Table of contents
Volume 451 Number 7175 pp107-222
In this issue (10 January 2008)
Also this week
(this content only available online) indicates content that is available online only
Editorials
Resurgent nuclear threats p107
The world faces great risks from nuclear weapons that need to be urgently addressed by political leaders and scientists worldwide. There is now a window of opportunity to do so.
doi:10.1038/451107a
Don't panic p108
Whether to build the International Linear Collider is an open question, but R&D on it should be supported.
doi:10.1038/451108a
Spread the word p108
Evolution is a scientific fact, and every organization whose research depends on it should explain why.
doi:10.1038/451108b
News
Accelerator plans stalled after US and UK cuts p112
Budget woes spell trouble for International Linear Collider.
Eric Hand & Geoff Brumfiel
doi:10.1038/451112a
India aims for 'quantum jump' in science p112
Government plans multiple universities and hikes science spending.
K. S. Jayaraman
doi:10.1038/451112b
Could global gardening fix climate change? p113
Biomass proposal could hugely reduce carbon dioxide levels.
Jeff Tollefson
doi:10.1038/451113a
Nuclear war: the threat that never went away p114
In the first of a series of articles covering nuclear issues, Declan Butler looks at the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and finds that there has never been a better climate for negotiation.
Declan Butler
doi:10.1038/451114a
China bows to public over chemical plant p117
Environmental protesters score landmark victory.
Jane Qiu
doi:10.1038/451117a
Sidelines p117
Scribbles on the margins of science.
doi:10.1038/451117b
Fears for oldest human footprints p118
Fossilized tracks pose preservation puzzle.
Rex Dalton
doi:10.1038/451118a
Snapshot: Making light work of indoor gardening p119
Car manufacturers give plants a healthy glow.
David Cyranoski
doi:10.1038/451119a
Software magnates give $30 million to telescope p121
doi:10.1038/451121a
Creator and first chair of climate-change panel dies p121
doi:10.1038/451121b
China amends patent-rights law to boost innovation p121
doi:10.1038/451121c
Zoo's abandoned polar bear cubs 'will be left to die' p121
doi:10.1038/451121d
National Academies updates book on evolution p121
doi:10.1038/451121e
A colourful discovery in Costa Rica p121
doi:10.1038/451121f
News Features
Conservation: Providential outcome p122
A winning combination of isolation, local involvement and a broad ecological remit are making the management of the seas around Colombia's San Andrés islands a model for other conservationists, reports Mark Schrope.
doi:10.1038/451122a
Cell biology: Bacteria's new bones p124
Long dismissed as featureless, disorganized sacks, bacteria are now revealing a multitude of elegant internal structures. Ewen Callaway investigates a new field in cell biology.
doi:10.1038/451124a
Correspondence
Conservation: in a rut, we need rut-inspired solutions p127
Kai M. A. Chan
doi:10.1038/451127a
Conservation: academics should 'conserve or perish' p127
Guillaume Chapron & Raphaël Arlettaz
doi:10.1038/451127b
Frog transparency led to discovery of melatonin p127
Thomas C. Erren, Russel J. Reiter & V. Benno Meyer-Rochow
doi:10.1038/451127c
Schizophrenia is a disease, so electrons aren't at risk p127
Ronald Chase
doi:10.1038/451127d
Schizophrenia does not mean split personality p127
Alex C. W. May
doi:10.1038/451127e
Books and Arts
From bench to book p128
Web publishing and marketing might put more science into fiction and attract new readers.
Jennifer Rohn reviews A Version of the Truth by Jennifer Kaufman & Karen Mack and The Gift: Discovery, Treachery & Revenge by Jon Kalb and The Expeditions by Karl Iagnemma
doi:10.1038/451128a
See also: Editor's summary
Exhibition: Dreamscapes p129
Henry Nicholls
doi:10.1038/451129a
Rex appeal p129
Frank A. J. L. James reviews The Earth on Show: Fossils and the Poetics of Popular Science, 1802–1856 by Ralph O'Connor and Victorian Popularizers of Science: Designing Nature for New Audiences by Bernard Lightman
doi:10.1038/451129b
Pulling power p130
Sean Carroll reviews The Universal Force: Gravity, Creator of Worlds by Louis A. Girifalco
doi:10.1038/451130a
News and Views
Molecular biology: RNA rules p131
Studies of an old genetic puzzle in a little-known protozoan reveal a new frontier in the expanding world of RNAs: an RNA template guides genome-wide DNA rearrangements during sexual reproduction.
Meng-Chao Yao
doi:10.1038/451131a
See also: Editor's summary
Materials science: Desperately seeking silicon p132
Using silicon as a 'thermoelectric' material to convert heat into electricity would be a technological leap forward. But silicon conducts heat so well that nobody thought that could work — until now.
Cronin B. Vining
doi:10.1038/451132a
Palaeontology: Ancient worms in armour p133
It requires a quirk of fossilization for the soft parts of an animal to be preserved. Study of such a specimen of the mysterious machaeridians provides these organisms with a well defined evolutionary home.
Jean-Bernard Caron
doi:10.1038/451133a
See also: Editor's summary
Conservation biology: Cats, rats and seabirds p134
Cats kill birds, and therefore eradicating cats from an island would seem to be a good strategy for protecting the native population of seabirds. But that thinking does not take account of ecological complications.
Matthieu Le Corre
doi:10.1038/451134a
Stem cells: A new year and a new era p135
Manipulating cells from adult human tissue, scientists have generated cells with the same developmental potential as embryonic stem cells. The research opportunities these exciting observations offer are limitless.
Martin F. Pera
doi:10.1038/451135a
See also: Editor's summary
Physics: The force of fluctuations p136
Strange forces and effects dominate the world at the microscopic level. One such force, rooted in the random fluctuations of matter, has only now been accurately measured — 30 years after it was first predicted.
Sébastien Balibar
doi:10.1038/451136a
Quantum mechanics: Evolution stopped in its tracks p137
How do you watch the evolution of something that doesn't evolve? In the classical world, even posing this question would provoke raised eyebrows. But where quantum physics is involved, no question is too silly.
Lev Vaidman
doi:10.1038/451137a
See also: Editor's summary
Obituary: Seymour Benzer (1921–2007) p139
Restless spirit, and pioneer in molecular genetics.
David Anderson & Sydney Brenner
doi:10.1038/451139a
Articles
Reprogramming of human somatic cells to pluripotency with defined factors p141
In-Hyun Park, Rui Zhao, Jason A. West, Akiko Yabuuchi, Hongguang Huo, Tan A. Ince, Paul H. Lerou, M. William Lensch & George Q. Daley
doi:10.1038/nature06534
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (2,446K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Pera
Endogenous human microRNAs that suppress breast cancer metastasis p147
Sohail F. Tavazoie, Claudio Alarcón, Thordur Oskarsson, David Padua, Qiongqing Wang, Paula D. Bos, William L. Gerald & Joan Massagué
doi:10.1038/nature06487
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (630K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
RNA-mediated epigenetic programming of a genome-rearrangement pathway p153
Mariusz Nowacki, Vikram Vijayan, Yi Zhou, Klaas Schotanus, Thomas G. Doak & Laura F. Landweber
doi:10.1038/nature06452
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (572K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Yao
Letters
An asymmetric distribution of positrons in the Galactic disk revealed by 
-rays p159
Georg Weidenspointner, Gerry Skinner, Pierre Jean, Jürgen Knödlseder, Peter von Ballmoos, Giovanni Bignami, Roland Diehl, Andrew W. Strong, Bertrand Cordier, Stéphane Schanne & Christoph Winkler
doi:10.1038/nature06490
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (323K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Enhanced thermoelectric performance of rough silicon nanowires p163
Allon I. Hochbaum, Renkun Chen, Raul Diaz Delgado, Wenjie Liang, Erik C. Garnett, Mark Najarian, Arun Majumdar & Peidong Yang
doi:10.1038/nature06381
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (2,143K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Vining
Silicon nanowires as efficient thermoelectric materials p168
Akram I. Boukai, Yuri Bunimovich, Jamil Tahir-Kheli, Jen-Kan Yu, William A. Goddard III & James R. Heath
doi:10.1038/nature06458
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (454K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Vining
Direct measurement of critical Casimir forces p172
C. Hertlein, L. Helden, A. Gambassi, S. Dietrich & C. Bechinger
doi:10.1038/nature06443
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (359K)
See also: News and Views by Balibar
Crude-oil biodegradation via methanogenesis in subsurface petroleum reservoirs p176
D. M. Jones, I. M. Head, N. D. Gray, J. J. Adams, A. K. Rowan, C. M. Aitken, B. Bennett, H. Huang, A. Brown, B. F. J. Bowler, T. Oldenburg, M. Erdmann & S. R. Larter
doi:10.1038/nature06484
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (418K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Seismic identification of along-axis hydrothermal flow on the East Pacific Rise p181
M. Tolstoy, F. Waldhauser, D. R. Bohnenstiehl, R. T. Weekly & W.-Y. Kim
doi:10.1038/nature06424
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (2,191K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Machaeridians are Palaeozoic armoured annelids p185
Jakob Vinther, Peter Van Roy & Derek E. G. Briggs
doi:10.1038/nature06474
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (3,120K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Caron
The coevolution of choosiness and cooperation p189
John M. McNamara, Zoltan Barta, Lutz Fromhage & Alasdair I. Houston
doi:10.1038/nature06455
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (206K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Identification of the sex genes in an early diverged fungus p193
Alexander Idnurm, Felicia J. Walton, Anna Floyd & Joseph Heitman
doi:10.1038/nature06453
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (524K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Ultra-fine frequency tuning revealed in single neurons of human auditory cortex p197
Y. Bitterman, R. Mukamel, R. Malach, I. Fried & I. Nelken
doi:10.1038/nature06476
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (960K) | Supplementary information
Epigenetic silencing of tumour suppressor gene p15 by its antisense RNA p202
Wenqiang Yu, David Gius, Patrick Onyango, Kristi Muldoon-Jacobs, Judith Karp, Andrew P. Feinberg & Hengmi Cui
doi:10.1038/nature06468
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (753K) | Supplementary information
Abscisic acid controls calcium-dependent egress and development in Toxoplasma gondii p207
Kisaburo Nagamune, Leslie M. Hicks, Blima Fux, Fabien Brossier, Eduardo N. Chini & L. David Sibley
doi:10.1038/nature06478
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (564K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Defective tryptophan catabolism underlies inflammation in mouse chronic granulomatous disease p211
Luigina Romani, Francesca Fallarino, Antonella De Luca, Claudia Montagnoli, Carmen D'Angelo, Teresa Zelante, Carmine Vacca, Francesco Bistoni, Maria C. Fioretti, Ursula Grohmann, Brahm H. Segal & Paolo Puccetti
doi:10.1038/nature06471
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (782K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Erratum
Two stellar components in the halo of the Milky Way p216
Daniela Carollo, Timothy C. Beers, Young Sun Lee, Masashi Chiba, John E. Norris, Ronald Wilhelm, Thirupathi Sivarani, Brian Marsteller, Jeffrey A. Munn, Coryn A. L. Bailer-Jones, Paola Re Fiorentin & Donald G. York
doi:10.1038/nature06542
Naturejobs
ProspectProspects p217
A controversial move to central London for the Medical Research Council's flagship lab will have career repercussions.
Paul Smaglik
doi:10.1038/nj7175-217a
Special Report
A career at the museum p218
For scientists who want to combine public outreach with research, a museum may be the perfect place to work, says Ricki Lewis.
Ricki Lewis
doi:10.1038/nj7175-218a
Highlights
Opportunities: The National Institutes of Health
doi:10.1038/nj0193