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Volume 451 Issue 7181, 21 February 2008

Understanding how surface water flow could have produced the observed deltas and alluvial fans on the surface of Mars is fundamental to understanding the history of water on the planet. Flow duration in particular is an important factor, but to date, estimates for the longevity of martian hydrologic events have varied erratically, from decades to millions of years. Now, in a series of experiments here on Earth, in the Eurotank facility at Utrecht University, the characteristic morphology of martian stepped or terraced deltas has been recreated. The findings suggest that the stepped fans were formed by sudden release of water from subsurface storage, rather than by surface precipitation. In the conditions prevailing on Mars, this morphology is consistent with a single basin-filling event taking tens of years, and may have required an amount of water comparable to that discharged by a large terrestrial river about the size of the Mississippi. The cover image is a photo composite of a 4 mm-per-pixel digital terrain model of an experimentally formed crater from the Eurotank.

Editorial

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  • Cellulosic biofuels are part of an emerging US energy policy, from which other regions can learn.

    Editorial
  • Canada has been scientifically healthy. Not so its government.

    Editorial
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Research Highlights

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News

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News in Brief

  • Scribbles on the margins of science.

    News in Brief
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News

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News in Brief

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News Feature

  • The dream of perpetual flight without fuel has inspired pilots to take to the skies in solar-powered planes. Vicki Cleave looks at a mission to fly a solar plane through the night - and around the world.

    • Vicki Cleave
    News Feature
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Correspondence

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Books & Arts

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News & Views

  • There is common ground in analysing financial systems and ecosystems, especially in the need to identify conditions that dispose a system to be knocked from seeming stability into another, less happy state.

    • Robert M. May
    • Simon A. Levin
    • George Sugihara
    News & Views
  • Synthesis of a rubber-like material that can be recycled might not seem exciting. But one that can also repeatedly repair itself at room temperature, without adhesives, really stretches the imagination.

    • Justin L. Mynar
    • Takuzo Aida
    News & Views
  • Identification of a direct link between apicomplexan parasites and their algal ancestors is a development full of promise. It illuminates a dark corner in the evolution of photosynthesis, and further insights are to come.

    • Patrick J. Keeling
    News & Views
  • Once dismissed as chemical graveyards, organic solids can in fact be manipulated to surprising effect: one example is a crystal designed to embark on a remarkable domino-rally of reactions when bathed in light.

    • Leonard R. MacGillivray
    News & Views
  • Novel human infections continue to appear all over the world, but the risk is higher in some regions than others. Identification of emerging-disease 'hotspots' will help target surveillance work.

    • Mark E. J. Woolhouse
    News & Views
  • Does material that is subducted into Earth's interior at plate boundaries penetrate very far down? A model that links subsurface dynamics with the motion of the plates above provides a fresh approach to the question.

    • Scott King
    News & Views
  • Before it divides, a bacterium must move its replicated chromosomes away from the site of division, or risk having its DNA trapped in the membranes that separate the divided cells. How does it avoid this catastrophe?

    • Ling Juan Wu
    • Jeff Errington
    News & Views
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Insight

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Review Article

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Progress Article

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Article

  • The enzyme O-GlcNAc transferase harbours a new type of lipid binding site; overexpression of the enzyme in the liver of mice causes insulin resistance and dyslipidaemia, underscoring the pivotal contribution of sugar modifications to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

    • Xiaoyong Yang
    • Pat P. Ongusaha
    • Ronald M. Evans
    Article
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Letter

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Corrigendum

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Erratum

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Corrigendum

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Prospects

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Special Report

  • A crop of websites is making networking among scientists easier than ever. Virginia Gewin logs in.

    • Virginia Gewin
    Special Report
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Movers

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Networks and Support

  • Taking a turn at grant-review duties can have its benefits.

    • Ted Agres
    Networks and Support
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Career View

  • Humans can be exhausting. Sometimes I prefer the company of baboons.

    • Aliza le Roux
    Career View
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Futures

  • Picture perfect.

    • Jeff Crook
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Authors

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Brief Communications Arising

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Corrigendum

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Insight

  • Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death worldwide and will become even more prevalent as the population ages. New therapeutic targets are being identified as a result of emerging Insights into disease mechanisms, and new strategies are also being tested, possibly leading to new treatment options. Improving diagnosis is also crucial, because by detecting disease early, the focus could be shifted from treatment to prevention.

    Insight
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