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Beijing is attempting to introduce a 'green GDP' accounting scheme as a way of ranking local governments' success in achieving economic growth that does not cost the environment. But the scheme is faltering at the pilot stage due to political infighting, says Jane Qiu.
Washington has reached an easy consensus on the need to train more scientists and engineers but, argues David Goldston, the United States needs to consider a broader approach to combat global competition.
Smart investors who know the drugs business well are helping to make Zurich's stock market a popular place for biotechnology firms to raise money. Andrea Chipman reports.
Rising carbon dioxide levels should increase crop yields. But what if their effect on the nutritional value of our food is less benign, asks Ned Stafford.
The ethics committees that oversee research done in humans have been attacked from all sides. Heidi Ledford recounts the struggle to come up with alternatives.
Neuroscientists and engineers are developing ways to help patients overcome paralysis and stroke. But what about mental function itself? Can medical intervention restore consciousness?
Solid particles suspended in the atmosphere have long played second fiddle to greenhouse gases as agents of climate change. A study of atmospheric heating over the Indian Ocean could provoke a rethink.
The human intestine is home to trillions of bacteria. Investigation of the colonization of the infant gut by these microorganisms is a prelude to understanding how they may act in both health and disease.
When two 'bits' of magnetic information race around a nanoscale wire, two factors determine whether or not they survive the course: the condition of the track, and how fast they respond to the starting signal.
Mutations that cause portions of two genes to fuse together and form a hybrid gene are frequent in blood-related cancers. New findings implicate one such fusion gene in the most common type of lung cancer.
The presence of non-magnetic atoms can create a random internal field in magnetic crystals. Tuning that field from outside allows the intrinsic magnetic properties of the material to be precisely controlled.
Signals induced by sex hormones and inflammation have been viewed as different aspects of tumour development. But a three-way interaction between these two classes of signal and carcinogenesis has emerged.
Readout of information from the genome depends on intricate regulation of how DNA is packaged by proteins. The great endeavour to reveal how this packaging operates pan-genomically is now under way.
The evidence for rapid climate change now seems overwhelming. Global temperatures are predicted to rise by up to 4 °C by 2100, with associated alterations in precipitation patterns. Assessing the consequences for biodiversity, and how they might be mitigated, is a Grand Challenge in ecology.
Single-molecule-based sequencing technology is applied to generate genome-wide maps of chromatin modifications in mammalian cells. Histone marks can discriminate genes that are active, poised for activation, or stably repressed and therefore reflect cell state and developmental potential.
A small inversion of chromosome 2p has been found in a significant proportion of non-small-cell lung cancer patients. This inversion gives rise to a fusion protein comprising portions of EML4 and the anaplastic lymphoma kinase, ALK, which functions as a transforming oncogenes. Oncogenic translocations are frequent in haematopoietic tumours, but have only rarely been found in solid tumours.
This paper reports the discovery that a simply measured magnetic response is singular above the Curie temperature of a model, disordered magnet, and that the associated singularity grows to an anomalous divergence at TC. The origin of the singular response is the random internal field induced by an external magnetic field transverse to the favoured direction for magnetization.
A study of the transport of electron spin in single layers of graphene examines how graphene could be a promising material for spintronics applications. Experiments carried out by contacting graphene sheets with four ferromagnetic cobalt electrodes through a thin insulating layer find that electron spin is transported over lengths of 1–2 micrometres. It is expected that longer distances should be possible by improving the electronic quality of the samples.
Measurement of aerosol concentrations, soot amount and solar fluxes over the polluted Indian Ocean using three vertically stacked light weight unmanned aerial vehicles finds that atmospheric brown clouds enhance lower atmospheric solar heating by about 50 per cent. A model study also suggests that atmospheric brown clouds contribute as much as the recent increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gases to regional lower atmospheric warming trends.
The first unambiguous evidence for osteichthyan (bony fishes, including tetrapods) characters in two previously known Late Silurian (423–416 Myr) fishes is reported, demonstrating that they are not only the oldest, but phylogenetically the most primitive osteichthyans known to date
Type 1 diabetes poses an increasing health problem, and clearly results from both genetic and environmental factors. A genome-wide association study has identified at least one gene, previously unexamined in diabetes, which should be followed up in future studies.
Distinct translocation mechanisms and additional translocation partners for ETS genes are found in prostate cancer. This study also provides the first functional evidence that ETS gene deregulation can promote cancer cell invasion in cell lines and pre-malignant prostate lesions in a transgenic mouse model.
There are currently no reliable means for enhancing recovery from extended loss of consciousness following traumatic brain injury. But this paper demonstrates that bilateral deep brain stimulation in the thalamus of a single subject, in a minimally conscious state after brain injury that occured six years earlier, can increase behavioural responsiveness and function.
A systems-modelling approach is used to address the question of why cells often respond in a cell type-specific manner to stimulation or pertubations of the signalling network. It shows that the main determinant of cell specificity is the type, strength and combination of upstream signalling events. These cell-type specific signals are integrated by common effectors to create cell type specific outcomes.
This paper reports the X-ray crystal structure of leukotriene C4 synthase (the pivotal enzyme for the biosynthesis of leukotriene C4), in a complex with glutathione at 3.3 Angstrom. This work may provide a structural basis for the development of new leukotriene C4 synthase inhibitors.
The X-ray crystal structure of human leukotriene C4 synthase, in its apo- and glutathione -complexed forms at 2.00 and 2.15 Å resolution, respectively, is solved. The structure of the enzyme in complex with substrate reveals that the active site enforces a horseshoe-shaped conformation of glutathione and positions its thiol group in a way that explains the selectivity of its chemical reaction.
Awareness about climate change is at an all-time high. Will this surge of attention translate into more jobs for climate scientists? Amanda Haag reports.
