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Volume 486 Issue 7403, 21 June 2012

A rock-art representation of domesticated cattle is between 5,000 and 8,000 years old, from the Wadi Imha in the Tadrart Acacus Mountains of the Libyan Sahara. Similar images - some of which even include scenes of milking - are widely distributed in the region and suggest that cattle played a big part in the lives of ancient humans in the 'Green' Sahara during the Holocene. Rock art is notoriously difficult to date. However, using isotope analysis of absorbed food residues in pottery excavated from the Takarkori rock shelter in the Libyan Sahara by the Archaeological Mission of the Sapienza University of Rome, Julie Dunne and colleagues report the first unequivocal chemical evidence of dairying in the archaeological record, in prehistoric Africa in the fifth millennium BC. These findings confirm that domesticated cattle, and a dairying economy, were part of early Saharan pastoralism. (Photo: Roberto Ceccacci, Sapienza Univ.)

Editorial

  • If scientists want the public to continue to volunteer for research projects, they must learn to be a lot more forthcoming about the ways in which the information they garner will be used.

    Editorial

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  • Stem-cell researchers must engage with politicians to keep their work alive in Europe.

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World View

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Research Highlights

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Seven Days

  • The week in science: US reclaims world’s top supercomputer; Australia unveils plans for largest marine reserves; and China celebrates another space programme success.

    Seven Days
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Correction

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News

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Correction

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News Feature

  • With turbines threatening some bird and bat populations, researchers are seeking ways to keep the skies safe for wildlife.

    • Meera Subramanian
    News Feature
  • As researchers find more uses for data, informed consent has become a source of confusion. Something has to change.

    • Erika Check Hayden
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Comment

  • Michael S. Turner reflects on how mountain serenity has bred big breakthroughs at the Aspen Center for Physics in Colorado.

    • Michael S. Turner
    Comment
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Books & Arts

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Correspondence

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Obituary

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News & Views

  • Drug candidates are usually found to be unsafe only late in the drug discovery process. A method for predicting the many biological targets of a given molecule might allow drug safety to be considered much earlier. See Article p.361

    • Kyle Kolaja
    News & Views
  • A reaction that folds up large aromatic molecules and fixes them into bowl shapes expands opportunities for making nanometre-scale objects from single sheets of carbon. Such objects have potential applications in electronics.

    • Jay S. Siegel
    News & Views
  • Whole-genome sequencing of breast cancers is exposing the scope of tumour diversity and helping to pinpoint avenues for precise diagnostics and targeted therapy. See Articles p.346 & p.353, Letters p.395, p.400 & p.405

    • Joe Gray
    • Brian Druker
    News & Views
  • The tin isotope 100Sn is the heaviest 'doubly magic nucleus' that has an equal number of protons and neutrons. It is now finally starting to give up its secrets, thanks to the persistent efforts of nuclear physicists. See Article p.341

    • Daniel Bazin
    News & Views
  • The chemical composition of stars that host small planets seems to be more varied than that of large planets. This finding may push back the clock for the start of rocky planets and of life around stars other than the Sun. See Letter p.375

    • Debra Fischer
    News & Views
  • An engineered influenza virus based on a haemagglutinin protein from H5N1 avian influenza, with just four mutations, can be transmitted between ferrets, emphasizing the potential for a human pandemic to emerge from birds. See Letter p.420

    • Hui-Ling Yen
    • Joseph Sriyal Malik Peiris
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Perspective

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Article

  • Whole-genome analysis of oestrogen-receptor-positive tumours in patients treated with aromatase inhibitors show that distinct phenotypes are associated with specific patterns of somatic mutations; however, most recurrent mutations are relatively infrequent so prospective clinical trials will require comprehensive sequencing and large study populations.

    • Matthew J. Ellis
    • Li Ding
    • Elaine R. Mardis
    Article Open Access
  • A large-scale computational effort is used to predict the activity of 656 drugs against 73 protein targets that have been associated with adverse drug reactions; the abdominal pain side effect of the synthetic oestrogen chlorotrianisene is shown to be mediated through its inhibition of cyclooxygenase-1.

    • Eugen Lounkine
    • Michael J. Keiser
    • Laszlo Urban
    Article
  • Argonaute proteins are an essential part of the guide-RNA–protein complex that carries out RNA-induced gene silencing; structure–function studies of the yeast complex reveal conserved features of the eukaryotic complex, which underlie formation of the catalytically active conformation.

    • Kotaro Nakanishi
    • David E. Weinberg
    • Dinshaw J. Patel
    Article
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Letter

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Feature

  • Bioscience is thriving in New Orleans as the city bounces back from multiple disasters.

    • Amanda Mascarelli
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Column

  • A passion for science is admirable, but can have unwanted outcomes, argues Mariano A. Loza-Coll.

    • Mariano A. Loza-Coll
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Clarification

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Futures

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Brief Communications Arising

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Outlook

  • As more receptors are defined, researchers will further unlock the mechanics of taste. How the mind perceives these sensory signals is another matter.

    • Bijal P. Trivedi
    Outlook
  • Is flavour an intrinsic objective property, or a subjective experience that varies from person to person? Barry Smith sorts out the implications.

    • Barry Smith
    Outlook
  • Chefs are teaming up with researchers to create avant-garde dishes. Is 'molecular gastronomy' more than a fad?

    • Courtney Humphries
    Outlook
  • It is becoming clear that links between taste preferences and obesity go beyond simply having a sweet tooth.

    • James Mitchell Crow
    Outlook
  • Scientists and psychologists are trying to trick our mouths and minds into enjoying foods that are better for us.

    • Lauren Gravitz
    Outlook
  • Many vertebrates can detect the same five basic tastes that humans can, but there are exceptions. Are the differences caused by a change in diet?

    • Ewen Callaway
    Outlook
  • Artificial tongues that mimic the human sensory experience could aid the development of better and more consistently flavoured foods.

    • Neil Savage
    Outlook
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Nature Outlook

  • Taste is central to our being, but this vital sense is only now becoming clear at the biological level. Scientists have identified the receptors that respond to the five basic stimuli of sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami (savoury), and are now exploring how the brain interprets them. Nature Outlook Tastereports the latest findings from the front lines of flavour.

    Nature Outlook
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