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Researchers need to take the initiative in addressing a controversial and urgent ethical issue: under what circumstances should the fusion of cells of animals and humans be permitted?
With improved techniques, growing data sets and a new space mission, 2007 is the first year in which we might discover another planet like our own. Katharine Sanderson reports.
Manipulating society has traditionally been the preserve of politicians and the gods. Does the current boom in virtual worlds give social scientists and economists an opportunity to join them? Jim Giles investigates.
When the Cassini spacecraft found no methane ocean swathing Saturn's moon Titan, it was a blow to proponents of an Earth-like world. The discovery of northern lakes on Titan gives them reason for cheer.
The perception of carbon dioxide provides insects with sensory data on their environment, and informs many insect behaviours. It seems that this sense relies on two dedicated neural receptors.
Peptides and proteins with sugars attached have many desirable biological properties, but their chemical synthesis is a technical challenge. An ingenious take on an old idea might simplify things considerably.
Molecular investigations of the origin of the dorso-ventral axis in an obscure marine invertebrate illuminate one of the longest-running debates in evolutionary biology — that over the origin of vertebrates.
How do metallic alloys solidify from their original liquid state? A study of the deformation of cooling alloys confirms what had been suspected for some time: solidifying alloys bear exciting similarities to granular materials.
Proteins are made of amino acids. But amino acids are made of atoms. Exploration of this self-evident principle opens up fresh perspectives on the evolution of biological membranes and multicellular life.
After all known sources are accounted for, puffy blobs of infrared light persist on deep-field telescope images. Evidence is mounting that these could be the signatures of stars in early 'protogalaxies'.
The crystal structure of the PP2A holoenzyme allows insights into assembly of the subunits, recruitment of substrate, and regulation of the enzyme by phosphorylation and methylation.
In the traditional picture of supernova rotation periods, the 300-ms order of rotation is the result of conservation of angular momentum, implying that it is directly correlated with the rotation of the progenitor star. But simulations revealing the presence of an instability in supernovae that is able to generate a final spin period consistent with observations, even beginning with spherically symmetrical initial conditions, implies that this is not the case.
One-way quantum computation is based on 'cluster states' (that is, highly entangled multiparticle states). This paper experimentally implements active feed-forward technique in such a system, a crucial element in the approach to correct for random quantum measurement errors.
Identification of two CO2 receptors in Drosophila antennae, Gr21a and Gr63a, determines that their co-expression is necessary and sufficient for CO2 sensing. Flies lacking one of the two are insensitive to CO2, and confer CO2 responsivity when both receptors are expressed in heterologous neurons.
Ferroplasma acidiphilum is a member of the order Thermoplasmatales, commonly found in extreme environments characterized by low pH and high concentrations of ferrous iron and other heavy metals. Analysis of the F. acidiphilum proteome reveals that an unusually high percentage of cellular proteins are iron-metalloproteins.
The heat-shock protein Hsp70 can regulate the development of red blood cells, or erythropoiesis. Hsp70 interacts with GATA-1 and protects it from cleavage, thus controlling the differentiation of erythrocytes by its presence in the nucleus.
