Reviews & Analysis

Compared with the masterpiece crafted by nature, even Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical drawings of the cardiovascular system seem primitive. In creating this system, nature seems to use blood flow as its paintbrush.

A commonly used blue dye is more than just a pretty colour. This material and its relatives are semiconductors, and their magnetic properties can be controlled by engineering their crystal structure.

Predicting the three-dimensional structure of a protein from its amino-acid sequence is a dauntingly complex task. But with colossal computer power and knowledge of other structures, it can be done.

Saturn's nominal rotation period is timed by a 'radio clock' that counts bursts of emissions controlled by the planet's magnetic field. Buffeting by the solar wind may explain the clock's irregularities.

Physicist, and passionate and influential advocate of arms control.

The life-histories of pike adjust quickly to shifts in the opposing forces of fishing and natural selection. Such rapid changes suggest that evolutionary dynamics must be incorporated into fisheries management.

The genomes of 12 fly species have been analysed comparatively. Why should we care? Because sequences that have resisted the selective forces of evolution from fly to human must have functional significance.

It will be a long experimental haul before the great potential of quantum effects can routinely be exploited for technological ends. A sense of practical purpose among researchers will encourage progress.

The worm Caenorhabditis elegans has many advantages as an experimental organism. These have been exploited to investigate how, at a single-neuron level, neural circuits transform sensory signals into behaviour.

The properties of flat aromatic molecules are well known to chemists, but some non-planar aromatics remain a mystery. A molecule that can twist into a Möbius band on command might shed light on their features.

The idea of 'random walks' pops up in areas from biochemical reaction pathways to animals' foraging strategies. A central question — how likely is it that a walker is somewhere for the first time? — now has a simpler answer.

Scaffolding proteins are so named because they function as platforms for the assembly of molecular signalling complexes. But at least one such protein is more than a passive bystander and has its own signalling role.

When attacking a plant, pathogens must deliver proteins into their victim's cells. The causal agent of potato late blight uses a system that is remarkably similar to that used by the malaria parasite in red blood cells.

In the silence that precedes the onset of hearing in the developing auditory system, it seems that the cells of a transient structure known as Kölliker's organ are capable of generating their own 'virtual' music.