Articles in 2010

The authors show theoretically that in cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED), superradiant quantum phase transitions are forbidden. Conversely, for circuit QED, the quantum phase transition remains possible. This may pave the way for the study of interesting quantum phases.

The emergence of bipedalism in humans is considered to be an evolutionary challenge. In this study, however, the authors show that humans, dogs and chickens create a virtual pivot point above their centre of mass during walking, thereby mimicking an external support.

Improving the properties of metallic alloys is important to develop new lightweight materials. In this paper, we show that an aluminium (Al) alloy containing a hierarchy of nanostructures in a solid solution with a high density of dislocations is capable of beating strength records for Al alloys while maintaining good ductility.

Studying the behaviour of captive mice requires considerable time and effort. Here, video-based software is designed and implemented to automatically quantitate mouse behaviour; the system performs well in comparison with manual human observations.

When cultured as single cells, embryonic stem cells have low viability. Here, blebbistatin, a non-muscle myosin II inhibitor, is shown to enhance the cloning efficiency, viability and adhesion of both human embryonic stem cells and human induced pluripotent stem cellsin vitro.

Aurora-A kinase localizes to centrosomes, is involved in the progression through mitosis and is overexpressed in certain cancers. Here, calcium is shown to induce Aurora-A auto-phosphorylation in a calmodulin-dependent manner, suggesting a novel role for Aurora-A in non-mitotic cells.

Routing packets on the growing and changing underlying structure of the Internet is challenging and currently based only on local connectivity. Here, a global Internet map is devised: with a greedy forwarding algorithm, it is robust with respect to network growth, and allows speeds close to the theoretical best.

Creating magnetic order in non-magnetic materials is a long-standing goal. In this article, through density-functional calculations, the authors show that silicon surfaces with adsorbed gold atoms can become magnetic due to ordering of the spins of atoms at the step edges, paving the way towards new materials for spintronics.

With the miniaturization of integrated optical devices, traditional colour filters are increasingly bulky. To supersede these, the authors devise a plasmonic metal–insulator–metal nanostructured array that can filter colours with high spatial and band resolution.

Chemical systems with switchable molecular spins could allow the development of materials with controllable spintronic properties. Here, the authors show that nitric oxide coordination to cobalt(II)tetraphenylporphyrin on a nickel surface, followed by thermal dissociation, leads to off-on spin switching.

Candidate anti-tuberculosis drugs are often identified in whole-cell screens. Here, Petheet al. show that inappropriate carbon-source selection can lead to the identification of compounds devoid of efficacy in vivo, underlining the importance of developing predictive in vitroscreens.

Spotted hyaenas live in clans with a hierarchy of females with different social ranks. In this paper, the sons of high-ranking female hyaenas are shown to have greater fitness than sons born of mothers of medium and low rank. This study highlights the importance of maternal effects in evolution.

SNARE protein-mediated vesicle fusion is usually monitored by indirect lipid mixing. Diaoet al. have developed a FRET-based single-vesicle content mixing assay, which elucidates fusion pore formation, and shows that the yeast SNARE complex mediates pore expansion in the absence of accessory proteins.

Female water striders have evolved a strategy to control the frequency of copulation. In this article, male water striders are shown to attract predators during copulation to coerce the female into yielding more quickly. These findings demonstrate how adaptive behaviour may be influenced by predation.

Copepod crustaceans are extremely abundant but fossilize poorly given their fragility; the earliest known fossils are from the Cretaceous period. Selden and colleagues report copepod fossils dating from the Carboniferous in a bitumen clast in Oman, extending their fossil record by 188 million years.

Coherent control of solid-state multi-qubit systems is highly desirable for quantum information. Here the authors show coupling, and control through Landau–Zener interference, of a superconducting qubit and two microscopic two-level systems, creating an interesting platform for quantum computation.

The storage in soils of biochar, the product of biomass pyrolysis, has been proposed as an attractive option to mitigate climate change. Amonette and co-workers model the potential impact of biochar and find that it could eliminate more carbon from the atmosphere than using the same biomass for biofuel.

The spatial distribution and parameters that affect soil microorganism communities are largely unknown. In this study, bacterial communities up to 240 metres apart are shown to be similar and are affected by soil pH, plant abundance and snow depth.

Future tokamak nuclear fusion reactors depend on efficient current drive methods, but it is hard to penetrate the high-density plasma in these devices. In this paper the authors show that radio frequency waves coupled to lower hybrid plasma waves, when the peripheral temperature of the plasma is high, can penetrate the plasma core.

Electrons in metals at extremely high magnetic fields show interesting quantum structures. The authors measure the angle-dependent Nernst effect with high precision and show that, for bismuth, Coulomb interactions between the electrons become important in this ultraquantum regime.