Table of contents
Volume 450 Number 7173 pp1127-1276
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Editorials
Newsmaker of the Year p1127
Nature is pleased to name Rajendra Pachauri, the Indian engineer and economist, and chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as our inaugural Newsmaker of the Year.
doi:10.1038/4501127a
A policy of drift p1127
British physics faces an unnecessary squeeze.
doi:10.1038/4501127b
Welcome Nature Geoscience p1128
doi:10.1038/4501128a
Research Highlights
Research highlights 2007 p1130
As an end of the year round-up, we asked Nature's editors to nominate favourite papers published elsewhere this year. For a pick of favourites from Nature itself, see page 1131.
doi:10.1038/4501130a
See also: Editor's summary
This year in Nature p1131
Nature's manuscript editors made a selection of 'favourites' from the papers we published in 2007.
doi:10.1038/4501131b
News
News 2007 p1134
The year in which...
Daniel Cressey
doi:10.1038/4501134a
Climate deal agreed in Bali showdown p1136
Gruelling session brings the United States back to the table.
Olive Heffernan
doi:10.1038/4501136a
Exchange rate hits US researchers p1136
Weak dollar threatens to undermine involvement in foreign projects.
Daniel Cressey
doi:10.1038/4501136b
Snapshot p1136
Bumper cone crop
Emma Marris
doi:10.1038/4501136c
Q&A: Siti Fadilah Supari p1137
Indonesia has been hit by more human deaths from the H5N1 bird-flu virus than any other country, yet it refuses to share its virus samples with the World Health Organization (WHO). Declan Butler talks to Indonesia's health minister.
Declan Butler
doi:10.1038/4501137a
Sidelines p1138
Scribbles on the margins of science.
doi:10.1038/4501138a
Physicists make ripples with their 'magic carpet' p1138
Tiny rug gets off to a flying start.
Philip Ball
doi:10.1038/4501138b
UK government claims half of MRC's patent profits p1140
doi:10.1038/4501140a
Pasteur Institute fined over patent dispute p1140
doi:10.1038/4501140b
Congress tightens rules on fuel standards for cars p1140
doi:10.1038/4501140c
CERN names its next head as collider is set to go online p1140
doi:10.1038/4501140d
Science appoints Bruce Alberts as editor-in-chief p1140
doi:10.1038/4501140e
Springtime outburst on Mars p1140
doi:10.1038/4501140f
Column
Small advances p1141
Most people agree that the environmental and health effects of nanoparticles need a lot more study. David Goldston looks at why so little progress has been made.
David Goldston
doi:10.1038/4501141a
Business
Regulator under siege p1143
Science at the Food and Drug Administration is in need of a revamp, as Meredith Wadman reports.
Meredith Wadman
doi:10.1038/4501143a
News Feature
2007 Gallery: Images of the Year p1144
Many formulations of the scientific method begin with observations. And the images here are indeed exciting observations — new pictures from Earth and space that will serve as the starting points for great science. But often the most arresting scientific images are captured at the end of the process, in the form of a solution. Such pictures represent the culmination of months of tireless work in the laboratory and have a still, completed quality. The structure of a protein or material, the high-resolution image revealing microscopic handiwork, the elegant visualization of data. Whether from the start or the end of an investigation — or from somewhere in between — these images are some of the most striking from 2007.
Emma Marris
doi:10.1038/4501144a
Newsmaker of the Year: Rajendra Pachauri p1150
In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change delivered its most thorough and authoritative assessment yet — and shared a Nobel prize for its efforts. Gabrielle Walker profiles its indefatigable leader.
doi:10.1038/4501150a
Correspondence
Come all ye scientists, busy and exhausted. O come ye, O come ye, out of the lab p1156
Richard J. Ladle, Ana C. M. Malhado & Peter A. Todd
doi:10.1038/4501156a
See also: Editor's summary
Public control could be a nightmare for researchers p1156
Dan Graur
doi:10.1038/4501156b
A brief proposal, 150 words p1156
Alice Flaherty
doi:10.1038/4501156c
Tracking early arrivals on the Nature trail p1156
Helmut Zacharias
doi:10.1038/4501156d
Space travel's no problem, but mice? They're scary p1156
Eng H. Lo
doi:10.1038/4501156e
Commentary
Professor's little helper p1157
The use of cognitive-enhancing drugs by both ill and healthy individuals raises ethical questions that should not be ignored, argue Barbara Sahakian and Sharon Morein-Zamir.
doi:10.1038/4501157a
See also: Editor's summary
Books and Arts
Our social roots p1160
We share many behavioural traits with our primate relatives — some disquietingly nasty.
Sarah F. Brosnan reviews Gorilla Society: Conflict, Compromise and Cooperation Between the Sexes by Alexander H. Harcourt & Kelly J. Stewart and Macachiavellian Intelligence: How Rhesus Macaques and Humans Have Conquered the World by Dario Maestripieri and Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex Among Apes by Frans de Waal
doi:10.1038/4501160a
Taxonomy on trial p1161
Henry Nicholls reviews Trying Leviathan: The Nineteenth-Century New York Court Case That Put a Whale on Trial and Challenged the Order of Nature by D. Graham Burnett
doi:10.1038/4501161a
Magic squares and circles p1162
Jared Wunsch reviews Benjamin Franklin's Numbers by Paul C. Pasles
doi:10.1038/4501162a
Fruits of their labour p1162
Susan J. Mazer reviews Status of Pollinators in North America
doi:10.1038/4501162b
Glitter bugs p1163
Nick Thomas reviews The bioart sculptures of Mike Libby
doi:10.1038/4501163a
Multicultural legacy p1163
George Gheverghese Joseph reviews The Mathematics of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, and Islam: A Source Book
doi:10.1038/4501163b
New science-art award p1163
doi:10.1038/4501163c
Technology: Earliest known non-lithic tool p1164
doi:10.1038/4501164a
Essay
The demise of the lone author p1165
As the average number of contributors to individual papers continues to rise, science's credit system is under pressure to evolve.
Mott Greene
doi:10.1038/4501165a
See also: Editor's summary
News and Views
Physics: A quantum less quirky p1167
What physicists want for Christmas is a solution to the philosophical conundrums of quantum mechanics. They will be disappointed, but work that dissolves one aspect of quantum weirdness is some consolation.
Seth Lloyd
doi:10.1038/4501167a
Cancer diagnostics: One-stop shop p1168
Detecting cancer early and monitoring its progress non-invasively are high on oncologists' agenda. So the design of a neat device that detects and counts cancer cells shed into the blood by tumours is a welcome advance.
Jonathan W. Uhr
doi:10.1038/4501168a
See also: Editor's summary
Planetary science: A younger Moon p1169
The most recent study of lunar rocks indicates that the Moon formed later than previously thought — a conclusion that requires our view of the early history of the inner Solar System to be revised.
Alan Brandon
doi:10.1038/4501169a
See also: Editor's summary
50 & 100 Years Ago p1170
doi:10.1038/4501170a
Structural biology: The dance of domains p1171
Static crystal structures provide only clues about the way large biological molecules work. A recently developed spectroscopic technique also reveals details of their molecular motion, as shown for an RNA molecule from HIV.
Joseph D. Puglisi
doi:10.1038/4501171a
Photonics: Charge of the light brigade p1172
The latest study of fluorescence in nanowires shows that it can be controlled by electric fields. This finding suggests the presence of mobile charge carriers, which could be useful for designing nanoelectronic devices.
David J. Nesbitt
doi:10.1038/4501172a
Neuroscience: Neighbourly synapses p1173
Experiences shape our behaviour, memories and perception. Mechanistically, they also influence the brain's circuitry, and cooperativity between neuronal contacts during learning may contribute to this process.
Bernardo L. Sabatini
doi:10.1038/4501173a
Technology: The art of illumination p1175
Liesbeth Venema
doi:10.1038/4501175a
See also: Editor's summary
Metrology: New generation of combs p1175
To measure an optical frequency, you are best off using an optical frequency comb. A radical approach shakes up how these combs are produced, and will permit their closer integration into optical-fibre technology.
Steven T. Cundiff
doi:10.1038/4501175b
Correction p1176
doi:10.1038/4501176a
Brief Communications Arising
Stem cell treatment of dystrophic dogs pE23
Allan H. Bretag
doi:10.1038/nature06437
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (300K)
Sampaolesi et al. reply pE23
Maurilio Sampaolesi, Stephane Blot, Roberto Bottinelli & Giulio Cossu
doi:10.1038/nature06438
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (300K)
Reviews
Superconductivity without phonons p1177
P. Monthoux, D. Pines & G. G. Lonzarich
doi:10.1038/nature06480
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (486K)
See also: Editor's summary
After a dozen years of progress the origin of angiosperms is still a great mystery p1184
Michael W. Frohlich & Mark W. Chase
doi:10.1038/nature06393
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (655K)
See also: Editor's summary
Articles
Whales originated from aquatic artiodactyls in the Eocene epoch of India p1190
J. G. M. Thewissen, Lisa Noelle Cooper, Mark T. Clementz, Sunil Bajpai & B. N. Tiwari
doi:10.1038/nature06343
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (491K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Locally dynamic synaptic learning rules in pyramidal neuron dendrites p1195
Christopher D. Harvey & Karel Svoboda
doi:10.1038/nature06416
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,525K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Sabatini
Structural basis for gate-DNA recognition and bending by type IIA topoisomerases p1201
Ken C. Dong & James M. Berger
doi:10.1038/nature06396
PDB code
3D view
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (997K) | Supplementary information
Letters
Late formation and prolonged differentiation of the Moon inferred from W isotopes in lunar metals p1206
M. Touboul, T. Kleine, B. Bourdon, H. Palme & R. Wieler
doi:10.1038/nature06428
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (231K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Brandon
Internal motions of a quasiparticle governing its ultrafast nonlinear response p1210
P. Gaal, W. Kuehn, K. Reimann, M. Woerner, T. Elsaesser & R. Hey
doi:10.1038/nature06399
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (416K) | Supplementary information
Optical frequency comb generation from a monolithic microresonator p1214
P. Del'Haye, A. Schliesser, O. Arcizet, T. Wilken, R. Holzwarth & T. J. Kippenberg
doi:10.1038/nature06401
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (996K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Cundiff
Environmental precursors to rapid light carbon injection at the Palaeocene/Eocene boundary p1218
Appy Sluijs, Henk Brinkhuis, Stefan Schouten, Steven M. Bohaty, Cédric M. John, James C. Zachos, Gert-Jan Reichart, Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté, Erica M. Crouch & Gerald R. Dickens
doi:10.1038/nature06400
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (296K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Trench-parallel flow and seismic anisotropy in the Mariana and Andean subduction systems p1222
Erik A. Kneller & Peter E. van Keken
doi:10.1038/nature06429
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (443K) | Supplementary information
Allometric degree distributions facilitate food-web stability p1226
Sonja B. Otto, Björn C. Rall & Ulrich Brose
doi:10.1038/nature06359
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,160K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Nanog safeguards pluripotency and mediates germline development p1230
Ian Chambers, Jose Silva, Douglas Colby, Jennifer Nichols, Bianca Nijmeijer, Morag Robertson, Jan Vrana, Ken Jones, Lars Grotewold & Austin Smith
doi:10.1038/nature06403
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,619K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Isolation of rare circulating tumour cells in cancer patients by microchip technology p1235
Sunitha Nagrath, Lecia V. Sequist, Shyamala Maheswaran, Daphne W. Bell, Daniel Irimia, Lindsey Ulkus, Matthew R. Smith, Eunice L. Kwak, Subba Digumarthy, Alona Muzikansky, Paula Ryan, Ulysses J. Balis, Ronald G. Tompkins, Daniel A. Haber & Mehmet Toner
doi:10.1038/nature06385
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (525K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Uhr
Performance variability enables adaptive plasticity of 'crystallized' adult birdsong p1240
Evren C. Tumer & Michael S. Brainard
doi:10.1038/nature06390
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,067K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
High-fidelity transmission of sensory information by single cerebellar mossy fibre boutons p1245
Ede A. Rancz, Taro Ishikawa, Ian Duguid, Paul Chadderton, Séverine Mahon & Michael Häusser
doi:10.1038/nature05995
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,330K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Stochastic gene expression out-of-steady-state in the cyanobacterial circadian clock p1249
Jeffrey R. Chabot, Juan M. Pedraza, Prashant Luitel & Alexander van Oudenaarden
doi:10.1038/nature06395
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (689K) | Supplementary information
Toll-like receptor signalling in macrophages links the autophagy pathway to phagocytosis p1253
Miguel A. Sanjuan, Christopher P. Dillon, Stephen W. G. Tait, Simon Moshiach, Frank Dorsey, Samuel Connell, Masaaki Komatsu, Keiji Tanaka, John L. Cleveland, Sebo Withoff & Douglas R. Green
doi:10.1038/nature06421
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,218K) | Supplementary information
Cdc48/p97 promotes reformation of the nucleus by extracting the kinase Aurora B from chromatin p1258
Kristijan Ramadan, Roland Bruderer, Fabio M. Spiga, Oliver Popp, Tina Baur, Monica Gotta & Hemmo H. Meyer
doi:10.1038/nature06388
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (717K) | Supplementary information
Visualizing spatially correlated dynamics that directs RNA conformational transitions p1263
Qi Zhang, Andrew C. Stelzer, Charles K. Fisher & Hashim M. Al-Hashimi
doi:10.1038/nature06389
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,068K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Puglisi
Segrosome structure revealed by a complex of ParR with centromere DNA p1268
Maria A. Schumacher, Tiffany C. Glover, Anthony J. Brzoska, Slade O. Jensen, Thomas D. Dunham, Ronald A. Skurray & Neville Firth
doi:10.1038/nature06392
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,438K) | Supplementary information
Erratum
The effects of molecular noise and size control on variability in the budding yeast cell cycle p1272
Stefano Di Talia, Jan M. Skotheim, James M. Bean, Eric D. Siggia & Frederick R. Cross
doi:10.1038/nature06511
Naturejobs
ProspectProspect p1273
Grant review has to evolve along with the science it scrutinizes.
Gene Russo
doi:10.1038/nj7173-1273a