Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
The global spread of nuclear weapons is once again a major headache for world leaders. Geoff Brumfiel reports on efforts to put the genie back in the bottle.
Collective action in large groups whose members are genetically unrelated is a distinguishing feature of the human species. Individual reputations may be a key to a satisfactory evolutionary explanation.
The future of electronics may rest on devices that integrate other semiconductors with silicon. A means of creating tiny semiconductor pillars on a silicon surface is now demonstrated.
The discovery of a protein that stimulates cell migration and survival in damaged mouse hearts suggests a potential new approach to the treatment of heart attacks.
The quantum information carried by a faint laser pulse has been trapped in a gas of atoms. This ‘quantum memory’ paves the way for networks that transmit and process information in non-classical ways.
Early multicellular organisms had two distinct types of photoreceptor cells, apparently with different functions. How these cells combined to form modern eyes turns out to be a complicated story.
The direct observation of highly localized, stable, nonlinear excitations — known as discrete breathers — at the atomic level underscores their importance in physical phenomena at all scales.
The information encoded in our genes must be copied into messenger RNAs, which will programme the protein-synthesis machinery. New results support an intriguing mechanism for ending the copying process.
The marriage of engineering, medicine and biology is offering people from a wide range of disciplines the chance to accelerate their careers. Myrna Watanabe investigates a growth industry.
