Volume 558 Issue 7711, 28 June 2018

Researchers in some Asian economies are working to address the distinct needs of their communities.

A reflection as the seventh editor-in-chief of Nature hands over to the eighth.

Counterbalancing the Supreme Court’s gerrymandering ruling is technology’s potential to prevent gerrymanders in the first place, says Wendy K. Tam Cho.

Human populations have different forms of a gene encoding a hormone receptor.

Tiny device produces a continuous beam for more than five hours.

Broken arrows and worn stone gear speak to the plight of the ancient alpine hunter.

Drugs prompt some gut bacteria to vanish in mice.

A layer of this eco-friendly substance could prevent corrosion and ice build-up.

Young dogs facing scary objects look to humans for guidance.

Corralled viruses escape by co-opting cellular proteins.

Iconic tree may owe its long life to gene duplication.

Observations of deflected light shore up general theory of relativity.

The week in science: 22–28 June 2018.

A hurricane-hunter plane and research ships aim to gather the most-detailed observations yet of ‘intraseasonal’ variations in rainfall.

Trump puts tariffs on Chinese technology and China retaliates with taxes on US chemicals.

Hayabusa-2 will hover above its target and release four landing probes before touching down to collect samples to return to Earth.

Latest study suggests that emissions of the potent greenhouse gas could be coming from faulty equipment.

Engineered strains of E. coli and other microbes are being tested in people to combat a slew of illnesses.

A special issue explores the booming research landscapes of Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.

Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are investing heavily in research as an engine for growth.

From artificial intelligence to infectious diseases, top researchers in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are making big impacts on the global stage.

A switch to projects led by independent principal investigators would build on the success of the nation’s centralized research agenda, urges Han Woong Yeom.

Plug the digital divide, improve health care, develop bio-based industries and innovate for Halal industries, urges Asma Ismail.

Josie Glausiusz tours Tel Aviv’s stunning new museum of natural history.

Barbara Kiser reviews five of the week’s best science picks.

Richard Taylor pays tribute to the Apollo astronaut who beautifully meshed science and art.

Four East Asian researchers who returned from abroad are carving out an international presence.

An analysis of meteoritic material from Mars provides an accurate timeline of the planet’s early history. The results have major implications for our understanding of the processes involved in rocky-planet formation.

Abnormal activity of the enzyme PI3K can drive cancer growth, and mutations in a PI3K subunit can sometimes lead to non-cancerous overgrowth. A cancer drug that inhibits PI3K dramatically reduces such overgrowth.

A molecule standing on a metal surface has been found to emit electrons in the presence of an applied electric field. The emitted electrons produce an interference pattern reminiscent of a classic physics experiment.

Weight loss and tissue wasting often occur in pancreatic cancer. Analyses of human and mouse data reveal a mechanism behind these events, and raise the question of whether tissue wasting affects cancer survival rates.

The idea that everyone in the world is connected to everyone else by just six degrees of separation was explained by the ‘small-world’ network model 20 years ago. What seemed to be a niche finding turned out to have huge consequences.

G-protein-coupled receptors activate different G-protein types to trigger divergent signalling pathways. Four structures of receptor–G-protein complexes shed light on this selectivity.

Because climate change is expected to intensify regional-scale droughts, it is important to identify the physiological thresholds that precipitate the mortality of trees and the mechanisms of recovery after drought.

A PI3KCA inhibitor reverses symptoms in a mouse model of PROS/CLOVES syndrome, which results from gain-of-function mutations in PI3KCA, and produces improvements in patients with PROS/CLOVES syndrome.

A cryo-electron structure of the µ-opioid receptor in complex with the peptide agonist DAMGO and the inhibitory G protein G_i reveals structural determinants of its G protein-binding specificity.

The cryo-electron microscopy structure of human rhodopsin bound to the inhibitory G_i protein-coupled receptor provides insights into ligand–receptor–G-protein interactions.

The cryo-electron microscopy structure of the human adenosine A₁ receptor in complex with adenosine and heterotrimeric G_i2 protein provides molecular insights into receptor and G-protein selectivity.

The detection of complex organic molecules with masses higher than 200 atomic mass units in ice grains emitted from Enceladus indicates the presence of a thin organic-rich layer on top of the moon’s subsurface ocean.

One-way propagation of light through a standard telecommunications fibre is demonstrated by coupling the fibre to a rapidly rotating silica-glass sphere.

Precision control over matter at the atomic scale enables a planar dye molecule to be lifted up and placed on its edge—a configuration that is surprisingly stable.

Machine-learning algorithms are used to generate single-particle three-dimensional reconstructions, revealing that highly symmetrical dodecahedral silica cages, around 10 nm in size, self-assemble in the presence of surfactant micelles.

Remote, enantioselective C–H activation reactions can be achieved by relaying ortho-C–H activation to the meta position, using a chiral norbornene as the mediator.

Isotopic compositions of ancient zircons from the NWA 7034 Martian meteorite suggest that Mars must have formed its primordial crust extremely swiftly, less than 20 million years after the formation of the Solar System.

 In the midbrain defensive circuit, the decision to escape is computed by an unreliable synaptic connection that thresholds threat information integrated in the medial superior colliculus, and controls activation of dorsal periaqueductal grey neurons.

An analysis based on functional metagenomics reveals a previously unknown group of microbial light-sensory rhodopsins that are widespread among a diverse range of microorganisms.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in mice induces loss of adipose tissue through altered function of the exocrine pancreas, and supplementing pancreatic enzymes attenuates the wasting of peripheral tissues induced by pancreatic cancer.

Enzymes that catalyse modifications of wobble uridine 34 tRNA are essential for the survival of melanoma cells that rely on HIF1α-dependent metabolism through codon-dependent regulation of the translation of HIF1A mRNA.

Viperin inhibits the replication of various viruses by catalysing the conversion of CTP to ddhCTP, which is a unique nucleotide that functions as replication-chain terminator of RNA-dependent RNA polymerases.

In Schizosaccharomyces pombe, histone H3K9 methylation acts synergistically with short interfering RNA to perpetuate gene silencing during multiple mitotic and meiotic cell divisions.

The high-resolution structure of the serotonin 5-HT_1B receptor in complex with the agonist donitriptan and a G_o heterotrimer highlights features that may underlie the specificity of receptor–G-protein coupling and kinetics of signalling.