Table of contents
Volume 454 Number 7203 pp367-550
(this content only available online) indicates content that is available online only
Editorials
China: China's challenges p367
By almost every measure, China's growth is extraordinary. But behind the astonishing statistics is a more complex reality.
doi:10.1038/454367a
Mind the gaps p368
The incoming US administration can and should reverse the neglect of Earth observations.
doi:10.1038/454368a
Research Highlights
Zoology: Bird's-nose view p370
doi:10.1038/454370a
Physics: Parting a cloud p370
doi:10.1038/454370b
Acoustics: Chuckle vision p370
doi:10.1038/454370c
Plant sciences: Poisonous grains p370
doi:10.1038/454370d
Physics: Gravity up close p370
doi:10.1038/454370e
Neuroscience: Location, location, location p371
doi:10.1038/454371a
Astronomy: Bright origins p371
doi:10.1038/454371b
Infectious disease: DARC matters p371
doi:10.1038/454371c
Chemistry: Easy bonding p371
doi:10.1038/454371d
Molecular biology: WHAMM! p371
doi:10.1038/454371e
Genetics: DNA potholes p371
doi:10.1038/454371f
News
Oil cost hits ship studies p372
International Polar Year is feeling the pinch.
Quirin Schiermeier
doi:10.1038/454372a
Spinal cord revealed in free gene map p373
Allen Institute for Brain Science releases first data set.
Meredith Wadman
doi:10.1038/454373a
Think tank reveals plan to manage tropical forests p373
Novel way to use carbon credits to save trees.
Jeff Tollefson
doi:10.1038/454373b
China: Where have all the flowers gone? p374
At least 117 boys were being born for every 100 girls at the beginning of this century in China.
Phillip Ball
doi:10.1038/454374a
Snapshot: Track record p377
Chinese scientist takes turn with Olympic torch.
David Cyranoski
doi:10.1038/454377a
Affymetrix in new patents row p377
MIT files suit over GeneChip technology.
Heidi Ledford
doi:10.1038/454377b
Coral isotopes show quake history p378
Eric Hand
doi:10.1038/454378a
Fusion verdict: misconduct p379
Eugenie Samuel Reich
doi:10.1038/454379a
Sidelines p379
doi:10.1038/454379b
Roche bids for remaining Genentech stake p381
doi:10.1038/454381a
German public–private partnership breaks ground p381
doi:10.1038/454381b
Clinical trialists less likely to seek grant renewals p381
doi:10.1038/454381c
Google Books expands its non-English resources p381
doi:10.1038/454381d
US Senate approves $48 billion global AIDS funding p381
doi:10.1038/454381e
Ontario acts to protect its boreal forests p381
doi:10.1038/454381f
News Features
China: The great contender p382
Chin'as performance has been remarkable in any number of fields. Declan Butler charts the country's scientific and economic growth.
doi:10.1038/454382a
China: Visions of China p384
Can the Chinese government meet its ambitious targets on space, the environment, research, energy and health? David Cyranoski takes a look at China today and what it hopes to be tomorrow.
doi:10.1038/454384a
China: Stoking the fire p388
China burns more coal than any other country; how it does so in the future will determine our planet's climate. Jeff Tollefson reports from Beijing.
Jeff Tollefson
doi:10.1038/454388a
China: The third pole p393
Climate change is coming fast and furious to the Tibetan plateau. Jane Qiu reports on the changes atop the roof of the world.
doi:10.1038/454393a
Correspondence
China's move to higher-meat diet hits water security p397
Junguo Liu, Hong Yang & H. H. G. Savenije
doi:10.1038/454397a
In the wake of two retractions, a request for investigation p397
Homme W. Hellinga
doi:10.1038/454397b
Fusion needs a realistic cost assessment p397
J. H. Evans
doi:10.1038/454397c
Fewer academics are not the answer to funding woes p397
Philip Strange
doi:10.1038/454397d
Commentaries
China: The prizes and pitfalls of progress p398
Pushes to globalize science must not threaten local innovations in developing countries, argues Lan Xue.
doi:10.1038/454398a
China: In their words p399
Researchers and businesspeople in China, expatriates and 'returnees' give their views of what it will take to make China a research and innovation powerhouse.
doi:10.1038/454399a
Books and Arts
China: How one child was deemed enough p403
Scientific policy-making in China has come a long way since the 1970s, argue Ling Chen and Gang Zhang.
Ling Chen & Gang Zhang review Just One Child: Science and Policy in Deng's China by Susan Greenhalgh
doi:10.1038/454403a
China: A museum in every district p404
Jane Qiu
doi:10.1038/454404a
China: A shared view of the heavens p405
A woodcut of Ferdinand Verbiest, the Kangxi Emperor's Flemish astronomer and mastermind of Beijing's Ancient Observatory, records a remarkable seventeenth-century cultural exchange. Martin Kemp explains.
Martin Kemp
doi:10.1038/454405a
Core caper p406
Emma Marris reviews Journey to the Center of the Earth
doi:10.1038/454406a
Geological history turned upside down p406
Victor R. Baker reviews Worlds Before Adam: The Reconstruction of Geohistory in the Age of Reform by Martin J. S. Rudwick
doi:10.1038/454406b
Romance among robots p407
Andrew H. Knoll reviews WALL
E
doi:10.1038/454407a
Doctorate gets a lesson in management p408
John Kirkland reviews Toward a Global PhD? Forces and Forms in Doctoral Education Worldwide by Maresi Nerad & Mimi Heggelund
doi:10.1038/454408a
See also: Editor's summary
Essays
China: The man who unveiled China p409
An English biochemist single-handedly changed the West's perception of China, revealing its past scientific glories and predicting more to come. Simon Winchester investigates the ongoing legacy of Joseph Needham.
Simon Winchester
doi:10.1038/454409a
See also: Editor's summary
China: The end of the science superpowers p412
Could the end of US world dominance over research mark the passing of national science giants, ask J. Rogers Hollingsworth, Karl H. Müller and Ellen Jane Hollingsworth.
J. Rogers Hollingsworth, Karl H. Müller & Ellen Jane Hollingsworth
doi:10.1038/454412a
News and Views
Environmental science: Poisoned waters traced to source p415
South Asia's well-water is widely polluted with arsenic, but no one has located the source. A study on the Mekong River finds that contamination begins in pond sediments, and is spread by groundwater flow to wells.
Charles F. Harvey
doi:10.1038/454415a
See also: Editor's summary
Physiology: Myoglobin's new clothes p416
Nitric oxide generated from the nitrite ion limits the tissue damage caused by restricted blood flow. Gene knockout experiments in mice now reveal that myoglobin is the mediator of this effect.
Andrew Cossins & Michael Berenbrink
doi:10.1038/454416a
Molecular computing: A layer of logic p417
Silicon chips have thousands of electronic logic gates etched on them. But there are other ways to decorate monolithic surfaces with logic gates, as a system using metal complexes secured to glass slides shows.
A. Prasanna de Silva
doi:10.1038/454417a
Alzheimer's disease: Moving towards a vaccine p418
An agent that clears disease-associated amyloid aggregates from the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease does not alleviate disease progression. Yet this disappointing news should not rule out such potential therapies.
David M. Holtzman
doi:10.1038/454418a
50 & 100 Years Ago p419
doi:10.1038/454419a
Materials science: A tale of two tilings p420
What do you get when you cross a crystal with a quasicrystal? The answer is a structure that links the ancient tiles of Archimedes, the iconic Fibonacci sequence of numbers and a book from the seventeenth century.
Sharon C. Glotzer & Aaron S. Keys
doi:10.1038/454420a
See also: Editor's summary
Genomics: Thoroughly modern meiosis p421
Meiotic recombination shuffles the genome, so each generation inherits a new combination of parental traits. Combining traditional and modern approaches, new work pinpoints where recombination occurs genome-wide.
Michael Lichten
doi:10.1038/454421a
See also: Editor's summary
Ecology: Forest air conditioning p422
During the growing season, with photosynthesis at its peak, leaf temperatures remain constant over a wide latitudinal range. This is a finding that overturns a common assumption and has various ramifications.
F. I. Woodward
doi:10.1038/454422a
Horizons
Life, logic and information p424
Focusing on information flow will help us to understand better how cells and organisms work.
Paul Nurse
doi:10.1038/454424a
See also: Editor's summary
Insight: Inflammation -
Insight: Inflammation
Inflammation p427
Ursula Weiss
doi:10.1038/454427a
Origin and physiological roles of inflammation p428
Ruslan Medzhitov
doi:10.1038/nature07201
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (368K)
Cancer-related inflammation p436
Alberto Mantovani, Paola Allavena, Antonio Sica & Frances Balkwill
doi:10.1038/nature07205
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (967K)
The development of allergic inflammation p445
Stephen J. Galli, Mindy Tsai & Adrian M. Piliponsky
doi:10.1038/nature07204
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (2,846K)
From endoplasmic-reticulum stress to the inflammatory response p455
Kezhong Zhang & Randal J. Kaufman
doi:10.1038/nature07203
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,316K)
The role of exercise and PGC1
in inflammation and chronic disease p463
Christoph Handschin & Bruce M. Spiegelman
doi:10.1038/nature07206
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,054K)
Integration of metabolism and inflammation by lipid-activated nuclear receptors p470
Steven J. Bensinger & Peter Tontonoz
doi:10.1038/nature07202
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (483K)
Articles
High-resolution mapping of meiotic crossovers and non-crossovers in yeast p479
Eugenio Mancera, Richard Bourgon, Alessandro Brozzi, Wolfgang Huber & Lars M. Steinmetz
doi:10.1038/nature07135
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (671K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Lichten
Structure of a 
1-adrenergic G-protein-coupled receptor p486
Tony Warne, Maria J. Serrano-Vega, Jillian G. Baker, Rouslan Moukhametzianov, Patricia C. Edwards, Richard Henderson, Andrew G. W. Leslie, Christopher G. Tate & Gebhard F. X. Schertler
doi:10.1038/nature07101
PDB code
3D view
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (997K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Letters
The characteristic blue spectra of accretion disks in quasars as uncovered in the infrared p492
Makoto Kishimoto, Robert Antonucci, Omer Blaes, Andy Lawrence, Catherine Boisson, Marcus Albrecht & Christian Leipski
doi:10.1038/nature07114
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (448K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Medium-scale carbon nanotube thin-film integrated circuits on flexible plastic substrates p495
Qing Cao, Hoon-sik Kim, Ninad Pimparkar, Jaydeep P. Kulkarni, Congjun Wang, Moonsub Shim, Kaushik Roy, Muhammad A. Alam & John A. Rogers
doi:10.1038/nature07110
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (854K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Archimedean-like tiling on decagonal quasicrystalline surfaces p501
Jules Mikhael, Johannes Roth, Laurent Helden & Clemens Bechinger
doi:10.1038/nature07074
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (939K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Glotzer & Keys
Near-surface wetland sediments as a source of arsenic release to ground water in Asia p505
Matthew L. Polizzotto, Benjamin D. Kocar, Shawn G. Benner, Michael Sampson & Scott Fendorf
doi:10.1038/nature07093
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (598K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Stress changes from the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and increased hazard in the Sichuan basin p509
Tom Parsons, Chen Ji & Eric Kirby
doi:10.1038/nature07177
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (437K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Subtropical to boreal convergence of tree-leaf temperatures p511
Brent R. Helliker & Suzanna L. Richter
doi:10.1038/nature07031
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (341K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Woodward
Ecosystem energetic implications of parasite and free-living biomass in three estuaries p515
Armand M. Kuris, Ryan F. Hechinger, Jenny C. Shaw, Kathleen L. Whitney, Leopoldina Aguirre-Macedo, Charlie A. Boch, Andrew P. Dobson, Eleca J. Dunham, Brian L. Fredensborg, Todd C. Huspeni, Julio Lorda, Luzviminda Mababa, Frank T. Mancini, Adrienne B. Mora, Maria Pickering, Nadia L. Talhouk, Mark E. Torchin & Kevin D. Lafferty
doi:10.1038/nature06970
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (235K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Evidence for the evolutionary nascence of a novel sex determination pathway in honeybees p519
Martin Hasselmann, Tanja Gempe, Morten Schiøtt, Carlos Gustavo Nunes-Silva, Marianne Otte & Martin Beye
doi:10.1038/nature07052
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (373K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Innate immunity induced by composition-dependent RIG-I recognition of hepatitis C virus RNA p523
Takeshi Saito, David M. Owen, Fuguo Jiang, Joseph Marcotrigiano & Michael Gale Jr.
doi:10.1038/nature07106
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (762K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Imbalance between pSmad3 and Notch induces CDK inhibitors in old muscle stem cells p528
Morgan E. Carlson, Michael Hsu & Irina M. Conboy
doi:10.1038/nature07034
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,461K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Switch of rhodopsin expression in terminally differentiated Drosophila sensory neurons p533
Simon G. Sprecher & Claude Desplan
doi:10.1038/nature07062
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (968K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Oligomerization of STIM1 couples ER calcium depletion to CRAC channel activation p538
Riina M. Luik, Bin Wang, Murali Prakriya, Minnie M. Wu & Richard S. Lewis
doi:10.1038/nature07065
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (655K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATM orthologue suppresses break-induced chromosome translocations p543
Kihoon Lee, Yu Zhang & Sang Eun Lee
doi:10.1038/nature07054
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (348K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Naturejobs
ProspectProspects p547
National Academies panel endorses professional master's degree.
Gene Russo
doi:10.1038/nj7203-547a
Career View
Brent Reynolds, director of the Adult Stem Cell Engineering and Therapeutic Core, McKnight Brain Center, University of Florida, Gainesville p548
Stem-cell scientist embraces Eastern philosophy — and a return to science.
Paul Smaglik
doi:10.1038/nj7203-548a
Vitae for postgraduate development p548
New organization pledges to fight for postgraduate student issues in Britain.
Virginia Gewin
doi:10.1038/nj7203-548b
An unwelcome intrusion p548
It's not the workload that worries me, it's the reverse culture shock.
Aliza le Roux
doi:10.1038/nj7203-548c