Review, News & Views, Perspectives, Hypotheses and Analyses in 2006

Coercion, not kinship, often determines who acts altruistically in an insect colony. But underlying affinities for kin emerge when coercion is removed: kin selection is what turns suppressed individuals into altruists.

Cells of the same type can generate diverse sets of physiological traits from a single set of genes. Part of this diversity could stem from 'noise' that arises from variations in the way proteins are expressed.

Latitudes at which ancient salt deposits occur show that Earth's magnetic field has always aligned along its rotation axis. One possible implication is that ancient global glaciations were not caused by a realignment of this axis.

It is generally agreed that sleep aids memory consolidation, but the reasons for this are a mystery. Part of the answer may lie in the patterns of synchronous brain activity unique to the state of slumber.

Slipping in extra benzene rings creates a broader DNA double helix that is similar to, but different from, natural DNA. Importantly, it can encode more genetic information — and that could have wide implications.

The mutations that cause retinoblastoma are well known, but how they enable the cancer to evade controls on cell division was unclear. Secondary mutations affecting a growth-regulatory pathway have now been identified.

Stem-cell therapy is valued for its potential to restore damaged or degenerating tissues. Stem cells are now regularly used to renew blood, and it looks as if the next success could be in treating dystrophic muscle.

A powerful combination of analytical techniques is used to shed light on the complex crystallizations of porous solids. Molecular recognition creates the seeds of order from which complex lattices grow.

Can the brain be induced to reroute neural information? Such an achievement is crucial if the function of damaged brain areas is to be taken on elsewhere. A study in monkeys explores this prospect.

Tiny metal resonators can be used to create a material with tunable responses to an applied voltage. Combined with a semiconductor substrate, they can be used to control technologically promising terahertz radiation.

Is the anomalously high electrical conductivity seen in part of Earth's mantle caused by protons derived from hydrous defects in the mineral olivine? Two groups investigate this possibility — and draw different conclusions.

There has long been scepticism about the geochemical evidence that the ancient ocean was markedly warm. A fresh approach bolsters the case for an ocean that, in the distant past, was indeed quite hot.

It was once thought that lampreys evolved from armoured jawless vertebrates. But a recently discovered lamprey fossil dates from the twilight age of their supposed ancestors, and looks surprisingly modern.

The profound biological changes that lofted the honeybee to an advanced state of social organization are reflected in its newly sequenced genome. The species can now be studied all the way from molecule to colony.

A rotation in light's electric-field vector can alter the light's frequency. This rotational equivalent of the Doppler effect has proved surprisingly elusive, but has now been spotted in the laboratory.

Zeolites are materials with widespread applications. A newly synthesized example has desirably large pores, as well as the virtue of thermal stability, and shows the value of structure-prediction programs.

An international consortium of researchers has produced an impressive new tree of life for the kingdom Fungi. The results are a testament to cooperation between systematists with different expertise.