Reviews & Analysis

Disjunct distributions of closely related species are not necessarily the outcome of passive fragmentation of populations. Instead, they can be the consequence of speciation within a population.

The interactions of sugars and proteins underlie many biological processes, and cataloguing them is a daunting task. A technique for attaching sugars to microarrays offers a promising, high-throughput solution.

When our bodies are injured or infected, inflammatory cells migrate to the damaged area to carry out rescue and repair work. Interactions between three types of protein may form the basis of a highway to guide these cells.

Studies of worms have revealed hundreds of proteins that, when mutated, extend lifespan. Can this work tell us anything about mammalian ageing? A look at the effects of one such protein on lab mice suggests that it can.

Identification of the previously unknown larval forms of the sea lilies, a group of marine invertebrates, is a refreshing reminder of the value of descriptive science in evolutionary studies.

A method that circumvents the problems of correlating different data sets has allowed the sequence of events at the last great deglaciation to be seen in finer detail.

It is impossible to describe biological diversity with traditional approaches. Molecular methods are the way forward — especially, perhaps, in the form of DNA barcodes.

Today, the Moon has no magnetic field, but analyses of lunar rocks suggest that it did in the past. Did changes in the lunar interior create a magnetic dynamo billions of years ago?

When a low-viscosity fluid is injected into an elastic material, it forces its way through by making slender cracks, in a random, fractal pattern. The spreading of the cracks can be modelled through a series of 'bursts'.

It has been known for some years that Jupiter's satellite Io has sodium as a component of its atmosphere. The source, it now seems, is sodium chloride emitted by volcanoes on Io's surface.

When experimentally displaced in geomagnetic space, spiny lobsters act as if to make their way home. This is a fascinating case of navigation by an invertebrate using a magnetic map sense.

Duplicated genes are common in genomes, perhaps because they provide redundancy: if one copy is inactivated, the other can still work. A new study quantifies the effects of deleting 'singletons' and duplicated genes in yeast.

Will quantum information theory ever lead to practical quantum information technologies? At a conference reviewing the advances of the past two years, delegates looked to the future with cautious optimism.

Single-molecule magnets can change their spin states through quantum tunnelling. A more complete picture of the interactions occurring in a system of such magnets must include two-body transitions.

We, and other animals, can generally pinpoint the source of a sound in space regardless of how loud it is. A study involving experimentation and computer modelling reveals how our brains perform this clever task.