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Volume 441 Issue 7091, 18 May 2006

Editorial

  • Britain's regulator has taken a sensible approach to the fraught question of what kinds of genetic testing should be permitted on embryos.

    Editorial

    Advertisement

  • Immunology and microbiology come together to fight disease.

    Editorial
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Research Highlights

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News

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News in Brief

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News Feature

  • Prevailing wisdom says the adult brain cannot learn to see if it had no visual stimulation during childhood, but blind people in India seem to be breaking all the rules. Apoorva Mandavilli reports.

    • Apoorva Mandavilli
    News Feature
  • Among their many talents, bacteria are the world's best electrochemists, creating a life-powering flow of electrons in a startling range of conditions. In the first of two features, Nick Lane asks what limits, if any, constrain this ability. In the second, Charlotte Schubert meets the people trying to put this microbial ingenuity to practical use.

    • Nick Lane
    News Feature
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Business

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Correspondence

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Commentary

  • Alternative ways to develop diagnostic tools for use in resource-poor settings can, and do, exist, argue Martine Usdin, Martine Guillerm and Pierre Chirac of Doctors without Borders.

    • Martine Usdin
    • Martine Guillerm
    • Pierre Chirac
    Commentary
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Books & Arts

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Essay

  • Prokaryote: gene-sequence comparisons show the tree of life consists of bacteria, eukarya and archaea. The use of the term ‘prokaryote’ fails to recognize that an idea about life's origins has been proved wrong.

    • Norman R. Pace
    Essay
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News & Views

  • A spore-forming bacterium can escape from social collapse and extinction with a single mutation that has a dramatic effect. Here is evidence that a cooperative system can recover from the very brink of destruction.

    • Kevin R. Foster
    News & Views
  • Three planets of Neptune mass have been discovered orbiting a Sun-like star known to have an asteroid belt. Exquisite measurements suggest that the search for habitable planets might be easier than assumed.

    • David Charbonneau
    News & Views
  • As bacteria become resistant to existing drugs, there is a need for antibiotics with new modes of action. Such a compound has been found, and it works by binding to an intermediate in the catalytic cycle of its target.

    • Eric D. Brown
    News & Views
  • When it's an insulator, of course. Materials that should in theory conduct electricity — but don't — are well known, but the anomalous behaviour of one material has caused particular head-scratching.

    • Steven C. Erwin
    News & Views
  • Keratin proteins perform several functions in skin cells, including those of providing mechanical support and protection against injury. But it seems they also have a more active part to play in healing wounds.

    • M. Bishr Omary
    • Nam-On Ku
    News & Views
  • Ultracold plasmas blur the classical boundaries between the different states of matter. Newly observed electron-density waves could become useful probes of how electrons behave in this exotic regime.

    • Thomas C. Killian
    News & Views
  • A diode that emits light at a shorter wavelength than ever before shows huge — albeit destructive — technological promise. But further work is needed to ensure that this promise is fulfilled.

    • Asif Khan
    News & Views
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News and Views Feature

  • The social activities and organization of bacteria are crucial to their ecological success. But it is only in recent years that we have begun to study these secret societies.

    • Roberto Kolter
    • E. Peter Greenberg
    News and Views Feature
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Brief Communication

  • Putty-nosed monkeys rely on two basic calling sounds to construct a message of utmost urgency.

    • Kate Arnold
    • Klaus Zuberbühler
    Brief Communication
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Article

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Letter

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Prospects

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Movers

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Scientists and Societies

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Graduate Journal

  • How to avoid being 'bugged' in the lab.

    • Mhairi Dupre
    Graduate Journal
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Futures

  • Or, down the multiversal rabbit hole.

    • Michael Moorcock
    Futures
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Authors

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Brief Communications Arising

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