Editorials

Machine-makers matter p837

Nature is pleased to name Lyn Evans, the project manager of the Large Hadron Collider, as its 2008 newsmaker of the year.

doi:10.1038/456837a

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Facilitating the future p837

Europe needs a better way to plan, prioritize and fund the next generation of research infrastructure.

doi:10.1038/456837b

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Eyes west p838

Could the United States topple Europe as the driver of international climate-change regulations?

doi:10.1038/456838a

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Research Highlights

Economics: A healthier haul p840

doi:10.1038/456840a

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Biophysics: Mob rule p840

doi:10.1038/456840b

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Neuroscience: Glia on fire p840

doi:10.1038/456840c

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Zoology: Queen Bee p840

doi:10.1038/456840d

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Nanotechnology: Super speakers p840

doi:10.1038/456840e

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Genetics: Many but rare p841

doi:10.1038/456841a

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Astrophysics: Cosmic tiara p841

doi:10.1038/456841b

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Evolution: Genetic bric-a-brac p841

doi:10.1038/456841c

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Biochemistry: Catalytic creator p841

doi:10.1038/456841d

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Organic chemistry: Tag-team catalysts p841

doi:10.1038/456841e

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Neuroscience: MRI beebop p841

doi:10.1038/456841f

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Human biology: Bird's eye view p841

doi:10.1038/456841g

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Physics: Black holes on the strand p842

doi:10.1038/456842a

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Cell biology: Bent out of shape p842

doi:10.1038/456842b

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Evolution: Yeast rewired p842

doi:10.1038/456842c

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Geology: Magma mix-up p842

doi:10.1038/456842d

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Molecular biology: Shaping up p842

doi:10.1038/456842e

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Medicine: A breath of fresh air p843

doi:10.1038/456843a

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Immunology: Successful delivery p843

doi:10.1038/456843b

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Photonics: Telescopic TV p843

doi:10.1038/456843c

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Neurobiology: The motor-neuron driver p843

doi:10.1038/456843d

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Geoscience: The speed of ice p843

doi:10.1038/456843e

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The year in Nature p843

Nature's manuscript editors made a selection of 'favourites' from the papers we published in 2008.

doi:10.1038/456xiia

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News

News 2008 p844

Climate talks defer major challenges p846

Europe agrees emissions deal p847

Nobel physicist to run energy agency p849

Imaging advances provide immune-cell breakthroughs p850

Salary for CIRM head despite deficit p851

US bioindustry calls for government bailout p852

Vatican formalizes rules on human stem-cell research p852

Michigan State wins battle to host isotope accelerator p852

US nanotechnology plan lacks risk research p853

Rift-valley countries set for geothermal power p853

Lectures gain electronic life in Egyptian library p853

News Features

2008 Gallery: Images of the year p854

Prizewinners of the year p860

Newsmaker of the year: The machine maker p862

Correspondence

You're the best man for this job, son. What a coincidence! p870

Albert Ruggi

doi:10.1038/456870a

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Online archives are revealing uncensored history of science p870

William Burns

doi:10.1038/456870b

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Finding of unusual soil on Mars could stem from tools used p870

Alberto G. Fairén

doi:10.1038/456870c

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Commentaries

Three rules for technological fixes p871

Not all problems will yield to technology. Deciding which will and which won't should be central to setting innovation policy, say Daniel Sarewitz and Richard Nelson.

doi:10.1038/456871a

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Correction p871

doi:10.1038/456872a

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Books and Arts

A wonderful life by leaps and bounds p873

Stephen Jay Gould's idea of evolution by bursts was controversial. But it gave the field of palaeontology a long-overdue boost, explains Steve Jones.

doi:10.1038/456873a

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Does genius breed success? p874

Michael Bond reviews Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

doi:10.1038/456874a

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The science communicator p875

Zaheer Baber reviews Science and Controversy: A Biography of Sir Norman Lockyer, Founder Editor of Nature by A. J. Meadows

doi:10.1038/456875a

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Looking at the face of the Earth p876

A sixteenth-century Dutch master's carefully orchestrated winter landscape may have benefited from his knowledge of geographers' techniques of the time, explains Martin Kemp.

Martin Kemp

doi:10.1038/456876a

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Essay

Being human: Migration: An engine for social change p877

The movement of people into societies that offer a better way of life is a more powerful driver of cultural evolution than conflict and conquest, say Peter J. Richerson and Robert Boyd.

Peter J. Richerson & Robert Boyd

doi:10.1038/456877a

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News and Views

Molecular biology: Spliceosome meets telomerase p879

The spliceosome is best known for shepherding primary messenger RNA transcripts to maturity. This enzyme complex also contributes to the synthesis of an enzyme that maintains chromosome ends.

Sophie Bonnal & Juan Valcárcel

doi:10.1038/456879a

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Quantum physics: Don't look now p880

Before picking up the phone and calling a technician to fix a faulty microwave oven, there are always a few simple things one should check. So far, "stop looking at it" has not been part of the checklist.

Alexei Ourjoumtsev

doi:10.1038/456880a

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Circadian clocks: Tips from the tip of the iceberg p881

Daily remodelling of histone proteins underlies interactions between circadian clock genes and metabolic genes. This regulatory mechanism could be widespread, affecting other physiological processes.

Fred W. Turek

doi:10.1038/456881a

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Organometallic chemistry: Catalyst takes control to heart p883

Some transition-metal catalysts control organic reactions so that, given a choice of two mirror-image products, only one forms. The metal atom in these catalysts has been ignored as a source of control — until now.

Steven T. Diver

doi:10.1038/456883a

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Epigenetics: How to lose a tail p885

Everyone carries some baggage they would like to lose. For the histone protein H3, that baggage is a chunk of its tail, which when clipped off affects the expression of genes with which the histone is associated.

Mary Ann Osley

doi:10.1038/456885a

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Condensed-matter physics: The eternal triangle p886

The frustration that atomic interactions can undergo is not unlike that occurring when human aims are thwarted. An elegant study offers a way of visualizing the hitherto mysterious dynamics of 'frustrated' systems.

Mark Harris

doi:10.1038/456886a

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Neuroscience: Greasy proteins of the neuron p887

An analysis of neuronal proteins reveals that many are regulated through covalent attachment of the lipid palmitate. This reversible modification seems to affect the form and function of synaptic junctions.

Maurine E. Linder

doi:10.1038/456887a

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Biogeochemistry: Nitrous oxide in flux p888

In drought conditions, forest soils can serve as a small but surprisingly persistent sink for the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. The effect highlights a research avenue necessary for predicting Earth's climate.

Sharon A. Billings

doi:10.1038/456888a

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Ralph Lewin (1921–2008) p889

doi:10.1038/456889a

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Brief Communications Arising

Snowball prevention questioned pE7

Paul F. Hoffman, John W. Crowley, David T. Johnston, David S. Jones & Daniel P. Schrag

doi:10.1038/nature07655

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Carbon cycling and snowball Earth pE8

Yves Goddéris & Yannick Donnadieu

doi:10.1038/nature07653

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Peltier & Liu reply pE9

W. R. Peltier & Yonggang Liu

doi:10.1038/nature07656

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (176K)

Review

Sensing voltage across lipid membranes p891

Kenton J. Swartz

doi:10.1038/nature07620

• PDB code

  • 1ORS
  • 2R9R

• 3D view

  • 1ORS
  • 2R9R

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (674K)

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Articles

Geometric frustration in buckled colloidal monolayers p898

Yilong Han, Yair Shokef, Ahmed M. Alsayed, Peter Yunker, Tom C. Lubensky & Arjun G. Yodh

doi:10.1038/nature07595

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (815K) | Supplementary information

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Neural palmitoyl-proteomics reveals dynamic synaptic palmitoylation p904

Rujun Kang, Junmei Wan, Pamela Arstikaitis, Hideto Takahashi, Kun Huang, Aaron O. Bailey, James X. Thompson, Amy F. Roth, Renaldo C. Drisdel, Ryan Mastro, William N. Green, John R. Yates III, Nicholas G. Davis & Alaa El-Husseini

doi:10.1038/nature07605

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (276K) | Supplementary information

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Spliceosomal cleavage generates the 3' end of telomerase RNA p910

Jessica A. Box, Jeremy T. Bunch, Wen Tang & Peter Baumann

doi:10.1038/nature07584

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (255K) | Supplementary information

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SUMOylation regulates Rad18-mediated template switch p915

Dana Branzei, Fabio Vanoli & Marco Foiani

doi:10.1038/nature07587

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (622K) | Supplementary information

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Structure of an argonaute silencing complex with a seed-containing guide DNA and target RNA duplex p921

Yanli Wang, Stefan Juranek, Haitao Li, Gang Sheng, Thomas Tuschl & Dinshaw J. Patel

doi:10.1038/nature07666

• PDB code

  • 3F73

• 3D view

  • 3F73

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,087K) | Supplementary information

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Letters

A gravitationally lensed water maser in the early Universe p927

C. M. Violette Impellizzeri, John P. McKean, Paola Castangia, Alan L. Roy, Christian Henkel, Andreas Brunthaler & Olaf Wucknitz

doi:10.1038/nature07544

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Unconventional superconductivity in Ba_0.6K_0.4Fe₂As₂ from inelastic neutron scattering p930

A. D. Christianson, E. A. Goremychkin, R. Osborn, S. Rosenkranz, M. D. Lumsden, C. D. Malliakas, I. S. Todorov, H. Claus, D. Y. Chung, M. G. Kanatzidis, R. I. Bewley & T. Guidi

doi:10.1038/nature07625

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Highly efficient molybdenum-based catalysts for enantioselective alkene metathesis p933

Steven J. Malcolmson, Simon J. Meek, Elizabeth S. Sattely, Richard R. Schrock & Amir H. Hoveyda

doi:10.1038/nature07594

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How supercontinents and superoceans affect seafloor roughness p938

Joanne M. Whittaker, R. Dietmar Müller, Walter R. Roest, Paul Wessel & Walter H. F. Smith

doi:10.1038/nature07573

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Parallel adaptations to high temperatures in the Archaean eon p942

Bastien Boussau, Samuel Blanquart, Anamaria Necsulea, Nicolas Lartillot & Manolo Gouy

doi:10.1038/nature07393

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Successful range-expanding plants experience less above-ground and below-ground enemy impact p946

Tim Engelkes, Elly Morriën, Koen J. F. Verhoeven, T. Martijn Bezemer, Arjen Biere, Jeffrey A. Harvey, Lauren M. McIntyre, Wil L. M. Tamis & Wim H. van der Putten

doi:10.1038/nature07474

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Low conservation of gene content in the Drosophila Y chromosome p949

Leonardo B. Koerich, Xiaoyun Wang, Andrew G. Clark & Antonio Bernardo Carvalho

doi:10.1038/nature07463

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Experience with moving visual stimuli drives the early development of cortical direction selectivity p952

Ye Li, Stephen D. Van Hooser, Mark Mazurek, Leonard E. White & David Fitzpatrick

doi:10.1038/nature07417

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Contact inhibition of locomotion in vivo controls neural crest directional migration p957

Carlos Carmona-Fontaine, Helen K. Matthews, Sei Kuriyama, Mauricio Moreno, Graham A. Dunn, Maddy Parsons, Claudio D. Stern & Roberto Mayor

doi:10.1038/nature07441

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Generation of cell polarity in plants links endocytosis, auxin distribution and cell fate decisions p962

Pankaj Dhonukshe, Hirokazu Tanaka, Tatsuaki Goh, Kazuo Ebine, Ari Pekka Mähönen, Kalika Prasad, Ikram Blilou, Niko Geldner, Jian Xu, Tomohiro Uemura, Joanne Chory, Takashi Ueda, Akihiko Nakano, Ben Scheres & Jií Friml

doi:10.1038/nature07409

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G protein G_i functions immediately downstream of Smoothened in Hedgehog signalling p967

Stacey K. Ogden, Dennis Liang Fei, Neal S. Schilling, Yashi F. Ahmed, John Hwa & David J. Robbins

doi:10.1038/nature07459

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Suppression of Myc oncogenic activity by ribosomal protein haploinsufficiency p971

Maria Barna, Aya Pusic, Ornella Zollo, Maria Costa, Nadya Kondrashov, Eduardo Rego, Pulivarthi H. Rao & Davide Ruggero

doi:10.1038/nature07449

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A structural explanation for the binding of endocytic dileucine motifs by the AP2 complex p976

Bernard T. Kelly, Airlie J. McCoy, Kira Späte, Sharon E. Miller, Philip R. Evans, Stefan Höning & David J. Owen

doi:10.1038/nature07422

• PDB code

  • 2jkr
  • 2jkt

• 3D view

  • 2jkr
  • 2jkt

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (727K) | Supplementary information

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MicroRNA-21 contributes to myocardial disease by stimulating MAP kinase signalling in fibroblasts p980

Thomas Thum, Carina Gross, Jan Fiedler, Thomas Fischer, Stephan Kissler, Markus Bussen, Paolo Galuppo, Steffen Just, Wolfgang Rottbauer, Stefan Frantz, Mirco Castoldi, Jürgen Soutschek, Victor Koteliansky, Andreas Rosenwald, M. Albert Basson, Jonathan D. Licht, John T. R. Pena, Sara H. Rouhanifard, Martina U. Muckenthaler, Thomas Tuschl, Gail R. Martin, Johann Bauersachs & Stefan Engelhardt

doi:10.1038/nature07511

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X-ray structure of NS1 from a highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza virus p985

Zachary A. Bornholdt & B. V. Venkataram Prasad

doi:10.1038/nature07444

• PDB code

  • 3EU6

• 3D view

  • 3EU6

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (733K) | Supplementary information

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Structural recognition and functional activation of FcR by innate pentraxins p989

Jinghua Lu, Lorraine L. Marnell, Kristopher D. Marjon, Carolyn Mold, Terry W. Du Clos & Peter D. Sun

doi:10.1038/nature07468

• PDB code

  • 3D5O

• 3D view

  • 3D5O

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (580K) | Supplementary information

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Endonucleolytic RNA cleavage by a eukaryotic exosome p993

Alice Lebreton, Rafal Tomecki, Andrzej Dziembowski & Bertrand Séraphin

doi:10.1038/nature07480

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Nuclear receptor corepressor and histone deacetylase 3 govern circadian metabolic physiology p997

Theresa Alenghat, Katherine Meyers, Shannon E. Mullican, Kirstin Leitner, Adetoun Adeniji-Adele, Jacqueline Avila, Maja Buan, Rexford S. Ahima, Klaus H. Kaestner & Mitchell A. Lazar

doi:10.1038/nature07541

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Conformational changes in an ultrafast light-driven enzyme determine catalytic activity p1001

Olga A. Sytina, Derren J. Heyes, C. Neil Hunter, Maxime T. Alexandre, Ivo H. M. van Stokkum, Rienk van Grondelle & Marie Louise Groot

doi:10.1038/nature07354

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Naturejobs

Visa quotas could soon be relaxed in the United States and Europe. But will the economic downturn mitigate the potentially positive effects? p1005

Paul Smaglik

doi:10.1038/nj7224-1005a

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Opportunities: The National Institutes of Health

doi:10.1038/nj0241

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Futures

Harnessing the brane-deer p1007

It's a constant worry.

Robert Billing

doi:10.1038/4561007a

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