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Philanthropic research funding has become increasingly important in recent years, but much of it comes at a cost: charities rarely pay the full overheads of research, and agenda-driven funding sources may skew research priorities. In a Comment piece, Patrick Aebischer argues that universities should levy full economic costs in their dealings with charities in order to cover additional expenses such as buildings, maintenance and staff. Cover art: 2&3 Illustration.
The week in science: US authorities crack down on plagiarism; failed Mars probe splashes down in the Pacific; and chemical firm BASF shifts its transgenic-plant operations out of Europe.
A proposal to restrict the planned publication of research on a potentially deadly avian influenza virus is causing a furore. Ten experts suggest ways to proceed.
Molecular helicity affects many of the bulk properties of materials. A study finds that helicity also controls the self-assembly of colloidal particles, opening the door to a new generation of functional materials. See Letter p.348
Genomic analyses of tumours of the childhood cancer retinoblastoma reveal a low mutation rate, challenging the view that genomic instability is crucial for its progression. The work also identifies a new therapeutic target. See Article p.329
Molecular machines containing related protein subunits are common in cells. Reconstruction of ancient proteins suggests that this type of complexity can evolve in the absence of any initial selective advantage. See Letter p.360
Astronomers value the smallest galaxies for the clues they can provide about how galaxies form. But only those nearest to us are easily detectable. A neat technique has allowed one such object to be found at a large distance. See Letter p.341
The orchestration of cell division requires a programme of events choreographed by protein modification. A study shows that the relative activity of a phosphatase enzyme towards its substrates imposes order during the final act of division.
Any chemist will tell you that amide compounds are renowned for their stability, yet a family of amides has been discovered that is surprisingly unstable. The cause of this phenomenon is even more surprising.
On binding to its target hormone, the oestrogen-receptor protein modulates the expression of many genes. Changes in the receptor's interaction with DNA have now been linked to clinical outcome in patients with breast cancer. See Letter p.389
A synthesis of recent research shows that the effects of human actions have already altered the regional hydrology and energy balance of parts of the Amazon basin, and that interactions between deforestation, fire and climate change are likely to further alter carbon storage, precipitation patterns and river discharge.
The retinoblastoma genome is shown to be stable, but multiple cancer pathways are identified that are epigenetically deregulated, providing potential new therapeutic targets.
The crystal structure of histone deacetylase HDAC3 bound to the co-repressor SMRT is reported, and suggests that inositol tetraphosphate could act as a regulator of HDAC3; this has therapeutic implications, because HDACs are emerging targets of anti-cancer drugs.
The discovery of a distant, low-mass satellite galaxy helps to constrain the mass function for substructure beyond the local Universe to a form that agrees at the 95 per cent confidence level with predictions based on cold dark matter.
Exploiting the weak interactions between electron spins and nuclear spins in silicon-based quantum dots leads to a dephasing time two orders of magnitude greater than in analogous gallium-arsenide-based devices, demonstrating the potential of silicon as a host material for quantum information processing.
Molecular chirality can be used to control interfacial tension in multi-component mixtures of chiral molecules, and tuning the chirality makes it possible to produce and manipulate self-assembling complex chiral structures.
Decreased rates of recovery from perturbations, or critical slowing down, are demonstrated in a living system, indicating that recovery rates can be used to probe the resilience of complex systems.
Affinity tagging, mass spectroscopy and a tailor-made scoring system are used to identify 497 high-confidence interactions between human proteins and human immunodeficiency virus proteins.
The transcription cofactor CBF-β is shown to regulate the ability of HIV-1 to evade host restriction mediated by the deaminase APOBEC3; it acts by interacting with the HIV protein Vif, so disrupting the Vif–CBF-β interaction could provide a new therapeutic target against HIV-1 infection.
Tumour cells with defective mitochondria are found to use glutamine-dependent reductive carboxylation, rather than oxidative metabolism, as the major pathway of citrate and lipid formation.
Genome-wide mapping of oestrogen receptor-α binding sites in primary breast cancer tissues shows that oestrogen receptor binding is dynamically regulated and that the expression of genes near differentially bound regulatory regions is associated with clinical outcome.
The regular Insight 'Frontiers in Biology' covers important developments in biology. Reviews include innate immune signalling in tissue homeostasis, the DNA damage response in cancer treatment, therapeutic promise of patient-derived pluripotent stem cells, clonal evolution in cancer and the impact of mouse genetics on the study of bone physiology.