Table of contents
Volume 451 Number 7178 pp499-604
In this issue (31 January 2008)
Also this week
(this content only available online) indicates content that is available online only
Editorials
Towards falling emissions p499
Although Europe's new energy plans may be too prescriptive on the means of achieving the goals, they offer the world an encouraging way forward.
doi:10.1038/451499a
Secret treasure-troves restored p500
Reflecting on the endeavours of scientists past can provide both inspiration and pleasure.
doi:10.1038/451500a
A quantum of solace p500
As the US writers' strike rolls on, now is the time for scientists to extend the hand of friendship.
doi:10.1038/451500b
News
Europe spells out action plan for emissions targets p504
Heavy industry set to pay for allowances under carbon-trading scheme.
Quirin Schiermeier
doi:10.1038/451504a
Canada abolishes its national science adviser p505
After just four years, government axes post.
Hannah Hoag
doi:10.1038/451505a
Sidelines p506
Scribbles on the margins of science.
doi:10.1038/451506a
Cash for Russian nuclear scientists criticized p506
US payments to beat proliferation attacked as ineffective.
Eric Hand
doi:10.1038/451506b
Snapshot: Search for Higgs primed to start p507
Assembly of detector completes Large Hadron Collider.
Geoff Brumfiel
doi:10.1038/451507a
Funding freeze shakes Russia's prodigals p507
Academy pulls the plug on research programme.
Quirin Schiermeier
doi:10.1038/451507b
New York to police air monitoring p508
Legislation threatens to hamper research projects.
Rachel Courtland
doi:10.1038/451508a
Reviewer leaked Avandia study to drug firm p509
GlaxoSmithKline told early of diabetes blockbuster's links to heart attacks.
Brian Vastag
doi:10.1038/451509a
Fossil reptiles mired in controversy p510
Name-calling sparks dispute over aetosaurs.
Rex Dalton
doi:10.1038/451510a
Kidney expert to head holistic-medicine centre p511
doi:10.1038/451511a
Early-warning system underestimates quake p511
doi:10.1038/451511b
Synthetic genome paves the way to artificial life p511
doi:10.1038/451511c
France and India to expand scientific collaborations p511
doi:10.1038/451511d
OncoMed scores drug deal for $1.4 billion with Glaxo p511
doi:10.1038/451511e
Gates foundation gives cash for agriculture in Africa p511
doi:10.1038/451511f
Correction p511
doi:10.1038/451511g
News Features
Human behaviour: Killer instincts p512
What can evolution say about why humans kill — and about why we do so less than we used to? Dan Jones reports.
doi:10.1038/451512a
Genome studies: Genetics by numbers p516
Genomewide association studies are starting to turn up increasingly reliable disease markers. Monya Baker investigates where we are now and what comes next.
doi:10.1038/451516a
Correspondence
The action of enhancers can lead to addiction p520
Nora D. Volkow & James M. Swanson
doi:10.1038/451520a
See also: Editor's summary
Drugs can be used to treat more than disease p520
Nick Bostrom
doi:10.1038/451520b
See also: Editor's summary
Low dose of alertness drug counters 'family fatigue' p520
Charles Eaton
doi:10.1038/451520c
See also: Editor's summary
Drugging unruly children is a method of social control p521
Steven Rose
doi:10.1038/451521a
See also: Editor's summary
Humans have always tried to improve their condition p521
John Harris & Muireann Quigley
doi:10.1038/451521b
See also: Editor's summary
Policy must recognize drug impact on different sectors p521
Robin Pierce & Judy Illes
doi:10.1038/451521c
See also: Editor's summary
Rationality is a better basis for ethics than repugnance p521
Martha J. Farah
doi:10.1038/451521d
See also: Editor's summary
Books and Arts
Trinity says: Let's talk p522
Dublin's new Science Gallery hopes to dissolve barriers between science and city through conversation. Director Michael John Gorman explains how the gentle art will bring new voices to research.
Michael John Gorman
doi:10.1038/451522a
Van Allen remembered as belts turn 50 p523
William E. Burrows reviews James Van Allen: The First Eight Billion Miles by Abigail Foerstner
doi:10.1038/451523a
Starvation: crime and punishment p524
Michael Sargent reviews Hunger: A Modern History by James Vernon
doi:10.1038/451524a
Exhibition: Ancient orders of nature p525
Martin Kemp reviews Landscape with Blind Orion Searching for the Sun
doi:10.1038/451525a
Hidden treasures: The University History Museum in Pavia p526
In the first of a monthly series on small museums, Alison Abbott profiles the University History Museum in Pavia, which recalls the key role of northern Italy in Enlightenment science.
Alison Abbott
doi:10.1038/451526a
See also: Editor's summary
News and Views
Sex determination: Some like it hot (and some don't) p527
There is a widely accepted theoretical explanation for why sex in some species is determined at the embryo stage by environmental factors such as temperature. That theory is now supported by experiment.
David Crews & James J. Bull
doi:10.1038/451527a
See also: Editor's summary
Nanomaterials: Golden handshake p528
Three-dimensional nanoparticle arrays are likely to be the foundation of future optical and electronic materials. A promising way to assemble them is through the transient pairings of complementary DNA strands.
John C. Crocker
doi:10.1038/451528a
See also: Editor's summary
50 & 100 Years Ago p529
doi:10.1038/451529a
Cell biology: Dying to hold you p530
Certain cells bind so tightly to each other that, on occasion, one cell ends up inside another, usually with fatal consequences for the ingested cell. This involuntary cell death might help protect us from cancer.
Kimon Doukoumetzidis & Michael O. Hengartner
doi:10.1038/451530a
Cosmology: An ancient view of acceleration p531
The Universe is expanding ever faster — the effect of 'dark energy', most astronomers believe. Surveys of how galaxies were distributed in the past could provide precise clues to what is driving this acceleration.
Michael A. Strauss
doi:10.1038/451531a
See also: Editor's summary
Ion channels: Coughing up flu's proton channels p532
Two research teams have captured snapshots of the influenza virus's membrane-bound hydrogen-ion channel, which is essential for infection and virulence. Their findings agree on the basics, but differ in details.
Christopher Miller
doi:10.1038/451532a
See also: Editor's summary
Device physics: Nanowires' display of potential p533
The future of the video display is both flexible and transparent. Finding a material for the attendant electronics that is small-scale, bendy and see-through is a tall order — but a promising candidate is emerging.
Hagen Klauk
doi:10.1038/451533a
Article
Predicting expression patterns from regulatory sequence in Drosophila segmentation p535
Eran Segal, Tali Raveh-Sadka, Mark Schroeder, Ulrich Unnerstall & Ulrike Gaul
doi:10.1038/nature06496
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (818K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Letters
A test of the nature of cosmic acceleration using galaxy redshift distortions p541
L. Guzzo, M. Pierleoni, B. Meneux, E. Branchini, O. Le Fèvre, C. Marinoni, B. Garilli, J. Blaizot, G. De Lucia, A. Pollo, H. J. McCracken, D. Bottini, V. Le Brun, D. Maccagni, J. P. Picat, R. Scaramella, M. Scodeggio, L. Tresse, G. Vettolani, A. Zanichelli, C. Adami, S. Arnouts, S. Bardelli, M. Bolzonella, A. Bongiorno, A. Cappi, S. Charlot, P. Ciliegi, T. Contini, O. Cucciati, S. de la Torre, K. Dolag, S. Foucaud, P. Franzetti, I. Gavignaud, O. Ilbert, A. Iovino, F. Lamareille, B. Marano, A. Mazure, P. Memeo, R. Merighi, L. Moscardini, S. Paltani, R. Pellò, E. Perez-Montero, L. Pozzetti, M. Radovich, D. Vergani, G. Zamorani & E. Zucca
doi:10.1038/nature06555
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (423K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Strauss
Origin of morphotropic phase boundaries in ferroelectrics p545
Muhtar Ahart, Maddury Somayazulu, R. E. Cohen, P. Ganesh, Przemyslaw Dera, Ho-kwang Mao, Russell J. Hemley, Yang Ren, Peter Liermann & Zhigang Wu
doi:10.1038/nature06459
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (351K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
DNA-guided crystallization of colloidal nanoparticles p549
Dmytro Nykypanchuk, Mathew M. Maye, Daniel van der Lelie & Oleg Gang
doi:10.1038/nature06560
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,301K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Crocker
DNA-programmable nanoparticle crystallization p553
Sung Yong Park, Abigail K. R. Lytton-Jean, Byeongdu Lee, Steven Weigand, George C. Schatz & Chad A. Mirkin
doi:10.1038/nature06508
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (829K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Crocker
Large contribution of sea surface warming to recent increase in Atlantic hurricane activity p557
Mark A. Saunders & Adam S. Lea
doi:10.1038/nature06422
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (368K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
A great earthquake doublet and seismic stress transfer cycle in the central Kuril islands p561
Charles J. Ammon, Hiroo Kanamori & Thorne Lay
doi:10.1038/nature06521
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (2,683K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
The adaptive significance of temperature-dependent sex determination in a reptile p566
D. A. Warner & R. Shine
doi:10.1038/nature06519
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (219K)
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Crews & Bull
Lethargus is a Caenorhabditis elegans sleep-like state p569
David M. Raizen, John E. Zimmerman, Matthew H. Maycock, Uyen D. Ta, Young-jai You, Meera V. Sundaram & Allan I. Pack
doi:10.1038/nature06535
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (508K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
NLRX1 is a regulator of mitochondrial antiviral immunity p573
Chris B. Moore, Daniel T. Bergstralh, Joseph A. Duncan, Yu Lei, Thomas E. Morrison, Albert G. Zimmermann, Mary A. Accavitti-Loper, Victoria J. Madden, Lijun Sun, Zhengmao Ye, John D. Lich, Mark T. Heise, Zhijian Chen & Jenny P-Y. Ting
doi:10.1038/nature06501
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (580K) | Supplementary information
Macrophage migration inhibitory factor stimulates AMP-activated protein kinase in the ischaemic heart p578
Edward J. Miller, Ji Li, Lin Leng, Courtney McDonald, Toshiya Atsumi, Richard Bucala & Lawrence H. Young
doi:10.1038/nature06504
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (490K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
DBC1 is a negative regulator of SIRT1 p583
Ja-Eun Kim, Junjie Chen & Zhenkun Lou
doi:10.1038/nature06500
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (478K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Negative regulation of the deacetylase SIRT1 by DBC1 p587
Wenhui Zhao, Jan-Philipp Kruse, Yi Tang, Sung Yun Jung, Jun Qin & Wei Gu
doi:10.1038/nature06515
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (500K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Structure and mechanism of the M2 proton channel of influenza A virus p591
Jason R. Schnell & James J. Chou
doi:10.1038/nature06531
PDB code
3D view
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (716K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Miller
Structural basis for the function and inhibition of an influenza virus proton channel p596
Amanda L. Stouffer, Rudresh Acharya, David Salom, Anna S. Levine, Luigi Di Costanzo, Cinque S. Soto, Valentina Tereshko, Vikas Nanda, Steven Stayrook & William F. DeGrado
doi:10.1038/nature06528
PDB code
3D view
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (689K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Miller
Retraction
Anti-apoptotic function of a microRNA encoded by the HSV-1 latency-associated transcript p600
A. Gupta, J. J. Gartner, P. Sethupathy, A. G. Hatzigeorgiou & N. W. Fraser
doi:10.1038/nature06621
Naturejobs
ProspectProspects p601
The complexities of conducting science in India.
Gene Russo
doi:10.1038/nj7178-601a
Career View
Rolf-Dieter Heuer, director-general, CERN, Geneva, Switzerland p602
New director-general coming to CERN.
Virginia Gewin
doi:10.1038/nj7178-602a
Singapore gears up for translation p602
Singapore's Institute of Medical Biology strives for translation.
Ewen Callaway
doi:10.1038/nj7178-602b
Biopolis dreams p602
The Biopolis offers me vast opportunity and a challenging new laboratory culture.
Amanda Goh
doi:10.1038/nj7178-602c