Articles in 2010

Is the polar bear doomed to extinction? Maybe not, according to models of the future extent of Arctic sea ice if greenhouse-gas emissions are curbed. The outlook depends on the ability of policy-makers to act. See Letter p.955

There are myriad social and professional networking options for scientists. But, so far, none has proved infectious enough to go viral.

To learn the chemical language of plants, Ian Baldwin has built up a German research empire that engineers seeds — and a field station in the Utah wilderness to grow them.

Report rebuts cancer claims and recommends changes to oversight and monitoring.

A neat study that involves placing colloidal particles on curved oil-glycerol interfaces reveals a new form of crystal defect. The defect is called a pleat, by analogy to the age-old type of fabric fold. See Letter p.947

A cloaking device can shield macroscopic objects in visible light.

Francesca Malfatti explains how she helped find an unexpected relationship between microbes.

Turn on, tune out.

Astronomer who measured expansion rate of the Universe.

Hobbyists add depth to ancestry trawls.

Neuronal networks in the brain that develop early in life underlie our ability to learn, remember and communicate. Genetic defects that perturb the fine-tuning of such neuronal connectivity can cause disease.

Hybridization in polar species could hit biodiversity hard, say Brendan Kelly, Andrew Whiteley and David Tallmon.

How is light perceived? The answer that might immediately come to mind is, through the eyes. Fly larvae, however, can 'feel' light using specialized neurons embedded under the cuticle encasing their bodies. See Article p.921

The structure of a mineral has been validated, ending the controversy about its potential usefulness as a model of an unusual magnetic lattice. This model might provide insight into superconductivity.

Blogs and online comments can provide valuable feedback on newly published research. Scientists need to adjust their mindsets to embrace and respond to these new forums for debate.

A history of communications technologies holds lessons for the Internet today, finds Li Gong.

The two Magellanic Clouds may have joined our Milky Way quite recently. It turns out that this trio of galaxies is remarkably unlike most other galaxy systems — both in the luminosity of the clouds and in their proximity to the Milky Way.

Biologists and engineers should work together: synthetic biology reveals how organisms develop and function, argue Michael Elowitz and Wendell A. Lim.