Reviews & Analysis

Climate change is causing large fish species to move into arctic marine environments. A network analysis finds that these fishes, with their generalist diets, add links to the existing food web that may alter biodiversity and web stability.

The discovery of microtube structures that link tumour cells in some invasive brain tumours reveals how these cancers spread, and how they resist treatment. See Article p.93

Cutting-edge experiments show that the hormone leptin, which is secreted by fat cells, promotes fat loss by activating the release of catecholamine signalling molecules from neurons wrapped around the fat cells.

Time-resolved molecular snapshots of the bacterial enzyme AlkD reveal an unprecedented mechanism for the recognition and removal of damaged bases in DNA, with implications for cell biology and cancer therapy. See Letter p.254

Organometallic reagents have been developed that chemically modify proteins and peptides specifically at cysteine amino-acid residues — potentially offering a general route to making therapeutically useful compounds. See Letter p.687

A clever approach has been used to imprint a phase pattern on a laser beam. The pattern is not only random at each point, but also depends on information stored elsewhere in the pattern.

In plant cells, the pigment anthocyanin is transported to a membrane-bounded organelle called the vacuole for storage. A previously unidentified transport pathway involving vacuolar-membrane extensions mediates this process.

The discovery of cells in an invertebrate that share several features with vertebrate neural-crest cells provides insights into how this vital vertebrate cell population might have evolved. See Letter p.371

An analysis reveals that cancer cells remotely prepare distant sites for tumour spread in an organ-specific manner, by deploying organ-seeking extracellular vesicles. See Article p.329

Reactive oxygen species have been viewed as stress-inducing molecules that promote cancer initiation. But new evidence indicates that oxidative stress can be beneficial — inhibiting the spread of a cancer to other sites. See Article p.186

A simple model captures the key features of the transition from smooth to turbulent flow for a fluid in a pipe. The findings pave the way for more-complex models and may have engineering ramifications. See Letter p.550

Analysis of data from the Kepler space observatory and ground-based telescopes has led to the detection of one, and possibly several, minor planets that are in a state of disintegration in orbit around a white dwarf star. See Letter p.546

Acute infection of mice with an intestinal pathogen leads to long-lasting inflammation that is maintained by intestinal microorganisms. This observation reveals a path by which infection history can affect long-term immune function.

A fundamental scientific assumption called local realism conflicts with certain predictions of quantum mechanics. Those predictions have now been verified, with none of the loopholes that have compromised earlier tests. See Letter p.682

Physiological analyses, electron microscopy and single-cell chemical imaging suggest that direct electron transfer occurs between the members of methane-oxidizing microbial consortia. See Article p.531 and Letter p.587

The discovery that potassium ion channels are involved in electrical signalling between bacterial cells may help to unravel the role of ion channels in microbial physiology and communication. See Article p.59