Table of contents
Volume 457 Number 7230 pp635-754
(this content only available online) indicates content that is available online only
Editorials
A crisis of confidence p635
With a surfeit of graduates for the available funds, the US scientific endeavour is increasingly losing its lustre as a career choice. The country needs to take stock and plan more carefully for the future.
doi:10.1038/457635a
Against vicious activism p636
The US authorities need to strengthen their position on the use of animals in experiments.
doi:10.1038/457636a
No time for rhetoric p636
Nicolas Sarkozy must engage with French researchers if his much-needed science reforms are to succeed.
doi:10.1038/457636b
Research Highlights
Molecular biology: Industrial complex p638
doi:10.1038/457638a
Materials science: Graphene gets a fresh look p638
doi:10.1038/457638b
Physiology: Fake fingerprints p638
doi:10.1038/457638c
Microbiology: Community assistance p638
doi:10.1038/457638d
Chemical biology: Casting iron p638
doi:10.1038/457638e
Atmospheric physics: Particulate power p638
doi:10.1038/457638f
Molecular biology: RNA repair p639
doi:10.1038/457639a
Nanotechnology: The fine print p639
doi:10.1038/457639b
Biology: Stench sense p639
doi:10.1038/457639c
Chemistry: Membranous mopping p639
doi:10.1038/457639d
News
India's drug problem p640
Chemists show how waste-water contamination affects ecosystem.
Naomi Lubick
doi:10.1038/457640a
French scientists revolt against government reforms p640
Strike threatens to undermine Sarkozy's overhaul of universities.
Declan Butler
doi:10.1038/457640b
The lure of the lab p642
Recession boosts applications to US graduate programmes.
Richard Monastersky
doi:10.1038/457642a
Hybrid embryos fail to live up to stem-cell hopes p642
Strategy for creating pluripotent cells called into question.
Heidi Ledford
doi:10.1038/457642b
'Experiments of concern' to be vetted online p643
Expert panel to offer advice on science with bioterror applications.
Erika Check Hayden
doi:10.1038/457643a
Neanderthal genome to be unveiled p645
Draft sequence opens window on human relatives.
Rex Dalton
doi:10.1038/457645a
Graphic detail: Venture capital avoids bloodbath p645
Cleantech boom defies downturn.
Heidi Ledford
doi:10.1038/457645b
Cash concerns for Canadian scientists p646
Could programme cuts prompt a brain drain?
Hannah Hoag
doi:10.1038/457646a
Tighter nanotech regulations touted p647
Canada clamps down on nanomaterials.
Katharine Sanderson
doi:10.1038/457647a
Roche launches hostile bid for Genentech shares p648
doi:10.1038/457648a
Ebola virus hits more pig farmers in the Philippines p648
doi:10.1038/457648b
Austrian scientists rattled by threat to funding p648
doi:10.1038/457648c
World's largest telescope under construction p648
doi:10.1038/457648d
New York tops US technology-transfer league p648
doi:10.1038/457648e
Refitted drilling ship sets sail p648
doi:10.1038/457648f
Correction p648
doi:10.1038/457648g
Column
Beware politicians bearing gifts p649
The windfall for research in the proposed US stimulus package could backfire if not handled properly, warns David Goldston.
David Goldston
doi:10.1038/457649a
News Feature
Research funding: Closing arguments p650
The battle to keep a lab funded can be long and painful. Meredith Wadman meets two researchers who may be close to hanging up their coats.
doi:10.1038/457650a
Correspondence
Arizona's big city lights are damaging astronomy p657
Robert L. Millis
doi:10.1038/457657a
It should be possible to replace animals in research p657
Bill Crum
doi:10.1038/457657b
Guarding Hubble telescope's future for posterity p657
Paul L. Schwartz
doi:10.1038/457657c
Benefits of stemming bovine TB need to be demonstrated p657
Paul Torgerson & David Torgerson
doi:10.1038/457657d
Commentary
Not honouring the code p658
Countries are not complying with the UN Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. It's time some changes were made, say Tony Pitcher, Daniela Kalikoski, Ganapathiraju Pramod and Katherine Short.
doi:10.1038/457658a
Essay
Being Human: Engineering: Worldwide ebb p660
In the last in our series on being human, Melanie Moses gets to grips with humanity's greatest challenge: how to reduce the demand for energy in increasingly complex, networked and energy-dependent societies.
Melanie Moses
doi:10.1038/457660a
Books and Arts
Morals and manners in modern science p662
Today's research enterprise is often portrayed as impersonal and calculating, but a historical examination argues that scientists' civility to each other is what holds the venture together. Jerome Ravetz explains.
Jerome Ravetz reviews The Scientific Life: A Moral History of a Late Modern Vocation by Steven Shapin
doi:10.1038/457662a
Natural selection and the nation p663
Andrew F. Read reviews Banquet at Delmonico's: Great Minds, the Gilded Age, and the Triumph of Evolution in America by Barry Werth
doi:10.1038/457663a
Portraying the embryo p664
Alison Abbott reviews Making Visible Embryos by Tatjana Buklijas & Nick Hopwood
doi:10.1038/457664a
More than skin deep p665
From patriotism to martyrdom to surgery, Andrew Krasnow's American flag made from human skin reveals many layers of what it is to be human, finds Martin Kemp.
Martin Kemp reviews Flag from Flag Poll by Andrew Krasnow
doi:10.1038/457665a
News and Views
Solid-state physics: Electrons in the fast lane p667
Organic semiconductors that operate through the conduction of positive charges are the first choice for use in printable electronic circuitry. A device that uses electrons instead has just joined the rankings.
Henning Sirringhaus
doi:10.1038/457667a
See also: Editor's summary
Cell biology: How to combat stress p668
Life is full of stress, and all life forms — from bacteria to humans — have evolved ways of sensing and responding to it. The latest findings shed light on how cells deal with stress.
Christopher V. Nicchitta
doi:10.1038/457668a
See also: Editor's summary
Climate change: Snakes tell a torrid tale p669
The discovery in Colombia of a giant species of fossil snake is news in itself. But a wider, more controversial inference to be drawn is that tropical climate in the past was not buffered from global warming.
Matthew Huber
doi:10.1038/457669a
See also: Editor's summary
Quantum optics: A shift on a chip p671
The Lamb shift, a minute change in certain energy levels of quantum systems that was first measured in atomic hydrogen some 60 years ago, has now been observed in a solid-state superconducting system.
Douglas H. Bradshaw & Peter W. Milonni
doi:10.1038/457671a
Biogeochemistry: Early animals out in the cold p672
The enduring controversy about the appearance of animals in the evolutionary record takes a fresh twist with an analysis of molecular fossils that places the rise of the sponge lineage before 635 million years ago.
Jochen J. Brocks & Nicholas J. Butterfield
doi:10.1038/457672a
See also: Editor's summary
Computational chemistry: Dances with hydrogen cations p673
Life depends on the flow of hydrogen cations in water, yet their dynamic behaviour when in complex with water molecules is unknown. The latest computer simulations cast light on the jiggling of these hydrated ions.
Sotiris S. Xantheas
doi:10.1038/457673a
News and Views Q&A
Neuroscience: Glia — more than just brain glue p675
Glia make up most of the cells in the brain, yet until recently they were believed to have only a passive, supporting role. It is now becoming increasingly clear that these cells have other functions: they make crucial contributions to the formation, operation and adaptation of neural circuitry.
Nicola J. Allen & Ben A. Barres
doi:10.1038/457675a
Articles
A high-mobility electron-transporting polymer for printed transistors p679
He Yan, Zhihua Chen, Yan Zheng, Christopher Newman, Jordan R. Quinn, Florian Dötz, Marcel Kastler & Antonio Facchetti
doi:10.1038/nature07727
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (722K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Sirringhaus
The unfolded protein response signals through high-order assembly of Ire1 p687
Alexei V. Korennykh, Pascal F. Egea, Andrei A. Korostelev, Janet Finer-Moore, Chao Zhang, Kevan M. Shokat, Robert M. Stroud & Peter Walter
doi:10.1038/nature07661
PDB code
3D view
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,225K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Nicchitta
Visualization of a missing link in retrovirus capsid assembly p694
Giovanni Cardone, John G. Purdy, Naiqian Cheng, Rebecca C. Craven & Alasdair C. Steven
doi:10.1038/nature07724
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,798K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Letters
A kiloparsec-scale hyper-starburst in a quasar host less than 1 gigayear after the Big Bang p699
Fabian Walter, Dominik Riechers, Pierre Cox, Roberto Neri, Chris Carilli, Frank Bertoldi, Axel Weiss & Roberto Maiolino
doi:10.1038/nature07681
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (264K)
See also: Editor's summary
Spin state tomography of optically injected electrons in a semiconductor p702
Hideo Kosaka, Takahiro Inagaki, Yoshiaki Rikitake, Hiroshi Imamura, Yasuyoshi Mitsumori & Keiichi Edamatsu
doi:10.1038/nature07729
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (2,214K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Large-scale pattern growth of graphene films for stretchable transparent electrodes p706
Keun Soo Kim, Yue Zhao, Houk Jang, Sang Yoon Lee, Jong Min Kim, Kwang S. Kim, Jong-Hyun Ahn, Philip Kim, Jae-Young Choi & Byung Hee Hong
doi:10.1038/nature07719
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,012K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Holocene oscillations in temperature and salinity of the surface subpolar North Atlantic p711
David J. R. Thornalley, Harry Elderfield & I. Nick McCave
doi:10.1038/nature07717
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (502K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Giant boid snake from the Palaeocene neotropics reveals hotter past equatorial temperatures p715
Jason J. Head, Jonathan I. Bloch, Alexander K. Hastings, Jason R. Bourque, Edwin A. Cadena, Fabiany A. Herrera, P. David Polly & Carlos A. Jaramillo
doi:10.1038/nature07671
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (472K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Huber
Fossil steroids record the appearance of Demospongiae during the Cryogenian period p718
Gordon D. Love, Emmanuelle Grosjean, Charlotte Stalvies, David A. Fike, John P. Grotzinger, Alexander S. Bradley, Amy E. Kelly, Maya Bhatia, William Meredith, Colin E. Snape, Samuel A. Bowring, Daniel J. Condon & Roger E. Summons
doi:10.1038/nature07673
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (356K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Brocks & Butterfield
A human natural killer cell subset provides an innate source of IL-22 for mucosal immunity p722
Marina Cella, Anja Fuchs, William Vermi, Fabio Facchetti, Karel Otero, Jochen K. M. Lennerz, Jason M. Doherty, Jason C. Mills & Marco Colonna
doi:10.1038/nature07537
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (640K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Signalling through RHEB-1 mediates intermittent fasting-induced longevity in C. elegans p726
Sakiko Honjoh, Takuya Yamamoto, Masaharu Uno & Eisuke Nishida
doi:10.1038/nature07583
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (436K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Chlamydia causes fragmentation of the Golgi compartment to ensure reproduction p731
Dagmar Heuer, Anette Rejman Lipinski, Nikolaus Machuy, Alexander Karlas, Andrea Wehrens, Frank Siedler, Volker Brinkmann & Thomas F. Meyer
doi:10.1038/nature07578
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,526K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Messenger RNA targeting to endoplasmic reticulum stress signalling sites p736
Tomás Aragón, Eelco van Anken, David Pincus, Iana M. Serafimova, Alexei V. Korennykh, Claudia A. Rubio & Peter Walter
doi:10.1038/nature07641
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,201K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Nicchitta
Peptide neurotransmitters activate a cation channel complex of NALCN and UNC-80 p741
Boxun Lu, Yanhua Su, Sudipto Das, Haikun Wang, Yan Wang, Jin Liu & Dejian Ren
doi:10.1038/nature07579
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (453K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Counting RAD51 proteins disassembling from nucleoprotein filaments under tension p745
Joost van Mameren, Mauro Modesti, Roland Kanaar, Claire Wyman, Erwin J. G. Peterman & Gijs J. L. Wuite
doi:10.1038/nature07581
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (408K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Naturejobs
ProspectsHope in the recession p749
Could the financial downturn be a window of opportunity for scientists?
Gene Russo
doi:10.1038/nj7230-749a
Postdocs and Students
Salaries in the balance p750
Postdoc salaries vary widely at every level, from countries down to individual teams.
Paul Smaglik
doi:10.1038/nj7230-750a
Career View
Thomas Henzinger, president, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Klosterneuburg, Austria p752
Computer scientist takes the helm at new Austrian science and technology institute.
Karen Kaplan
doi:10.1038/nj7230-752a
Scientists without borders p752
Study warns that current visa and export policies hamper growth in science jobs.
Karen Kaplan
doi:10.1038/nj7230-752b
Life's bitter-sweet symphony p752
Finding harmony as a postdoc and a father.
Bryan Venters
doi:10.1038/nj7230-752c
