: Homing in on early Homo p291
Newly described fossils from Georgia in Eurasia and from Kenya shed more light on the earliest members of the genus Homo. These finds indicate that there was considerable variability in their size and shape.
Daniel E. Lieberman
doi:10.1038/449291a
See also: Editor's summary
Catalysis: Raising the gold standard p292
Gold is the current star of metal catalysis, but most gold catalysts cannot control which mirror-image version of a molecule forms during a reaction. The answer lies with the positive catalyst's negative counter-ion.
A. Stephen K. Hashmi
doi:10.1038/449292a
Structural biology: Unexpected opening p293
Cell membranes contain channels that open to allow ions into cells. The structure of a sodium ion channel helps explain how it opens in response to protons, and settles a long-standing debate about its composition.
Cecilia M. Canessa
doi:10.1038/449293a
See also: Editor's summary
Geochemistry: Earth holds its breath p294
Some inert-gas isotopes in Earth's atmosphere can only have come from deep inside the planet. We thought we knew how much gas Earth gives up, and how it does it — but a challenge has emerged to the prevailing model.
Chris J. Ballentine
doi:10.1038/449294a
See also: Editor's summary
Condensed-matter physics: Relaxation after a tight squeeze p296
Are the rules that determine relaxation to equilibrium the same in the classical and quantum worlds? Recent experiments supported the idea that they are — but an investigation with ultracold atoms now contradicts that.
Ehud Altman & Eugene Demler
doi:10.1038/449296a
Fertilization: Calcium's double punch p297
Fertilization promotes a calcium surge necessary to ensure the success of embryonic development. It seems that calcium activates apparently opposite molecular signalling pathways to achieve that end.
Catherine Jessus & Olivier Haccard
doi:10.1038/449297a
See also: Editor's summary
Articles
40Ar retention in the terrestrial planets p299
E. Bruce Watson, Jay B. Thomas & Daniele J. Cherniak
doi:10.1038/nature06144
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (332K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Ballentine
Postcranial evidence from early Homo from Dmanisi, Georgia p305
David Lordkipanidze, Tea Jashashvili, Abesalom Vekua, Marcia S. Ponce de León, Christoph P. E. Zollikofer, G. Philip Rightmire, Herman Pontzer, Reid Ferring, Oriol Oms, Martha Tappen, Maia Bukhsianidze, Jordi Agusti, Ralf Kahlke, Gocha Kiladze, Bienvenido Martinez-Navarro, Alexander Mouskhelishvili, Medea Nioradze & Lorenzo Rook
doi:10.1038/nature06134
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (409K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Lieberman
Structural insight into filament formation by mammalian septins p311
Minhajuddin Sirajuddin, Marian Farkasovsky, Florian Hauer, Dorothee Kühlmann, Ian G. Macara, Michael Weyand, Holger Stark & Alfred Wittinghofer
doi:10.1038/nature06052
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,075K) | Supplementary information
Structure of acid-sensing ion channel 1 at 1.9 Å resolution and low pH p316
Jayasankar Jasti, Hiroyasu Furukawa, Eric B. Gonzales & Eric Gouaux
doi:10.1038/nature06163
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,728K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Canessa
Letters
Non-equilibrium coherence dynamics in one-dimensional Bose gases p324
S. Hofferberth, I. Lesanovsky, B. Fischer, T. Schumm & J. Schmiedmayer
doi:10.1038/nature06149
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (541K)
See also: News and Views by Altman & Demler
Generating single microwave photons in a circuit p328
A. A. Houck, D. I. Schuster, J. M. Gambetta, J. A. Schreier, B. R. Johnson, J. M. Chow, L. Frunzio, J. Majer, M. H. Devoret, S. M. Girvin & R. J. Schoelkopf
doi:10.1038/nature06126
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (666K)
See also: Editor's summary
Increased terrestrial methane cycling at the Palaeocene–Eocene thermal maximum p332
Richard D. Pancost, David S. Steart, Luke Handley, Margaret E. Collinson, Jerry J. Hooker, Andrew C. Scott, Nathalie V. Grassineau & Ian J. Glasspool
doi:10.1038/nature06012
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (269K)
See also: Editor's summary
Calcineurin is required to release Xenopus egg extracts from meiotic M phase p336
Satoru Mochida & Tim Hunt
doi:10.1038/nature06121
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (724K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Jessus & Haccard
Transient activation of calcineurin is essential to initiate embryonic development in Xenopus laevis p341
Tomoko Nishiyama, Norio Yoshizaki, Takeo Kishimoto & Keita Ohsumi
doi:10.1038/nature06136
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (598K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Jessus & Haccard
Generation of functional multipotent adult stem cells from GPR125+ germline progenitors p346
Marco Seandel, Daylon James, Sergey V. Shmelkov, Ilaria Falciatori, Jiyeon Kim, Sai Chavala, Douglas S. Scherr, Fan Zhang, Richard Torres, Nicholas W. Gale, George D. Yancopoulos, Andrew Murphy, David M. Valenzuela, Robin M. Hobbs, Pier Paolo Pandolfi & Shahin Rafii
doi:10.1038/nature06129
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,151K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Differential Notch signalling distinguishes neural stem cells from intermediate progenitors p351
Ken-ichi Mizutani, Keejung Yoon, Louis Dang, Akinori Tokunaga & Nicholas Gaiano
doi:10.1038/nature06090
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,305K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
ZEITLUPE is a circadian photoreceptor stabilized by GIGANTEA in blue light p356
Woe-Yeon Kim, Sumire Fujiwara, Sung-Suk Suh, Jeongsik Kim, Yumi Kim, Linqu Han, Karine David, Joanna Putterill, Hong Gil Nam & David E. Somers
doi:10.1038/nature06132
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (821K) | Supplementary information
Loss of integrin 
v
8 on dendritic cells causes autoimmunity and colitis in mice p361
Mark A. Travis, Boris Reizis, Andrew C. Melton, Emma Masteller, Qizhi Tang, John M. Proctor, Yanli Wang, Xin Bernstein, Xiaozhu Huang, Louis F. Reichardt, Jeffrey A. Bluestone & Dean Sheppard
doi:10.1038/nature06110
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (720K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Insulin modulates gluconeogenesis by inhibition of the coactivator TORC2 p366
Renaud Dentin, Yi Liu, Seung-Hoi Koo, Susan Hedrick, Thomas Vargas, Jose Heredia, John Yates, III & Marc Montminy
doi:10.1038/nature06128
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,020K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Naturejobs
ProspectProspects p371
Starter hubs Florida and Arizona try to play catch-up with more established science hotspots.
Gene Russo
doi:10.1038/nj7160-371a
Region
Raising Arizona p372
Local governments aim to build a scientific oasis in the Arizona desert.
Gene Russo
doi:10.1038/nj7160-372a
Career View
Shinya Yamanaka, L.K. Whittier Foundation Investigator, Gladstone Institute, San Francisco p374
Rising Japanese stem-cell star returns to the US, seeking interaction and independence.
Monya Baker
doi:10.1038/nj7160-374a
Nurturing physician-scientists p374
Physician-scientists seek more training and research options.
Albert Luo
doi:10.1038/nj7160-374b
Surviving public speaking p374
Postdoc confronts stage 'flight-or-fight'.
Maria Ocampo-Hafalla
doi:10.1038/nj7160-374c
Highlights
Highlight on Francophone Countries
doi:10.1038/nj0173
Highlight on Ireland
doi:10.1038/nj0174
Highlight on Michigan
doi:10.1038/nj0175
Opportunities: The National Institutes of Health
doi:10.1038/nj0176
Spotlights
Spotlight on Phoenix, Arizona
doi:10.1038/nj0177
Spotlight on Shenzhen
doi:10.1038/nj0178