News & Views in 2012

As the recipients of the 2012 science Nobel prizes gather in Stockholm to celebrate and be celebrated, News & Views shares some expert opinions on the achievements honoured.

As the recipients of the 2012 science Nobel prizes gather in Stockholm to celebrate and be celebrated, News & Views shares some expert opinions on the achievements honoured.

Heart muscle cells die en masse after injury, yet the adult mammalian heart retains little capacity to regenerate them. Regulatory microRNA sequences may stimulate self-renewal of these muscle cells. See Article p.376

A neat study shows that a sheet of laser light can be used to reflect light-absorbing liquid droplets and manipulate their trajectories. This observation may open up new ways of controlling and studying aerosols.

The probability that giant-planet-like signals detected by the Kepler spacecraft are not from planets is higher than expected. The result underscores the importance of making follow-up observations to confirm the nature of the signals.

The discovery of what may be the best example yet of a forming star caught in the moments just before birth provides a missing link in our understanding of how giant gas clouds collapse to form fully fledged stars. See Letter p.83

The field-effect transistor underlies microprocessor technology. A version of it has been demonstrated that tunes particle transport from an incoherent regime to a strongly correlated superfluid one. See Letter p.736

The wheat genome is large and complex, and has defied complete sequencing. But the most comprehensive analysis so far of the plant's genes will support efforts to optimize the supply of this vital food crop. See Letter p.705

Reagents have been developed that allow carbon—hydrogen bonds on benzene-like compounds called heterocycles to be converted directly into carbon—carbon bonds. The finding will be a boon to medicinal chemists. See Letter p.95

Single-molecule studies reveal that a ring-like enzyme that encircles and 'slides' along one strand of duplex DNA, separating it from the other strand, overcomes molecular barriers in its path by transiently opening its ring. See Article p.205

Necrosis is associated with various diseases, yet it is arguably the least-understood form of programmed cell death. It emerges that a sirtuin protein regulates one form of necrosis through a deacetylation reaction. See Article p.199

The nuclear genomes of two of nature's most complex cells have been sequenced. The data will help to determine the evolutionary path from symbioses between species to a multi-compartmental unicellular organism. See Article p.59

The finding that derivatives of vitamin B can bind to an antigen-presenting protein that stimulates specialized immune cells suggests a novel mechanism by which the immune system detects microbial infections. See Article p.717

An assessment of crystallization processes occurring in magma chambers in the ocean floor finds an unexpected enrichment in trace elements, reviving an old theory of the cycling of magma in these chambers. See Article p.698

Eyewitnesses are sometimes asked to identify a culprit from a line-up of people associated with a crime scene. An enzyme — iridoid synthase — that catalyses an unusual reaction has been identified by a similar approach. See Letter p.138

An analysis of the physiological vulnerability of different trees to drought shows that forests around the globe are at equally high risk of succumbing to increases in drought conditions. See Letter p.752

Magnetic particles have been made that undergo synchronized oscillations when suspended in liquid in a rotating magnetic field. This discovery links the fields of nonlinear dynamics and materials science. See Letter p.578

Spectroscopic analysis reveals that, at low temperatures, hydrophobic molecules dissolved in water strengthen the hydrogen bonding between nearby water molecules. But at high temperatures, the reverse can be true. See Letter p.582