Volume 451 Issue 7174, 3 January 2008

Reliable policy research is an underrated planning tool in developing countries.

Physics takes a hit despite earlier promises.

Whales sink plan for survey off the Canadian coast.

The presidential hopefuls have their say.

Database offers on-the-fly results.

Are think-tanks staffed by scientists a luxury that only rich nations can afford? Ehsan Masood meets the founders of four institutes that set out to help poorer nations to think for themselves.

As countries race to file claims to areas of the sea floor before a United Nations deadline, geologists and geophysicists are getting caught up in the frenzy. Daniel Cressey reports.

A textbook covering all aspects of evolution puts the spotlight on the molecular motor that drives it.

Having three copies of chromosome 21 reduces the incidence of solid tumours in people with Down's syndrome. Studies in mice provide clues to why, and highlight a complex gene–function relationship.

Magnetic poles always come in twos, a north and a south. That received wisdom has not stopped physicists from searching for 'monopoles' in accelerators and cosmic rays. Theory now indicates a better place to look.

Wild salmon stocks in Canadian coastal waters are being severely affected by parasites from fish farms. So intense are these infestations that some populations of salmon are at risk of extinction.

In many species, males have developed strategies to safeguard their genetic material from dilution by that of competing males. Fruitflies achieve this by altering the behaviour of their partners.

Changes in the phasing of seasonal cycles of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere mark the time when a region becomes a source or a sink of CO₂. One study of such changes prompts thought-provoking conclusions.

A proposal for transporting photons invisibly between two unconnected points in space seems worthy of a Star Trek plot. But it is in principle wholly realizable, and could open up new vistas — literally.

Marine biologist: a pioneer of marine ecosystem time series.

Hundreds of planets are known to orbit stars other than the Sun, and unprecedented observations of their atmospheres and structures are being made. It's an invaluable opening for understanding the planets' diverse natures, the formation of our Solar System, and the possibility of habitable planets beyond our home.

A receptor for the Drosophila melanogaster sex peptide (SP), the primary trigger of post-mating responses, is identified. Females lacking the sex peptide receptor (either entirely or only in the nervous system) fail to respond to SP and continue to show virgin behaviours, even after mating.

There is a general consensus that planets form within disks of dust and gas around newly born stars. However, the timescale of planet formation remains unclear. The detection of a planet of mass 9.8 ± 3.3 M_Jupiter around TW Hydrae, a nearby young star with an age of only 8–10 Myr, orbiting with a period of 3.56 days is reported. This demonstrates that planets can form within 10Myr, before the disk has been dissipated by stellar winds and radiation.

A theoretical study proposes that magnetic monopoles may appear not as elementary but as emergent particles in complex, strongly-correlated magnetic systems such as spin ice, in analogy to fractional electric charges in quantum Hall systems. This theory explains a mysterious phase transition in spin ice that has been observed experimentally.

Aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy, coupled with simple imaging simulation, is used to determine with atomic resolution the size, three-dimensional shape, orientation and atomic arrangement of size-selected gold nanoclusters that are preformed in the gas phase and soft-landed on an amorphous carbon substrate.

Near-surface warming in the Arctic has been almost twice as large as the global average over the past few decades. The vertical structure of temperature change in this region during the late twentieth century is examined and evidence is found for temperature amplification well above the surface. The causes of this amplification aloft remain uncertain, as feedbacks associated with the recent reduction in snow and ice cover are unlikely to be the cause.

Stimulation of single neurons in somatosensory cortex affects rats' behavioural responses in a detection task, suggesting a sparser cortical code for sensations than previously anticipated.

Reducing agents can activate different members of the transient receptor potential (TRP) superfamily of ion channels (TRPC1 and TRPC5) by breaking a disulphide bridge in the extracellular loop adjacent to the ion permation pore. A high concentration of the endogenous reducing agent, thioredoxin, is present in rheumatoid arthritis and may reduce secretion of matrix metalloproteinases by its inhibition of TRPC1 and TRPC5.

People with Down's syndrome seem to have a decreased incidence of solid tumours. This paper reports a mouse model for intestinal tumours in which trisomy for a subset of mouse orthologues of chromosome 21 genes reduces tumour incidence, whereas monosomy of the same genes increases the number of tumours. This dosage-dependent effect can to a large extent be attributed to the transcription factor Ets2.

Numb functions as a tumour suppressor protein by regulating another tumour suppressor, p53. Numb binds and inhibits the activity of the ubiquitin ligase HDM2, and thereby promotes p53 stability and function. Low levels of Numb expression in breast tumours is associated with a poor prognosis.

A novel poly(ADP-ribose)-binding zinc finger (PBZ) motif is identified. This motif is found in several eukaryotic checkpoint and DNA repair proteins, such as CHFR and APLF. Mutations in the PBZ of CHFR affect its function in checkpoint regulation, suggesting that both the poly (ADP-ribosyl)ation of proteins, and the interaction of this modification with other factors, is important for the DNA damage response.

A metabolic engineering approach is used to re-engineer Escherichia coli so that it could produce higher alcohols from glucose, a renewable energy source. The strategy involves diverting intermediates in the amino acid biosynthetic pathway to synthesize the desired alcohol and may facilitate the large-scale production of biofuels via microbial fermentation.

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases attach amino acids to tRNAs. Occasionally, an incorrect amino acid will attached to the wrong tRNA, and this must be reversed, or edited, to prevent the wrong amino acid from being incorporated into protein. This paper shows that the same base-pair in the tRNA that is important for the aminoacyl reaction is also important for editing, and that surprisingly, the proofreading site is in a different domain of the protein.

The structure of truncated Neurospora crassa mitochondrial tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase (CYT-18) with the intron ribozyme T wort orf142-I2 is solved. The interaction surface is different than that used by CYT-18 to bind tRNATyr when it is functioning as a tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase. The protein serves as a scaffold that extends the intron, facilitating its splicing function.

The X-ray crystal structure of peroxiredoxin bound to sulphiredoxin is solved. In this structure of the co-complex, the carboxy terminus of peroxiredoxin is completely unfolded, and it is 'packed' onto the backside of sulphiredoxin, away from the sulphiredoxin active site. Binding studies and activity analyses of site-directed mutants at this interface show that the interaction is required for repair to occur.

Now that's what I call pop culture!

In the past year, I've pondered what makes postdoctoral training a positive and productive experience.

I was pretty nervous when I first arrived in Johannesburg for my postdoc 10 months ago, and not just because I had not set foot in Africa before agreeing to work there for a couple of years.

As the year comes to a close, I've started to reflect on the events of the past 12 months.

Down's syndrome holds genetic clue to cancer prevention.