Editorials

Feasting and fasting p1

Bad nutrition needs the world's attention. Not least that of biologists.

doi:10.1038/454001a

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In rude health p1

A treasure-trove of data in the UK National Health Service is set to energize biomedical research.

doi:10.1038/454001b

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Does the past have a future in Berlin? p2

Not unless a research institution's managers recognize its value.

doi:10.1038/454002a

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Research Highlights

Natural history: Nasty, brutish and short p4

doi:10.1038/454004a

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Neuroscience: Predicting psychosis p4

doi:10.1038/454004b

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Genetics: The genetics of anarchy p4

doi:10.1038/454004c

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Chemistry: Flipping brilliant p4

doi:10.1038/454004d

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Chemical biology: Anti-Alzheimer's agent p4

doi:10.1038/454004e

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Materials science: The heart of glass p4

doi:10.1038/454004f

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Genetics: Sex and the cortex p5

doi:10.1038/454005a

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Ecology: Drought and the lion p5

doi:10.1038/454005b

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Acoustics: Fiddling the numbers p5

doi:10.1038/454005c

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Nanotechnology: Electron windmills p5

Journal Club

Journal club p5

News

Neuroscientist: my data published without authorization are 'misleading' p6

Max Planck researchers charged with misusing data.

Alison Abbott

doi:10.1038/454006a

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Turkish politics blamed for board block p6

Geologist claims personal views led to job denial.

Geoff Brumfiel

doi:10.1038/454006b

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Closer than ever to the Sun p7

Astronomers plan successor for Ulysses spacecraft.

Eric Hand

doi:10.1038/454007a

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Reincarnation can save Schrödinger's cat p8

Physicists reverse quantum�classical transition.

Zeeya Merali

doi:10.1038/454008a

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PLoS stays afloat with bulk publishing p11

Science-publishing firm struggles to make ends meet with open-access model.

Declan Butler

doi:10.1038/454011a

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Sidelines p12

Scribbles on the margins of science.

doi:10.1038/454012a

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Oil and food costs may bump climate at G8 talks p12

Rich nations and emerging economies join to discuss world's most pressing issues.

Olive Heffernan

doi:10.1038/454012b

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Snapshot: Incy Wincy spider p13

Phylogeny of Spiders project offers close-ups of spiders' silk producers.

Rex Dalton

doi:10.1038/454013a

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Entomologists jailed for illegal specimen hunt p14

doi:10.1038/454014a

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Muslim nuclear physicist sues over freedom of rights p14

doi:10.1038/454014b

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Linnean Society celebrates seminal evolution papers p14

doi:10.1038/454014c

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Final decision expected on European stem-cell patent p15

doi:10.1038/454015a

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Spain awards apes legal rights p15

doi:10.1038/454015b

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Pay-off agreed for expert fired after anthrax attacks p15

doi:10.1038/454015c

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Column

Getting it across p16

Scientists need a carefully crafted strategy to catch the attention of policy-makers. David Goldston explains.

David Goldston

doi:10.1038/454016a

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News Feature

Entomology: Battlefield insectica p18

Entomologists are briefing the military on how to protect troops from the scourge of the desert: sandflies. Rex Dalton reports.

doi:10.1038/454018a

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Human evolution: Details of being human p21

A difference in one molecule led physician Ajit Varki to question what sets humans apart from other apes. Bruce Lieberman meets a man who sees a big picture in the finer points.

doi:10.1038/454021a

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Scientific exploration: What a long, strange trip it's been p24

Launched in 1977, NASA's Voyager missions transformed humanity's view of the Solar System. Now in their fourth decade, they are sending back information about the borderlands of interstellar space (see pages 63–83). Here, three veterans recall details and moments that meant something special along the way.

doi:10.1038/454024a

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Correspondence

Amateurs as an outreach of HAARP's lunar-echo study p27

Paul Rodriguez

doi:10.1038/454027a

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Reality lags behind rhetoric in building interdisciplinary work p27

Danae Rebecca Dodge

doi:10.1038/454027b

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Reduce confusion by using 'design' more intelligently p27

Richard Sever

doi:10.1038/454027c

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Picture not quite worth 1,000 words in this case p27

Peter K. Ducey

doi:10.1038/454027d

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Books and Arts

Perils of perversity p28

Research is riddled with strong characters; Walter Gratzer applauds a spirited attempt to get their measure.

Walter Gratzer reviews Rebels, Mavericks, and Heretics in Biology

doi:10.1038/454028a

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Bonding as key to hominid origins p29

Primatology meets socio-cultural analysis in a controversial account of human evolution.

Monique Borgerhoff Mulder reviews Primeval Kinship: How Pair-Bonding Gave Birth To Human Society by Bernard Chapais

doi:10.1038/454029a

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Novel alchemy p30

David Bodanis reviews The Sun and Moon Corrupted by Philip Ball

doi:10.1038/454030a

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Hidden Treasures: Institute of Physiology collection p31

A cache of beautiful nineteenth-century German scientific devices that has survived many misfortunes now needs a new home, reports Alison Abbott.

Alison Abbott

doi:10.1038/454031a

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Essays

Science and Music: The ear of the beholder p32

In the last of nine Essays on science and music, John Sloboda argues that researchers must study music as people actually experience it, if they are to understand how it affects thoughts and feelings.

John Sloboda

doi:10.1038/454032a

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Arise 'cliodynamics' p34

If we are to learn how to develop a healthy society, we must transform history into an analytical, predictive science, argues Peter Turchin. He has identified intriguing patterns across vastly different times and places.

Peter Turchin

doi:10.1038/454034a

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News and Views

Origins of life: How leaky were primitive cells? p37

If the first cells were simple vesicles, how did nutrients cross their membranes without help from transport proteins? A model of a primitive cell suggests that early membranes were surprisingly permeable.

David W. Deamer

doi:10.1038/454037a

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Solar System: A shock for Voyager 2 p38

The Voyager 2 spacecraft has now followed Voyager 1 into the region beyond the end of the supersonic solar wind, where the influence of interstellar space is growing — so opening a new age of exploration.

J. R. Jokipii

doi:10.1038/454038a

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Ecology: Return of the niche p39

Two ideas vie for prominence in community ecology — 'niche partitioning' and 'neutral theory'. A survey of patterns of tree abundance in tropical forest prompts fresh thinking on their respective effects.

Mathew A. Leibold

doi:10.1038/454039a

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Atmospheric chemistry: Her dark materials p41

A glitch in the history of sulphur isotopes could imply that methane emitted by the ancient biosphere created a high-altitude photochemical smog, which governed the climate in a distinctly Gaian way.

Kevin Zahnle

doi:10.1038/454041a

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Physical chemistry: When molecules don't rebound p43

Picture a simple molecule as two balls attached together by a compressible spring. If an incoming atom strikes one end of the molecule, the spring compresses and the vibrating molecule jumps backwards. Or does it?

Mark Brouard

doi:10.1038/454043a

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Stem cells: Tips for priming potency p45

Introducing just four specific genes into adult cells causes them to regress to an embryonic stem-cell-like state. At 1%, the efficiency of this process is low, but two tips are at hand on how to make improvements.

Joseph F. Costello

doi:10.1038/454045a

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Climate change: Acid test for marine biodiversity p46

Rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide lead to acidification of the oceans. A site in the Mediterranean, naturally carbonated by under-sea volcanoes, provides clues to the possible effects on marine ecosystems.

Ulf Riebesell

doi:10.1038/454046a

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50 & 100 Years Ago p47

doi:10.1038/454047a

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Articles

Dissecting direct reprogramming through integrative genomic analysis p49

Tarjei S. Mikkelsen, Jacob Hanna, Xiaolan Zhang, Manching Ku, Marius Wernig, Patrick Schorderet, Bradley E. Bernstein, Rudolf Jaenisch, Eric S. Lander & Alexander Meissner

doi:10.1038/nature07056

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (717K) | Supplementary information

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SMAD proteins control DROSHA-mediated microRNA maturation p56

Brandi N. Davis, Aaron C. Hilyard, Giorgio Lagna & Akiko Hata

doi:10.1038/nature07086

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (931K) | Supplementary information

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Letters

Cool heliosheath plasma and deceleration of the upstream solar wind at the termination shock p63

John D. Richardson, Justin C. Kasper, Chi Wang, John W. Belcher & Alan J. Lazarus

doi:10.1038/nature07024

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Mediation of the solar wind termination shock by non-thermal ions p67

R. B. Decker, S. M. Krimigis, E. C. Roelof, M. E. Hill, T. P. Armstrong, G. Gloeckler, D. C. Hamilton & L. J. Lanzerotti

doi:10.1038/nature07030

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An asymmetric solar wind termination shock p71

Edward C. Stone, Alan C. Cummings, Frank B. McDonald, Bryant C. Heikkila, Nand Lal & William R. Webber

doi:10.1038/nature07022

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Magnetic fields at the solar wind termination shock p75

L. F. Burlaga, N. F. Ness, M. H. Acuña, R. P. Lepping, J. E. P. Connerney & J. D. Richardson

doi:10.1038/nature07029

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Intense plasma waves at and near the solar wind termination shock p78

D. A. Gurnett & W. S. Kurth

doi:10.1038/nature07023

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Domination of heliosheath pressure by shock-accelerated pickup ions from observations of neutral atoms p81

Linghua Wang, Robert P. Lin, Davin E. Larson & Janet G. Luhmann

doi:10.1038/nature07068

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (684K) | Supplementary information

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Spatial cooperativity in soft glassy flows p84

J. Goyon, A. Colin, G. Ovarlez, A. Ajdari & L. Bocquet

doi:10.1038/nature07026

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Vibrational excitation through tug-of-war inelastic collisions p88

Stuart J. Greaves, Eckart Wrede, Noah T. Goldberg, Jianyang Zhang, Daniel J. Miller & Richard N. Zare

doi:10.1038/nature07079

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (408K) | Supplementary information

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A light carbon reservoir recorded in zircon-hosted diamond from the Jack Hills p92

Alexander A. Nemchin, Martin J. Whitehouse, Martina Menneken, Thorsten Geisler, Robert T. Pidgeon & Simon A. Wilde

doi:10.1038/nature07102

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (242K) | Supplementary information

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Volcanic carbon dioxide vents show ecosystem effects of ocean acidification p96

Jason M. Hall-Spencer, Riccardo Rodolfo-Metalpa, Sophie Martin, Emma Ransome, Maoz Fine, Suzanne M. Turner, Sonia J. Rowley, Dario Tedesco & Maria-Cristina Buia

doi:10.1038/nature07051

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (551K) | Supplementary information

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Extinction risk depends strongly on factors contributing to stochasticity p100

Brett A. Melbourne & Alan Hastings

doi:10.1038/nature06922

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A myocardial lineage derives from Tbx18 epicardial cells p104

Chen-Leng Cai, Jody C. Martin, Yunfu Sun, Li Cui, Lianchun Wang, Kunfu Ouyang, Lei Yang, Lei Bu, Xingqun Liang, Xiaoxue Zhang, William B. Stallcup, Christopher P. Denton, Andrew McCulloch, Ju Chen & Sylvia M. Evans

doi:10.1038/nature06969

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Epicardial progenitors contribute to the cardiomyocyte lineage in the developing heart p109

Bin Zhou, Qing Ma, Satish Rajagopal, Sean M. Wu, Ibrahim Domian, José Rivera-Feliciano, Dawei Jiang, Alexander von Gise, Sadakatsu Ikeda, Kenneth R. Chien & William T. Pu

doi:10.1038/nature07060

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Functional asymmetry in Caenorhabditis elegans taste neurons and its computational role in chemotaxis p114

Hiroshi Suzuki, Tod R. Thiele, Serge Faumont, Marina Ezcurra, Shawn R. Lockery & William R. Schafer

doi:10.1038/nature06927

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (928K) | Supplementary information

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Formation of accumbens GluR2-lacking AMPA receptors mediates incubation of cocaine craving p118

Kelly L. Conrad, Kuei Y. Tseng, Jamie L. Uejima, Jeremy M. Reimers, Li-Jun Heng, Yavin Shaham, Michela Marinelli & Marina E. Wolf

doi:10.1038/nature06995

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (570K) | Supplementary information

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Template-directed synthesis of a genetic polymer in a model protocell p122

Sheref S. Mansy, Jason P. Schrum, Mathangi Krishnamurthy, Sylvia Tobé, Douglas A. Treco & Jack W. Szostak

doi:10.1038/nature07018

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (762K) | Supplementary information

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Induced ncRNAs allosterically modify RNA-binding proteins in cis to inhibit transcription p126

Xiangting Wang, Shigeki Arai, Xiaoyuan Song, Donna Reichart, Kun Du, Gabriel Pascual, Paul Tempst, Michael G. Rosenfeld, Christopher K. Glass & Riki Kurokawa

doi:10.1038/nature06992

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (588K) | Supplementary information

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Naturejobs

Prospects p131

Surveys on careers in academia get mixed interpretations.

Paul Smaglik

doi:10.1038/nj7200-131a

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Benefits blues p132

As much of the developed world moves to recognize same-sex relationships, gay scientists in some places are swimming against a conservative tide that limits partners' rights. Bryn Nelson reports

Bryn Nelson

doi:10.1038/nj7200-132a

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Sudhansu K. Dey, director of Division of Reproductive Sciences, Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation p134

Reproductive-sciences researcher has made it big since a tough move to the United States.

doi:10.1038/nj7200-134a

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Shock physics p134

Shock physics gets a funding jolt.

Virginia Gewin

doi:10.1038/nj7200-134b

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Getting people to talk p134

Lab meetings are great. But getting people to participate can be difficult.

Amanda Goh

doi:10.1038/nj7200-134c

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Opportunities: The National Institutes of Health

doi:10.1038/nj0218

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Futures

When Johnny comes marching home p136

Casualties of war.

Chaz Brenchley

doi:10.1038/454136a

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