Volume 452 Issue 7190, 24 April 2008

It's time to make the case for proteins.

Yet another surprise has been uncovered in the complex oxides.

Experiment at Fermilab gave women fewer opportunities to present at conferences.

Gran Sasso detector picks up unusual signal.

Government ethics-committee guidelines could halt techniques such as hybridization of roses.

Project aims to characterize all human proteins.

Fullerenes could be used to reduce amount of power needed in memory devices.

High-temperature materials set scientific community a-buzzing.

World Health Organization standardizes nomenclature, but experts say GPS sample locations should be given.

Scribbles on the margins of science.

Dora Akunyili is director-general of Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). Since her appointment in 2001, she has led a successful crusade against counterfeit pharmaceuticals, which are responsible for millions of deaths worldwide each year. Nature caught up with her last week in Washington DC.

Lyle Palmer has plans for a 'ludicrously ambitious' gene - disease research project. Bijal Trivedi reports on the trials at Joondalup.

Battling rumours of death beams and mind control, an ionosphere research facility in Alaska finally brings science to the fore. Sharon Weinberger reports.

Science funding in the European Union needs to be revised to better serve economic, social and environmental goals, Luke Georghiou argues.

Stories of seventeeth-century scientists and aristocrats show how Dutch ingenuity benefited England.

The perceptive drawings, paintings, photographs and slides of Spain's neuroanatomy pioneer record a tale of ambition and rivalry, reports Alison Abbott

The gut prevents nutrient overload during a meal by promoting satiety and enhancing insulin secretion. New findings show that nutrients in the gut also activate a neural circuit that increases insulin sensitivity.

Light always travels at the same speed in a vacuum, no more, no less. But in materials, there's room for manoeuvre: tweak the right material in the right way, and exciting optoelectronic properties result.

Insects possess refined olfactory systems that use specific receptors on their antennae. It emerges that these receptors not only detect odour molecules but, unexpectedly, can also act as ion channels.

What do you see if you peer into the exhaust of a jet engine larger than our Solar System? Only astronomers with the largest radio telescopes can see the full picture — and definitive observations are beginning to filter through.

Why would two distant genes — on separate chromosomes and from different nuclear locations — unite in response to signals for gene expression? They might be seeds for the formation of transcriptional hubs.

The beetle Tribolium castaneum is a commonly used laboratory model, combining the ease of systematic RNAi experiments like those in Caenorhabditis elegans, with biology that is more representative of most insects than Drosophila melanogaster. A large consortium has sequenced and analysed the genome of the red flour beetle, creating a resource for biologists everywhere.

A study that combines in vivo systems neuroscience with synaptic physiology and Drosophila genetics identifies a presynaptic form of lateral inhibition in the olfactory system. The mechanism allows for a flexible form of gain control, which promotes coding efficiency when stimuli are strong and unambiguous, but maximizes sensitivity when stimuli are weak and ambiguous.

Base lesions can be directly repaired by oxidative dealkylation catalysed by AlkB in bacteria and by ABH2/ABH3 in man. Several structures of AlkB and ABH2 bound to dsDNA are solved. These structures reveal why AlkB prefers ssDNA to dsDNA substrates, and how ABH2 differs structurally, to allow it to repair dsDNA.

Sequences of high-resolution radio images and optical polarization measurements of the blazar BL Lacertae are reported. The data reveal a bright feature in the jet that causes a double flare of radiation from optical frequencies to TeV γ-ray energies. It is concluded that the event starts in a region with a helical magnetic field as envisaged by the theories.

In the conventional quantum Hall effect, a two-dimensional electronic system in the presence of a magnetic field forms metallic conduction paths at the edge of the sample. This paper experimentally demonstrates a sought-after three-dimensional and spontaneous version of this effect; the bulk of a Bi0.9Sb0.1 crystal is shown to be insulating, while two-dimensional metallic conduction paths exist at the surface, without any applied magnetic field.

This paper reports first-principles calculations of the role of phonons in La2_−xSr_xCuO4 (LSCO). It is demonstrated that the phonon-induced renormalization of the electron energies and the Fermi velocity is almost one order of magnitude smaller than the effect observed in photoemission experiments. Therefore the present finding rules out electron–phonon interaction in bulk LSCO as the exclusive origin of the measured kink.

A global biogeochemical box model is used to test competing hypotheses put forward to explain the Eocene/Oligocene transition. It is found that only shelf-to-deep-sea carbonate partitioning is capable of explaining the observed changes in both carbon isotope composition and calcium carbonate accumulation at the sea floor. This work sheds new light on the mechanisms linking glaciation and ocean acidity change across the climate transition of the Cenozoic.

The results of first-principles molecular dynamics simulations of hydrous silicate melt is reported, showing that pressure has a profound influence on speciation of the water component. It is inferred that the speciation changes from being dominated by hydroxyls and water molecules at low pressure to extended structures at high pressure. This change in structure is linked to the finding that the water–silicate system becomes increasingly ideal at high pressure, indicating complete miscibility of water and silicate melt throughout almost the entire mantle pressure regime.

It is reported that the current severe outbreak of the mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) in British Columbia is likely to convert the forest from a small net carbon sink to a large net carbon source, something, it is argued, should be taken into account when modelling the impact of climate change on carbon cycling.

Researchers from Hawaii and an international consortium have produced a draft genome assembly for 'SunUp', the first commercial virus-resistant transgenic fruit tree. Comparison of this plant genome to those of Arabidopsis and others sheds light on evolution of characteristics such as biosynthesis, starch deposition, control of photosynthesis and pathways for creating volatile compounds.

Across human populations, individual ability to deal with stress and anxiety spans a wide range. The causes of emotional resilience are complex; this paper shows the contribution of genetic variance in expression of neuropeptide Y (NPY), an anxiolytic peptide released in emotion-related neural circuitry. Genetic variants were predictive of not only NPY levels, but also fMRI and PET activation in response to emotional stimuli and pain-induced stress.

Olfactory cues are detected by large families of seven transmembrane-spanning receptors, which have until now been classified as G-protein-coupled receptors. In insects, these odorant receptors require a second protein (Or83b) for correct function. These heteromeric receptors form ligand-gated cation channels that are not dependent on G protein-coupled second messengers and it is speculated that seven other transmembrane-spanning proteins may show similar ion channel activity.

Olfactory cues are detected by large families of seven transmembrane-spanning receptors, which have until now been classified as G-protein-coupled receptors. In insects, these odorant receptors require a second protein (Or83b) for correct function. The second of two related papers shows that, in addition to direct channel activation, ligand binding to odorant receptors causes G-protein-coupled channel activation.

The presence of lipids in the intestine causes a reduction in nutrient intake, but it is now shown that lipids present in the intestine also regulate endogenous nutrient production. According to the data, putative intra-intestinal lipid sensors signal the presence of ingested lipids, via the brain, to the liver, which reduces the endogenous glucose production accordingly.

A genome-wide screen for mRNAs that were polyadenylated at meiotic transitions noted that many contained an ARE, a deadenylation element, as well as a cytoplasmic polyadenylation element (CPE). One such mRNA encodes C3H-4, a protein that promotes shortening of polyA tails. The data suggest a model in which the early extension of polyadenylation through the CPE element leads to expression of C3H-4, which then acts in a negative feedback loop to deadenylate, and deactivate, those mRNAs that also contain an ARE, thereby allowing exit from metaphase.

A crystal structure of the intact, dimeric phage λ cI repressor bound to a DNA operator site reveals an unusual architecture allowing the repressor to adopt a conformation that facilitates cooperative binding to adjacent operator sites.

Young researchers in China face stiff competition as they strive to establish labs or find other scientific careers. Wei Zeng explores what it takes to succeed as a Chinese scientist.

New European Science Foundation chief executive brings varied experience.

From a student's struggles, a new mentor programme for minority students blossoms.

I sacrifice an awful lot in the name of science.

A capital idea.

Mountain pine beetles contribute to carbon release and climate change.