Review, News & Views, Perspectives, Hypotheses and Analyses in 2013

The combination of two techniques — optogenetics and genome editing using engineered nucleases — now provides a general means for the light-controlled regulation of any gene of interest. See Letter p.472

How ecological network structures are influenced by species coexistence, community stability and perturbations is a topic of debate. It seems that one overlooked correlate of nested structures is species abundances. See Letter p.449

The observation of a triple point of coexistence between two insulating phases and a conducting phase in vanadium dioxide reveals physics that may help to unravel the role of electronic correlations in this material. See Letter p.431

B cells arise in the bone marrow and go on to produce antibodies that protect against microbial infection. Surprisingly, it seems that B-cell development also occurs in the gut, where it is stimulated by resident microbes. See Letter p.112

The formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones is a carefully orchestrated dance. A study reveals that the metabolism of sugar by glycolysis contributes to its regulation.

The discovery of long non-coding RNAs that control the liaisons between a transcription factor with a key role in prostate cancer and its target genes sheds light on how RNAs dictate information flow in the cell nucleus. See Letter p.598

Gene therapy is finally getting a bumper crop of data that show clinical efficacy after fine-tuning of key parameters that control safety and potency. Supporting evidence comes from treatment of two life-threatening human diseases.

Glass has been prepared that selectively absorbs visible and near-infrared light when an electrochemical voltage is applied. This opens the way to 'smart' windows that block heat on demand, with or without optical transparency. See Letter p.323

Two complementary experiments have demonstrated deterministic quantum teleportation of quantum bits. The results could find applications in quantum communications and computing. See Letters p.315 & p.319

A genome-wide screen of developing mouse embryos, performed using RNA-interference techniques, finds new suspects in skin cancer. But some factors seem to have opposing roles in cancer and normal-tissue maintenance. See Article p.185

The effects of climate extremes such as droughts or storms on the carbon cycle of ecosystems are investigated; such extremes can decrease regional carbon stocks.

Such is the brain's complexity that even small neural circuits contain hundreds of neurons making thousands of connections. Connectivity and optical analyses provide close-up views of two such circuits. See Articles p.168, p.175 & Letter p.212

The phenomenon of catabolite repression enables microorganisms to use their favourite carbon source first. New work reveals α-ketoacids as key effectors of this process, with their levels regulating gene expression. See Article p.301

Two new Jurassic fossils yield conflicting reconstructions of the mammalian tree. These divergent genealogies have profoundly different implications for the origin and early diversification of mammals. See Article p.163 & Letter p.199

A comparison of regulatory DNA sequences in humans, macaques and mice during embryonic limb development reveals thousands of sites of enhanced regulatory activity that are likely to have driven the evolution of our characteristic anatomy.

The ice sheets retreated 10,000 years ago during a peak in solar radiation, but this peak was no larger than previous ones. A modelling study suggests why the ice sheets were unusually vulnerable to melting at that time. See Letter p.190

The finding that bacteria use a sharp spike to deliver toxins into competing microorganisms, and that this mechanism co-evolved with a bacteriophage structure, presents a new vision of bacterial secretion systems. See Letter p.350