Hot Drugs.Nature Reviews Drug Discovery In this special focus, available online at http://www.nature.com/nrd/focus/hotdrugs/2004/index.html, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery presents information and analysis on the 21 new molecular entities that were approved by the FDA in 2003.

The endocannabinoid system and its therapeutic exploitation. Di Marzo, V., Bifulco, M. & De Petrocellis, L. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery September (2004)

A shrewd insight for vision. Briggs, F. & Usrey, W. M. Nature Neuroscience August (2004) A new study, discussed in this News and Views article, has identified an anatomical substrate for orientation selectivity in the primary visual cortex that might be conserved across species.

Inside the oldest bird brain. Witmer, L. M. Nature 5 August (2004) In this News and Views article, Witmer discusses new studies of an old fossil that shed new light on the brain and sensory organs of Archaeopteryx, and which conclude that its brain resembled that of birds more than those of dinosaurs.

Pathways towards and away from Alzheimer's disease. Mattson, M. P. Nature 5 August (2004)

Antiprion immunotherapy: to suppress or to stimulate? Aguzzi, A. & Sigurdson, C. J. Nature Reviews Immunology September (2004) Although human prion diseases are rare, they are invariably fatal, and treatments for these conditions remain elusive. In this article, Aguzzi and Sigurdson review the pathophysiology of prion diseases in mouse models, and discuss the relevance of these models to immunotherapeutic and immunoprophylactic antiprion strategies.

Exciting news for TRPs. Montell, C. Nature Cell Biology August (2004) In this News and Views article, Montell considers new findings relating to the regulated exocytosis of the cation channel TRPC5, which is important for neurite extension.

Focus on Pharmacogenetics.Nature Reviews Drug Discovery and Nature Reviews Genetics September (2004) This special joint focus contains Reviews and Perspective articles by experts in the advancing field of pharmacogenetics.

Pharmacogenomics: bench to bedside. Weinshilboum, R. & Wang, L. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery September (2004)

Pharmacogenetics and drug development: prospective pipeline strategies for safer and more effective drugs. Roses, A. Nature Reviews Genetics September (2004)