Table of contents
Volume 452 Number 7189 pp781-912
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Editorials
All eyes north p781
The Arctic — particularly Greenland — needs to become a major focus of research for years to come.
doi:10.1038/452781a
A ghost of battles past p781
The US veterans' administration should go ahead with a much-delayed study of Agent Orange.
doi:10.1038/452781b
Broken promises p782
Efforts to boost science in the Islamic world need financial commitment from the nations themselves.
doi:10.1038/452782a
News
Further delays to full Agent Orange study p786
Veterans department accused of foot-dragging over research into health effects of the herbicide.
Declan Butler
doi:10.1038/452786a
Deal for Holy Land artefacts p787
Israel and Palestine draft an agreement on how to allocate archaeological sites.
Haim Watzman
doi:10.1038/452787a
Costa Rican biotech centre in peril p787
Government inactivity puts EU funds in jeopardy.
Geoff Brumfiel
doi:10.1038/452787b
Sidelines p788
Scribbles on the margins of science.
doi:10.1038/452788a
James Watson's genome sequenced at high speed p788
New-generation technology takes just four months and costs a fraction of old method.
Meredith Wadman
doi:10.1038/452788b
Novel analysis identifies highly biodiverse hotspots p789
New method plots Madagascar's species in unprecedented detail.
Anna Petherick
doi:10.1038/452789a
Q&A: Kerry Sieh p791
Earthquake geologist Kerry Sieh of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena is moving to Singapore in July to head the new S$300 million (US$220 million) Earth Observatory of Singapore. He talks to David Cyranoski.
David Cyranoski
doi:10.1038/452791a
Merck accused of disguising its role in research p791
Drug company used ghost-writers for papers published on Vioxx trials.
Daniel Cressey
doi:10.1038/452791b
Glacial melt thaws South Asian rivalry p793
International collaboration aims to map glacier retreat in the Himalayas.
David Cyranoski
doi:10.1038/452793a
$50 million cyberchallenge for plant scientists p793
iPlant Collaborative offers prize for user-friendly computational tools.
Heidi Ledford
doi:10.1038/452793b
Shuttle at cruise speed p794
Retired spacecraft makes its final journey by boat.
Quirin Schiermeier
doi:10.1038/452794a
Germany eases ban on embryonic stem-cell lines p796
doi:10.1038/452796a
Further reports announced by climate-change panel p796
doi:10.1038/452796b
Evolution supporters unhappy with Florida bill p796
doi:10.1038/452796c
Drug-safety agency names its first chief scientist p796
doi:10.1038/452796d
Indian journals push for clinical-trial registration p797
doi:10.1038/452797a
Mars moon in high resolution p797
doi:10.1038/452797b
News Features
Climate change: Losing greenland p798
Is the Arctic's biggest ice sheet in irreversible meltdown? And would we know if it were? Alexandra Witze reports.
doi:10.1038/452798a
Quantum computation: The dreamweaver's abacus p803
Some experts think that a quantum computation could be plaited like a skein of string. And now they may have found the sorts of string they need, finds Liesbeth Venema.
doi:10.1038/452803a
Archaeology: Bones, isles and videotape p806
Old human remains found on the Pacific islands of Palau are caught in the crossfire between entertainment and science. Rex Dalton reports.
doi:10.1038/452806a
Correspondence
Malaria programmes need informed advocacy p810
Matthew Lynch
doi:10.1038/452810a
Malaria: efforts starting to show widespread results p810
Awa Marie Coll-Seck, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus & Alan Court
doi:10.1038/452810b
Tibetan wildlife is getting used to the railway p810
Qisen Yang & Lin Xia
doi:10.1038/452810c
Vaccine trial provided valuable information p811
David Baltimore
doi:10.1038/452811a
NIH funds support more than a researcher's own lab p811
Harold Varmus
doi:10.1038/452811b
NIH: grants revamp needs grounding in evidence p811
Yusuf A. Hannun
doi:10.1038/452811c
NIH: researchers lose out to war, not to each other p811
Sten H. Vermund
doi:10.1038/452811d
Books and Arts
Blazing a new trail for nature p812
Could the army of green workers who transformed the US landscape inspire today's ecological revolution?
Jon Christensen reviews Nature's New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Roots of the American Environmental Movement by Neil M. Maher
doi:10.1038/452812a
Bedtime reading p813
Jim Horne reviews Insomniac by Gayle Green
doi:10.1038/452813a
Reflecting on the mind p814
Vilayanur S. Ramachandran reviews Mirrors in the Brain by Giacomo Rizzolatti & Corrado Sinigaglia
doi:10.1038/452814a
Correction p815
doi:10.1038/452815a
Exhibition: Design crystallized in the 1950s p815
Colin Martin reviews From Atoms to Patterns: Crystal Structure Designs from the 1951 Festival of Britain
doi:10.1038/452815b
Essay
Triumph of the medieval mind p816
Modern science began several hundred years earlier than we have come to imagine. It got going in the twelfth century — and with it, the long-standing rift between reason and faith.
Philip Ball
doi:10.1038/452816a
See also: Editor's summary
News and Views
Human genetics: Dr Watson's base pairs p819
The application of new technology to sequence the genome of an individual yields few biological insights. Nonetheless, the feat heralds an era of 'personal genomics' based on cheap sequencing.
Maynard V. Olson
doi:10.1038/452819a
See also: Editor's summary
Planetary science: Message from Mercury p820
After a 30-year gap, all eyes are back on Mercury as the MESSENGER probe gives us our second glance at the Sun's nearest neighbour. Hints of intriguing results to come are already at hand.
H. Jay Melosh
doi:10.1038/452820a
Biophysics: The sweetest candy for the virus p822
For some viruses, the first step in infecting cells is to latch onto sugars on the cell membrane. The chemical basis of this virus-host recognition process has been identified using an NMR spectroscopic technique.
Andreas O. Frank & Horst Kessler
doi:10.1038/452822a
Quantum physics: Debut of the quarter electron p822
A particle-like object with a quarter of an electron's charge is the latest find in a hotbed of quantum-physical experimentation, the fractional quantum Hall fluid. Its significance is more than esoteric.
Eduardo Fradkin
doi:10.1038/452823a
See also: Editor's summary
50 & 100 Years Ago p823
doi:10.1038/452823b
Systems biology: Genome rewired p824
Within a genome, genes are connected to each other through a complex network of interactions. One way to assess how robust and evolvable such genomic networks are is to introduce new links between unrelated genes.
Matthew R. Bennett & Jeff Hasty
doi:10.1038/452824a
See also: Editor's summary
Ecology: Destabilized fish stocks p825
Fishing of natural populations increases the variability of fish abundance. A unique data set from the southern California Current has allowed an evaluation of three hypotheses for why that should be so.
Nils Chr. Stenseth & Tristan Rouyer
doi:10.1038/452825a
See also: Editor's summary
Astrophysics: Blown away by cosmic rays p826
X-ray data reveal that our Galaxy is shedding part of its gas, a phenomenon previously associated only with much more active star-forming galaxies. So what is driving the process in the Milky Way?
Dieter Breitschwerdt
doi:10.1038/452826a
Articles
Observation of a quarter of an electron charge at the 
= 5/2 quantum Hall state p829
M. Dolev, M. Heiblum, V. Umansky, Ady Stern & D. Mahalu
doi:10.1038/nature06855
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,244K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Fradkin
Why fishing magnifies fluctuations in fish abundance p835
Christian N. K. Anderson, Chih-hao Hsieh, Stuart A. Sandin, Roger Hewitt, Anne Hollowed, John Beddington, Robert M. May & George Sugihara
doi:10.1038/nature06851
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (357K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Stenseth & Rouyer
Evolvability and hierarchy in rewired bacterial gene networks p840
Mark Isalan, Caroline Lemerle, Konstantinos Michalodimitrakis, Carsten Horn, Pedro Beltrao, Emanuele Raineri, Mireia Garriga-Canut & Luis Serrano
doi:10.1038/nature06847
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (425K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Bennett & Hasty
Isolation of an active step I spliceosome and composition of its RNP core p846
Sergey Bessonov, Maria Anokhina, Cindy L. Will, Henning Urlaub & Reinhard Lührmann
doi:10.1038/nature06842
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,198K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Letters
A massive binary black-hole system in OJ 287 and a test of general relativity p851
M. J. Valtonen, H. J. Lehto, K. Nilsson, J. Heidt, L. O. Takalo, A. Sillanpää, C. Villforth, M. Kidger, G. Poyner, T. Pursimo, S. Zola, J.-H. Wu, X. Zhou, K. Sadakane, M. Drozdz, D. Koziel, D. Marchev, W. Ogloza, C. Porowski, M. Siwak, G. Stachowski, M. Winiarski, V.-P. Hentunen, M. Nissinen, A. Liakos & S. Dogru
doi:10.1038/nature06896
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (195K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Thermalization and its mechanism for generic isolated quantum systems p854
Marcos Rigol, Vanja Dunjko & Maxim Olshanii
doi:10.1038/nature06838
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (3,348K) | Supplementary information
Electrical effects of spin density wave quantization and magnetic domain walls in chromium p859
Ravi K. Kummamuru & Yeong-Ah Soh
doi:10.1038/nature06826
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (689K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Changing boreal methane sources and constant biomass burning during the last termination p864
Hubertus Fischer, Melanie Behrens, Michael Bock, Ulrike Richter, Jochen Schmitt, Laetitia Loulergue, Jerome Chappellaz, Renato Spahni, Thomas Blunier, Markus Leuenberger & Thomas F. Stocker
doi:10.1038/nature06825
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (267K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Sophisticated particle-feeding in a large Early Cambrian crustacean p868
Thomas H. P. Harvey & Nicholas J. Butterfield
doi:10.1038/nature06724
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (5,652K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
The complete genome of an individual by massively parallel DNA sequencing p872
David A. Wheeler, Maithreyan Srinivasan, Michael Egholm, Yufeng Shen, Lei Chen, Amy McGuire, Wen He, Yi-Ju Chen, Vinod Makhijani, G. Thomas Roth, Xavier Gomes, Karrie Tartaro, Faheem Niazi, Cynthia L. Turcotte, Gerard P. Irzyk, James R. Lupski, Craig Chinault, Xing-zhi Song, Yue Liu, Ye Yuan, Lynne Nazareth, Xiang Qin, Donna M. Muzny, Marcel Margulies, George M. Weinstock, Richard A. Gibbs & Jonathan M. Rothberg
doi:10.1038/nature06884
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (264K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Olson
Chromatin dynamics during epigenetic reprogramming in the mouse germ line p877
Petra Hajkova, Katia Ancelin, Tanja Waldmann, Nicolas Lacoste, Ulrike C. Lange, Francesca Cesari, Caroline Lee, Genevieve Almouzni, Robert Schneider & M. Azim Surani
doi:10.1038/nature06714
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (784K) | Supplementary information
Integration of growth and specification in chick wing digit-patterning p882
Matthew Towers, Ruth Mahood, Yili Yin & Cheryll Tickle
doi:10.1038/nature06718
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (4,724K) | Supplementary information
NAD synthase NMNAT acts as a chaperone to protect against neurodegeneration p887
R. Grace Zhai, Fan Zhang, P. Robin Hiesinger, Yu Cao, Claire M. Haueter & Hugo J. Bellen
doi:10.1038/nature06721
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (2,741K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Retinotopic order in the absence of axon competition p892
Nathan J. Gosse, Linda M. Nevin & Herwig Baier
doi:10.1038/nature06816
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (701K) | Supplementary information
LNA-mediated microRNA silencing in non-human primates p896
Joacim Elmén, Morten Lindow, Sylvia Schütz, Matthew Lawrence, Andreas Petri, Susanna Obad, Marie Lindholm, Maj Hedtjärn, Henrik Frydenlund Hansen, Urs Berger, Steven Gullans, Phil Kearney, Peter Sarnow, Ellen Marie Straarup & Sakari Kauppinen
doi:10.1038/nature06783
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (592K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Corrigendum
A photosynthetic alveolate closely related to apicomplexan parasites p900
Robert B. Moore,
Miroslav Oborník,
Jan Janou
kovec,
Tomá Chrudimský,
Marie Vancová,
David H. Green,
Simon W. Wright,
Noel W. Davies,
Christopher J. S. Bolch,
Kirsten Heimann,
Jan 
lapeta,
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg,
John M. Logsdon
&
Dee A. Carter
doi:10.1038/nature06871
Errata
Hax1-mediated processing of HtrA2 by Parl allows survival of lymphocytes and neurons p900
Jyh-Rong Chao, Evan Parganas, Kelli Boyd, Cheol Yi Hong, Joseph T. Opferman & James N. Ihle
doi:10.1038/nature06872
Strong dispersive coupling of a high-finesse cavity to a micromechanical membrane p900
J. D. Thompson, B. M. Zwickl, A. M. Jayich, Florian Marquardt, S. M. Girvin & J. G. E. Harris
doi:10.1038/nature06898
Technology Features
Nanotechnology: Could it be a small world after all? p901
Sophisticated technologies can now explore nano-scale forces and interactions. But most biologists are staying on the sidelines, waiting to see if these technologies can really help them. Nathan Blow reports.
Nathan Blow
doi:10.1038/452901a
See also: Editor's summary
Nanotechnology: When one cantilever is not enough p903
doi:10.1038/452903a
Nanotechnology: Shrinking down gas chromatography p904
doi:10.1038/452904a
Nanotechnology: Table of suppliers p905
doi:10.1038/452905a
Naturejobs
ProspectProspects p907
We're trying to improve — so you can rest a bit easier.
Gene Russo
doi:10.1038/nj7189-907a
Region
Beyond the triangle p908
As North Carolina's Research Triangle Park nears its fiftieth birthday, Heidi Ledford investigates how research parks across the state are coping with mounting pressure from outside competition.
Heidi Ledford
doi:10.1038/nj7189-908a
Career View
Gregory Crawford, dean, College of Science, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana p910
New Notre Dame dean looks for science that improves society.
Virginia Gewin
doi:10.1038/nj7189-910a
Nucleus of growth at Louisville p910
Suite of life-sciences buildings and biotech planned in Louisville, Kentucky.
Paul Smaglik
doi:10.1038/nj7189-910b
Passion and obsession p910
Finding passion rather than obsession
Zachary Lippman
doi:10.1038/nj7189-910c
Highlights
Opportunities: The National Institutes of Health
doi:10.1038/nj0204
Spotlight
Spotlight on North Carolina and Research Triangle Park
doi:10.1038/nj0205