Articles in 2008

Scientists voice concerns as small-scale projects fall from favour.

Long-lost mineral could help explain planet's thin atmosphere.

Journal of Cell Biology launches an image bank for microscopy images.

Hundreds of companies falsely registered to receive higher subsidies.

The limits imposed by walls and trenches are recognized by special brain cells.

Harvard climate scientist John Holdren is the leading candidate.

Distantly related plants use the same set of genes to establish the outline of their leaves.

Research Assessment Exercise results will shape scientists' careers and universities' funding.

Political turmoil leaves key positions in doubt.

The chlorophyll biosynthetic enzyme NADPH:protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase, which catalyses a light-driven reaction involving hydride and proton transfers is examined. It is determined that prior excitation of the enzyme–substrate complex with a laser pulse induces a more favourable conformation of the active site and increases the catalytic efficiency of the coupled hydride and proton transfer reactions. Spectral changes in the mid-infrared after the absorption of one photon reveal significant conformational changes in the enzyme.

This study presents a global analysis of seafloor roughness derived from marine gravity data and finds that residual roughness anomalies remain over large swaths of ocean floor. The Atlantic ocean floor that formed over mantle previously overlain by the Pangaea supercontinent displays anomalously low roughness, and attribute this observation to a sub-Pangaean supercontinental mantle temperature anomaly leading to slightly thicker than normal Atlantic crust. In contrast, ocean crust formed above Pacific superswells is not associated with basement roughness anomalies.

This paper reports the discovery of a water maser at redshift 2.64 in the dust- and gas-rich gravitationally lensed type-1 quasar MG J0414+0534. Using the locally determined luminosity function, the probability of finding a maser this luminous associated with any single active galaxy is 10⁻⁶, leading to the conclusion that the volume densities and luminosities of masers are higher at that epoch.

When damaged DNA is replicated, gaps can be left behind in the replicated DNA. Two processes, recombinational repair or post-replication repair (PRR), were thought to act independently in gap filling. This study defines how the error-free branch of PRR is involved in lesion bypass and finds that when the replicative clamp PCNA is SUMO modified, Rad18 and Rad5 are able to promote polyubiquitination of PCNA.

A new family of superconductors containing layers of iron arsenide has attracted considerable interest because of their high transition temperatures and similarities with the high-T_c copper oxide superconductors. This paper reports inelastic neutron scattering observations of a magnetic resonance below T_c in Ba_0.6K_0.4Fe₂As₂, demonstrating that the superconducting energy gap has unconventional symmetry.

During clathrin-mediated endocytosis, cargo proteins are recognized by clathrin adaptors. The clathrin adaptor AP2 recognizes two major classes of endocytic motifs, including an acidic dileucine motif. This study presents the crystal structure of AP2 in complex with the diceucine motif of a cargo protein, thereby revealing the mechanism of cargo–adaptor recognition.