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Volume 438 Issue 7070, 15 December 2005

Editorial

  • Earth scientists should find better mechanisms to disseminate facts about the risks of natural disasters, to help local populations make the necessary preparations.

    Editorial

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  • The European Space Agency is making good use of its funds for space exploration.

    Editorial
  • Researchers should read Wikipedia cautiously and amend it enthusiastically.

    Editorial
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Research Highlights

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Correction

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News

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News in Brief

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Correction

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News Feature

  • Natural disasters have wreaked havoc on the planet in the past twelve months, and some say that things will only get worse. Quirin Schiermeier assesses the world's growing vulnerability to catastrophe.

    • Quirin Schiermeier
    News Feature
  • In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, coastal experts are trying to gauge the destruction to Louisiana's marshes. Emma Marris travels to the coast to learn what might be saved — and what might not.

    • Emma Marris
    News Feature
  • Replanting coastal forests destroyed by last December's tsunami sounds like a good idea — especially if they protect against future storms. But such plans need nurturing if they are to succeed, Erika Check discovers.

    • Erika Check
    News Feature
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Business

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Correspondence

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Books & Arts

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Essay

  • At the level of particles, things can happen in reverse, because particles obey time-symmetric laws of mechanics. But then why does matter, which is made up of these building blocks, behave irreversibly?

    • Oliver Penrose
    Essay
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News & Views

  • Flint fragments from eastern England constitute the earliest known evidence of human occupation of Britain. The climate was balmy, and the environment was home to a wide range of animals and plants.

    • Wil Roebroeks
    News & Views
  • The mixing of festive sweetmeats and the stirring of cream into coffee are toothsome examples of the irreversibility of physical processes. In certain systems, however, the concept gets its just desserts.

    • Troy Shinbrot
    News & Views
  • Peripheral nerve injury activates cells in the spinal cord called microglia. But how do such cells cause the ensuing chronic pain? It seems that they release a small protein that disrupts normal inhibition of pain signalling.

    • Carole Torsney
    • Amy B. MacDermott
    News & Views
  • Rivers are the great conveyor belts that carry sediment from mountains to the sea. In the Punjab — the Land of Five Rivers — a wholesale shift occurred in the past that re-routed sediment to different oceans.

    • Philip A. Allen
    News & Views
  • Vertebrate embryos from fish to mammals seem to use different routes to work out which way is up and which side is front. Yet a novel system involved in defining the dorsal side of fish might be conserved in mammals.

    • Wolfgang Driever
    News & Views
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Brief Communication

  • Spying on a brooding deep-sea squid reveals that it cradles and aerates its eggs while they mature.

    • Brad A. Seibel
    • Bruce H. Robison
    • Steven H. D. Haddock
    Brief Communication
    • Anand Bala Subramaniam
    • Manouk Abkarian
    • Howard A. Stone
    Brief Communication
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Erratum

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Introduction

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Review Article

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Article

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Letter

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Prospects

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Regions

  • Public funding problems have prevented Italy from catching up with other European scientific hubs. But some privately funded local initiatives show glimmers of hope. Quirin Schiermeier and Alison Abbott report.

    • Alison Abbott
    • Quirin Schiermeier
    Regions
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Futures

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Authors

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Brief Communications Arising

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Insight

  • If laid end to end, the vessels from a typical adult would circle the Earth twice. Little surprise then, that the process of growing new blood vessels - angiogenesis - is a fundamental biological mechanism that can result in serious disease when it goes wrong. More than US$4billion has been invested in the research and development of new drugs to promote or inhibit angiogenesis, making it one of the most heavily funded areas of medical research today. This Nature Insight describes many of the physiological processes and introduces exciting applications that have recently been made available.

    Insight
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