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.
For big oil companies, carbon dioxide is waste; for people who grow fruit, it's a valuable commodity. Ned Stafford reports on a marriage of convenience in the Netherlands.
Chemistry is a key component in all the scientific disciplines. But does that mean it is nothing more than a handy tool — or are there still major chemical questions to crack? Philip Ball finds out.
There's more to ecology than ringing birds, and in this special section Nature explores how the molecular sciences are transforming the field. In this, the first of two features, Sharon Levy explores how atoms in feathers can reveal the secrets of rare warblers. In the second, Carina Dennis unveils a technique that aims to make killing whales for science a thing of the past.
There's more to ecology than ringing birds, and in this special section Nature explores how the molecular sciences are transforming the field. In the first of two features, Sharon Levy explored how atoms in feathers can reveal the secrets of rare warblers. In this, the second, Carina Dennis unveils a technique that aims to make killing whales for science a thing of the past.
Evolutionary changes in the beaks of Darwin's finches have been instrumental in the adaptive radiation of these birds. The molecular basis for variation in beak size and shape is opening up to investigation.
For the first time in a decade, the precision of the fine-structure constant — central to understanding the electromagnetic force — has improved. But even greater accuracy is required to test new physics.
Wouldn't it be nice if you could control the function of any protein with one small molecule? Unlikely as it sounds, this could become possible through a crafty process known as protein splicing.
Cells often need to have polarity to function — cells lining the gut, for instance, secrete digestive enzymes only from their intestinal side. A protein called Bitesize is pivotal in determining which way is up.
A white dwarf burnt-out star and a brown dwarf wannabe star have been found in mutual orbit. This fascinating system has had a turbulent past, and its future evolution could be just as spectacular.
Systems for producing pure hydrogen for fuel cells from methanol run into problems with energy efficiency and short lifetimes. Unless, that is, you combine the right catalyst and the right purification membrane.
Lattice vibrations — phonons — have long been implicated in conventional low-temperature superconductivity. That they could also have a supporting role when the heat is turned up had been dismissed.
A large-scale genomic strategy to identify genes that regulate self renewal of mouse embryonic stem cells identified seven genes whose depletion negatively affects self renewal, including four which were not known to have an established role in self renewal.
Numerical simulations show that random bulk motions of gas in small primordial galaxies, driven by stellar feedback in the form of supernovae, will result in a flattening of the central dark matter cusp on short timescales. Once removed, the cusp cannot be reintroduced during the subsequent mergers involved in the build-up of larger galaxies.
Many sub-stellar companions orbit solar-type stars. These stars can engulf their companions when they become red giants. This paper reports the discovery of a brown dwarf in a short-period orbit around a white dwarf, where the engulfment of the brown dwarf had little effect on it.
Solar radiation is a dominant control on the rate of leaf litter decomposition in the semi-arid Patagonian steppe, which suggests that factors such as cloud cover may influence carbon cycling in semi-arid environments.
Hox genes are first activated in precursor cells of somites, where they control the migratory properties of these cells, and the timing of their ingression and final position in the developing vertebrate column.
By varying the information present in faces using morphing software, face-responsive neurons were shown to be highly sensitive to very small differences in the amount of identity present in a face, consistent with the idea that face-selective responses in this brain area reflect a comparison between an incoming face and an internal reference or norm.
A phosphatase that activates the tumour suppressor protein merlin is identified. An endogenous inhibitor of this phosphatase is often upregulated in human tumours and may contribute to the development of cancer by inactivating merlin.
The synaptotagmin-like protein Bitesize spatially controls F-actin at adherens junctions of the Drosophila primary embryonic epithelium independent of E-cadherin. The polarity cues Par-3 and Phosphatidylinositol (4,5)-biphosphate localize Bitesize in the junctional area. Bitesize binds the F-actin-binding protein Moesin, and thereby controls junction stability.
An analytical model describes how the interplay of various physical parameters of prions and prion particles in yeast leads to the emergence of a particular prion strain. The ability of prion particles to divide and generate new seeds for further growth turns out to be a key determinant of their physiological impact.
Rad54, a translocase that uses the energy of ATP hydrolysis to move along a duplex, promotes Holliday junction branch migration. Genetic studies in yeast have implicated Rad54 as acting late in recombination, when Holliday junctions are present.
