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Volume 485 Issue 7398, 17 May 2012

Four papers in this issue of Nature present the long-awaited high-resolution crystal structures of the four known opioid receptors in ligand-bound conformations. These G-protein-coupled receptors are the targets of a broad range of drugs, including painkillers, antidepressants, anti-anxiety agents and anti-addiction medications. Brian Kobilka’s group reports the crystal structure of the µ-opioid receptor bound to a morphinan antagonist and the &dgr;-opioid receptor bound to naltrindole. Raymond Stevens group reports on the &kgr;-opioid receptor bound to the selective antagonist JDTic, and the nociceptin/orphanin FQ receptor bound to a peptide mimetic. In an associated News and Views, Marta Filizola and Lakshmi Devi discuss the implications of these landmark papers for research on the mechanisms underlying receptor function and drug development. Cover: Universal Images Group/Getty Images.

Editorial

  • The US National Institutes of Health should rethink plans to limit a nationwide study of children. It must not miss a rare opportunity to probe the causes of childhood diseases.

    Editorial

    Advertisement

  • Independent experts should be kept from undue suspicion as well as undue influence.

    Editorial
  • Proposals for a UK law on defamation highlight the power of scientific protest.

    Editorial
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World View

  • Creationists seize on any perceived gaps in our knowledge of evolutionary processes. But scientists can and should fight back, says Russell Garwood.

    • Russell Garwood
    World View
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Research Highlights

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Correction

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Seven Days

  • The week in science: Scientific journals to be protected in UK libel reform; Mars rover awakens; and the Global Fund emerges from a fund-raising crisis.

    Seven Days
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News

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Correction

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News Feature

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Comment

  • Chief scientific advisers need better support and networks to ensure that science advice to governments is robust, say Robert Doubleday and James Wilsdon.

    • Robert Doubleday
    • James Wilsdon
    Comment
  • The June 2012 transit of Venus across the Sun offers an opportunity to check our methods for spotting distant planets crossing far-away stars, says Jay M. Pasachoff.

    • Jay M. Pasachoff
    Comment
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Books & Arts

  • Owen Gingerich enjoys two histories of the expeditions that aimed to measure the passage of Venus across the face of the Sun.

    • Owen Gingerich
    Books & Arts
  • Josie Glausiusz celebrates an environmental history of the human breast.

    • Josie Glausiusz
    Books & Arts
  • Bioacoustician Bernie Krause has travelled the world for decades to gather animal sounds for his Wild Sanctuary archive (www.wildsanctuary.com). Following the release of his book about this work, The Great Animal Orchestra, he talks about the calls of the wild.

    • Jascha Hoffman
    Books & Arts
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Correspondence

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News & Views

  • High-resolution spacecraft images show surprisingly large rates of sand transport on Mars. This finding suggests that the planet's surface is a more active environment than previously thought. See Letter p.339

    • Jasper Kok
    News & Views
  • Strong laser fields allow electrons to tunnel out of atoms. The response of such electrons to a second laser field supports the idea that they start tunnelling at a time defined by a complex number, but exit atoms at a 'real' time. See Letter p.343

    • Manfred Lein
    News & Views
  • The search for safe, non-addictive versions of morphine and other opioid drugs has just received a boost with the solving of the crystal structures of the receptors to which the drugs bind. See Articles p.321 & p.327, Letters p.395 & p.400

    • Marta Filizola
    • Lakshmi A. Devi
    News & Views
  • Restoring voluntary actions to paralysed patients is an ambition of neural-interface research. A study shows that people with tetraplegia can use brain control of a robotic arm to reach and grasp objects. See Letter p.372

    • Andrew Jackson
    News & Views
  • The expression level of a single gene can determine head size in zebrafish, mirroring a human anatomical feature associated with neurological disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. See Letter p.363

    • Dheeraj Malhotra
    • Jonathan Sebat
    News & Views
  • New calculations show that the electrical resistance of Earth's liquid-iron core is lower than had been thought. The results prompt a reassessment of how the planet's magnetic field has been generated and maintained over time. See Letter p.355

    • Bruce Buffett
    News & Views
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Correction

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Article

  • Evidence from mice and humans indicates that peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) is a vascular disease caused by excessive anti-angiogenic signalling in the peripartum period of pregnancy and that pre-eclampsia and multiple gestation are important risk factors for the development of PPCM.

    • Ian S. Patten
    • Sarosh Rana
    • Zoltan Arany
    Article
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Letter

  • Satellite images of a Martian dune field reveal unexpectedly high sand fluxes, suggesting rates of landscape modification similar to those on Earth.

    • N. T. Bridges
    • F. Ayoub
    • S. Mattson
    Letter
  • A method of laser-induced recollision permits measurement with attosecond resolution of the times at which the electron leaves the tunnelling barrier and discriminates between the ionization times of two carbon dioxide orbitals.

    • Dror Shafir
    • Hadas Soifer
    • Nirit Dudovich
    Letter
  • A new class of liquid crystals is reported that undergoes light-induced ordering and order-increasing phase transitions; possible applications include ophthalmic devices, such as variable transmission sunglasses.

    • Tamas Kosa
    • Ludmila Sukhomlinova
    • Timothy J. Bunning
    Letter
  • First principles calculations of the thermal and electrical conductivities of liquid iron mixtures under Earth's core conditions suggest a relatively high adiabatic heat flux of 15 to16 terawatts at the core–mantle boundary, indicating that the top of the core must be thermally stratified.

    • Monica Pozzo
    • Chris Davies
    • Dario Alfè
    Letter
  • Overexpression of all 29 human transcripts of a region of the 16p11.2 chromosome in zebrafish embryos identifies KCTD13 as the message inducing the microcephaly phenotype associated with 16p11.2 duplication, whereas its suppression yields the macrocephalic phenotype associated with the reciprocal deletion, suggesting that KCTD13 is a major driver for the neurodevelopmental phenotypes associated with the 16p11.2 copy number variants.

    • Christelle Golzio
    • Jason Willer
    • Nicholas Katsanis
    Letter
  • A functional electrical stimulation system in primates that is controlled by recordings made from microelectrodes permanently implanted in the brain can be used to control the intensity of stimulation of muscles that are temporarily paralysed by pharmacological motor nerve blockade, thereby restoring voluntary control of the affected muscles; this is a major advance towards similar restoration of hand function in human patients with spinal cord injury.

    • C. Ethier
    • E. R. Oby
    • L. E. Miller
    Letter
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Feature

  • Creating electronic textbooks requires ingenuity, teamwork and multimedia savvy.

    • Roberta Kwok
    Feature
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Q&A

  • After launching a career in Germany, sustainability institute director aims to help society by reducing pollution.

    • Alexandra Bell
    Q&A
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Futures

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Outlook

    • Herb Brody
    Outlook
  • The number of people living with, and dying of, diabetes across the world is shocking: 90 million Chinese live with diabetes and 1.3 million died in 2011; 23% of Qatari adults have developed diabetes. Here we chart the extent of the global epidemic and present some of the implications for national governments by Tony Scully.

    • Tony Scully
    Outlook
  • In type 1 diabetes, the immune system goes haywire and depletes insulin-producing cells. Drugs that interfere with this process could one day reverse the disease's course.

    • Sarah DeWeerdt
    Outlook
  • Artificial pancreases promise to take the decision-making — and human mistakes — out of managing type 1 diabetes.

    • Elie Dolgin
    Outlook
  • Recent research suggests that the fight against type 1 diabetes is focusing too narrowly on the adaptive immune system, says Carla Greenbaum.

    • Carla Greenbaum
    Outlook
  • Decades of study into the causes of diabetes have produced no definitive answers.

    • Erika Jonietz
    Outlook
  • Promising drugs to treat diabetes stumble in the latter stages of clinical testing. Thomas Mandrup-Poulsen explains why — and how to fix it.

    • Thomas Mandrup-Poulsen
    Outlook
  • While type 1 diabetes might be promising ground for a vaccine, the most effective way to avoid type 2 remains good old-fashioned diet and exercise.

    • Scott P. Edwards
    Outlook
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Nature Outlook

  • About 350 million people — 5 % of the world's population — are afflicted by either type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disorder, or type 2 diabetes, largely linked to lifestyle. Nature Outlook: Diabetesexamines the latest research into the causes, therapy, prevention and impact of these devastating diseases.

    Nature Outlook
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