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In 1969—a few years after unearthing the first Velociraptor fossil—John Ostrom speculated that theropod dinosaurs used their tails as dynamic stabilizers during active or irregular movements. A study combining computer modelling, video observation of leaping agama lizards (Agama agama) and the construction of a robot with a lizard-like tail provides support for Ostroms hypothesis. The results (see videos in Supplementary Information) show that, using sensory feedback, active tails can stabilize body attitude mid-air by transferring angular momentum from body to tail. The inertia of swinging appendages has also been invoked as a stabilizing factor in primates and other animals, so these findings are relevant to our understanding of appendage evolution in general. They may also provide biological inspiration for the design of highly manoeuvrable search-and-rescue robots using tails. Cover: A. agama leaping to a vertical surface from a low-friction vault.
A refreshingly frank and forward-looking report on the safety of French nuclear power plants in the wake of Fukushima should spur other countries to take a hard look at regulation of their own reactors.
The week in science: China cracks down on stem-cell clinics; United States restricts use of antibiotics in farm animals; and a sequencing machine promises US$1,000 genome.
A summit meeting of heads of government is needed to strengthen global ambition on climate change — we should start preparing now, says Michael Jacobs.
The future of the International Whaling Commission is tenuous. A 'whale conservation market' might rescue it, say Christopher Costello, Leah R. Gerber and Steven Gaines.
Swiss acoustic artist Robin Meier manipulates the sounds of insects and birds to create ethereal soundscapes. As his mosquito-inspired musical installation Truce is aired in the French city of Nantes, he talks about firefly synchrony and setting up feedback loops in nature.
Tightrope walkers use poles to keep their balance. A study reveals that agama lizards use their tails much like balancing poles as they leap through the air — and that some dinosaurs may have done the same. See Letter p.181
A study of the remains of a type Ia supernova whose light swept past Earth about 400 years ago finds no sign of a companion star. The result indicates that the supernova's progenitor was a pair of white dwarfs. See Letter p.164
Mutations in the maternal copy of the UBE3A gene cause a neurodevelopmental disorder known as Angelman syndrome. Drugs that activate the normally silenced paternal copy of this gene may be of therapeutic value. See Letter p.185
Three-dimensional nanowire-like electronic devices are gaining ground over conventional planar technology. They may be the means to improve the performance of the electronic circuitry of the future.
Multi-scale modelling of the deformation of magnesium oxide reveals the need for a re-examination of the way in which laboratory data are used to estimate the strength of Earth's lower mantle. See Letter p.177
Paper wasps of the species Polistes fuscatus live in strict hierarchical societies in which the ability to identify superiors and subordinates is crucial. Like humans, these insects have a cognitive tool kit for recognizing familiar faces.
This work shows that treatments used for acute myeloid leukaemia and targeted therapies could be used for early T-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
The central region of the supernova remnant SNR 0509−67.5 in the Large Magellanic Cloud is shown to contain no ex-companion star, which suggests it was formed by an explosion resulting from the merger of two white dwarf stars.
A statistical analysis of microlensing data from 2002–07 reveals that stars in the Milky Way are orbited by planets as a rule, rather than an exception.
Use of a three-level system allows the Toffoli gate, an important primitive for quantum error correction schemes, to be implemented with many fewer elementary gates than was previously thought possible.
X-ray diffraction is used to show that the structural distortion of magnetite below 125 kelvin is to a first approximation caused by charge ordering of its constituent iron ions, but that the localized electrons are distributed over three iron sites to form ‘trimeron’ quasiparticles.
Numerical modelling of the rheology of MgO at the pressure, temperature and strain rates of Earth's mantle shows that extremely low strain rates counteract the influence of pressure, so that MgO is generally a very weak phase in the mantle.
Comparison of real lizards with a robotic version and a dinosaur model shows that lizards use their tails to control body pitch in aerial motion by means of transfer of angular momentum from the body to the tail.
The microRNA miR-126 suppresses the formation of breast cancer metastases via the suppression of several novel pro-angiogenic genes that cooperate in the recruitment of endothelial cells, leading to the formation of metastatic colonies.
Mammalian zinc finger protein Ars2 is revealed as a sequence-specific transcription factor that promotes the self-renewal of postnatal and adult neural stem cells by directly activating transcription of the pluripotency factor Sox2.
IgA secreting plasma cells in the lamina propria are shown to be an important source of iNOS and TNF required to maintain the homeostatic balance between intestinal microbes and the immune system.
A conserved protein from enteropathogenic Escherichia coli, NleE, inhibits innate immune defence against infection by disrupting the NF-κB signalling pathway through methylation of ubiquitin-chain sensing proteins.
Loss of a snorkelling residue in integrin β TMDs changes membrane embedding and affects transmembrane signalling, showing that snorkelling can have an important role in signal transduction
Insights into the rotary mechanism of the Thermus thermophilus ATP synthase are obtained using electron cryomicroscopy to determine its three-dimensional structure calculated to subnanometre resolution.
The crystal structure of Pseudomonas aeruginosa 3-methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase is determined and found to be markedly different from that of propionyl-CoA carboxylase.