Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
The H5N1 avian influenza virus has not yet reached North and South America. What will happen when it does? Declan Butler and Jacqueline Ruttimann investigate.
To correctly ‘play’ the DNA score in our genome, cells must read another notation that overlays it — the epigenetic code. A global effort to decode it is now in the making, reports Jane Qiu.
One obstacle to realizing the promise of viral vectors for vaccine delivery is pre-existing immunity to such vectors. An adroit application of structure-based design points to a way around that problem.
Triton, Neptune's largest moon, was probably part of a two-body object similar to the Pluto–Charon system. This tandem might have been ripped apart when it strayed too close to the planet that Triton is now orbiting.
A sharp increase in the concentration of calcium ions in a cell is a key biological signal. Now a vital component of a major route by which calcium ions flow into cells has been identified.
The reactivity of inert hydrocarbons can be transformed by a catalytic double act. With the ability to manipulate the lengths of the resulting carbon chains, this development opens up fresh vistas.
For a long time it was thought that there are only two types of T helper cell. But it is becoming clear that there may be other lineages that influence inflammatory responses in certain circumstances.
Phase changes in matter generally occur by building up from small nuclei of the new phase. Scattering experiments and computer simulations reveal the characteristic size of the smallest of these nuclei.
Xenon trapped beneath Earth's crust provides clues to how our planet evolved, but quantifying atmospheric contamination has been impossible. The latest analysis surmounts a barrier to our understanding.
A three-body gravitational encounter between a binary system — with properties like that of the Pluto–Charon — and Neptune is the most likely explanation for the capture of Triton.
The xenon isotopic composition of mantle gases from a natural gas field indicates that heavy noble gases are reintroduced into the mantle at subduction zones — providing an important constraint for future models of convection in the Earth.
A model oxide system based on high-quality heterostructures allows the ferroelectric field effect approach to be studied — including a switch between superconducting and normal modes.
Depositing a straining layer on top of a silicon waveguide breaks the crystal symmetry of silicon and induces a significant electro-optical effect — which could replace electronic components in modern computers with much faster optical alternatives.
The discovery of a large 25-cm fossil meteorite and several smaller fragments allows for an unambiguous characterization of an impactor at a large crater.
Radiocarbon data from bones suggests that the faunal change from the transition between Pleistocene and Holocene was a function of ecological and vegetational change rather than human-induced ‘overkill’.
Two species of Howea palm endemic to the remote Lord Howe Island are sister taxa and diverged from each other well after the island was formed 6.9 million years ago — providing clear support for sympatric speciation.
In hover wasps, helpers forfeit or delay their own reproduction to rear the offspring of a dominant female — but individuals work less hard when they stand to lose more future fitness through working.
In chicks, the neural crest originates before gastrulation — at a much earlier stage than previously thought — and the transcription factor Pax7, one of the earliest markers for neural crest, is required for its initiation.
The simple disaccharide trehalose may act as a developmental signal to regulate inflorescence architecture, which is critical for maize crop yields — this role also seems to be conserved in crops of other cereals.
Replacing parts of a viral capsid protein with those from a related virus can circumvent pre-existing antibody immunity — without compromising its intrinsic imunogenicity.
They arrive from other disciplines; they spread into distant fields. Toxicology is a voyage of discovery for scientists with diverse skills, including those of communication. Ricki Lewis gets them to open up about it.
