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The second of Natures three Darwin 200 special issues celebrates everybodys Darwin the great mans legacy in the context of the human condition. For a listing of all Darwin-related content from this issue, see the Editorial. All of this content, plus web-only material, is available at www.nature.com/darwin. [Cover graphic by Joe Magee.]
Geneticists looked to the human genome to understand human evolution. But it's hard to interpret without considering the inheritance of culture, finds Erika Check Hayden.
People's mindsets are neither fixed by evolution nor infinitely malleable by culture. Dan Jones looks for the similarities that underlie the diversity of human nature.
In the first of two opposing commentaries, Steven Rose argues that studies investigating possible links between race, gender and intelligence do no good. In the second, Stephen Ceci and Wendy M. Williams argue that such research is both morally defensible and important for the pursuit of truth.
In this, the second of two opposing commentaries, Stephen Ceci and Wendy M. Williams argue that such research is both morally defensible and important for the pursuit of truth. In the first, Steven Rose argues that studies investigating possible links between race, gender and intelligence do no good.
Henry Nicholls wonders how things would be different had Charles Darwin given in to pressure from his publisher to rewrite Origin of Species into a popular book about pigeons.
A controversial new reconstruction of Charles Darwin's life suggests his family's campaign against slavery influenced his belief that all humans evolved from a single ancestor, explains W. F. Bynum.
Amid the many analyses of Darwin's life and work, a more intimate literary portrait emerges from the poetry of his great-great-granddaughter, Ruth Padel. Her series of poems on his life — six of which are reproduced here — evokes the emotion and drama of the naturalist's discoveries.
To propagate, the hepatitis C virus relies on entry into liver cells. Ironically, cellular proteins that normally assemble firm seals between adjacent cells serve as crucial keys by which the virus gains access.
Quantum buffers will be an essential part of quantum-information networks. A buffer that can preserve not only a 'quantum bit' but also a 'quantum image' is a major step towards creating those networks.
Non-invasive detection and prognostic evaluation of cancer represents a formidable challenge. Studies of the entire metabolite composition of cells promise advances towards this objective for prostate cancer.
Crystal-structure prediction methods and diffraction data show that a newly discovered form of boron is partially ionic. This is the first time such a structure has been observed for any elemental solid.
Could it be that mouse fetal liver cells and adult bone-marrow blood cells originate from a subset of cells that line the blood vessels in the embryo? Several lines of evidence suggest that this is indeed the case.
Fishing and hunting by humans are the main causes of mortality in many populations of wild animals. The consequence is that large and rapid changes occur in certain characteristics that far exceed changes due to other agents.
Does it float or sink? And to what extent? The answers to these questions can be used to follow the course of chemical reactions on solid supports, and are obtained simply by using two magnets, a salt solution and a ruler.
L-form cells can derive from various bacterial species and do not possess a cell wall. It is shown that Bacillus subtilis can convert into L-form through a single point mutation, and that B. subtilus L-form cells are able to propagate independent of FtsZ, an essential component of the bacterial cell division machinery.
Determining the spatial and temporal activity patterns of enhancers remains a challenge in the functional annotation of the human genome. In this study, the genome-wide occupancy of the enhancer-associated protein p300 was determined in developing mouse tissues by using chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by massively parallel sequencing. Testing the p300-bound sequences in a transgenic mouse enhancer assay confirmed that p300 binding is a highly effective means to identify enhancers and to predict in which tissues they are active.
This paper uses four-wave mixing in atomic vapour cells to obtain an optically tunable delay for Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen entangled beams of light. The four-wave mixing preserves the quantum spatial correlations of the entangled beams, allowing demonstration of rudimentary quantum memory for images.
This paper has explored the high-pressure behaviour of boron and uncovered a new phase that consists of negatively charged icosahedral B12 clusters and positively charged B2 pairs. The ionicity of the new phase strongly affects many of its properties, and arises from the different electronic properties of the B12 clusters and B2 pairs and the resultant charge transfer between them.
This work proposes a new method for moulding features down to the 13-nm range onto amorphous metallic surfaces, which are much more durable materials. The features thus made can in turn be replicated in materials with lower softening temperatures, or they can be erased and moulded again, providing a new way to produce for example rewritable media supports.
This study presents a seismic profile across southern Lake Baikal in Siberia, demonstrating that only a surface manifestation is observed there. These findings may point toward a new role for magmatism in the rifting process.
A comparative segmental duplication map of four primate genomes that allows the evolutionary history of all human segmental duplications to be reconstructed is presented. It reveals a fourfold acceleration of segmental duplication accumulation during the speciation of human, chimpanzee and gorilla at a time when other mutational processes were slowing, and also provides a detailed evolutionary history of all human segmental duplications as a resource to the human genetics community.
This report identifies the gap junction protein occludin as the fourth and final key component of the hepatitis C virus cell-entry receptor, paving the way towards the development of a small animal model for hepatitis C virus.
It is shown that all haematopoietic stem cells that eventually populate the adult marrow arise from embryonic endothelial cells. This could be important for scientists working on ways to generate haematopoeitic stem cells from embryonic stem cells, as a haemogenic endothelium would have to be generated first.
There are two theories of how haematopoeitic cells arise during embryonic development. One is that haematopoietic cells arise from a mesodermal progenitor with both endothelial and haematopoietic potential called the haemangioblast. Another associates the first haematopoietic cells to an endothelial cell with haematopoietic potential, the haemogenic endothelium. This paper shows that both theories are correct. The haemangioblast generates haematopoietic cells through the formation of a haemogenic endothelium intermediate.
Recent studies have indicated that embryonic blood is produced by endothelial cells, which also form blood vessels and arteries. This paper uses a direct imaging and cell tracking approach to directly show that embryonic endothelial cells do produce blood. By imaging cells over days, they were able to show that a subset of embryonic endothelial cells formed blood cells.
Directional cell movement depends on an intracellular calcium gradient. This study identifies calcium flickers in migrating fibroblasts and these are most active at the leading edge of cells. In the presence of a chemotactic gradient, an asymmetric gradient of calcium flicker activity develops which promotes turning of cells towards the direction of the chemoattractant.
It is shown that ABIN-1 (a protein that interacts with the ubiquitin-editing enzyme A20 and is thought to negatively influence NF-κB signalling) is essential for life; without it, mice die during embryogenesis with fetal liver apoptosis and anaemia. This appears unrelated to the role of ABIN-1 in NF-κB signalling.
A systematic analysis of metabolites in prostate cancer samples has led to the identification of sarcosine as a putative biomarker detectable in urine, which could potentially be used to aid prostate cancer diagnosis. Sarcosine promotes the invasion of prostate cancer cells and may play a role in metastasis.
The binding of small ligands to RNAs is a mechanism for regulation of gene expression in bacteria, fungi and plants. This work describes the first RNA switch to be identified in human cells. This element in the 3′ UTR of the VEGFA mRNA can bind two different complexes, GAIT or HNRNPL. The binding of one induces a specific conformation that precludes binding of the other. Which factor is bound depends on environmental signals indicating inflammatory and hypoxic status.
A century and a half ago, Charles Darwin detailed his theory of evolution by natural selection in his book On the Origin of Species. How does this remarkably successful theory apply to life on our planet? How have the scientists of subsequent generations built on Darwin's ideas? And does revisiting the original theory shed new light on the remaining puzzles?