Volume 481 Issue 7382, 26 January 2012

Scientists and politicians are working together to bring new reproductive techniques to Britain.

Computer tablets are changing the way that scientists record their experiments.

Confucius and Zhuang have produced a culture in China that values isolation and inhibits curiosity. Neither is good for science, says Peng Gong.

The week in science: Tar-sands pipeline pulled; radioactive material stolen from nuclear plant under construction in Egypt; and decision on whether to ditch the leap second is postponed.

Public-health benefits of controversial research questioned.

Public consultation and safety assessment would pave the way for embryo manipulation to treat genetic diseases.

US indicators reveal challenges and opportunities as science momentum shifts to China.

Rivals for the Republican nomination laud research but take a hard line on embryonic stem cells and climate.

Genethon relaunches itself as a force for translational medicine.

Armed with high-tech methods, researchers are scouring the Aegean Sea for the world's oldest shipwrecks.

Lab-management software and electronic notebooks are here — and this time, it's more than just talk.

The economic pain of a flattening supply will trump the environment as a reason to curb the use of fossil fuels, say James Murray and David King.

Harold Varmus and Ed Harlow explain how an innovative initiative is opening up neglected areas of oncology.

Martin Rees applauds a biography of the physicist who kickstarted the Pugwash Conferences for arms control.

A tale of multiverses, cosmic inflation and dark energy grips Caleb Scharf.

This year's crop of research-related films moves away from 'mad genius' mode, finds Jascha Hoffman.

Population geneticist who studied mutation, selection and random drift.

Purkinje cells in the brain region known as the cerebellum act by inhibiting their target neurons. A paper in this issue provides an explanation for how this inhibition might be used to control the timing of action potentials. But experts are not equally convinced about the functional relevance of this finding. See Letter p.502

Three examples of a new family of planets, which orbit a pair of stars rather than a single one, have been discovered. The Milky Way may contain millions of these circumbinary planets. See Letter p.475

A study of social networks in the hunter-gatherer Hadza people in Tanzania illuminates the evolutionary origins of humans' unique style of cooperation in groups. See Letter p.497

The ligand-mediated binding of colloid particles to each other is more effective if the particles are flat rather than curved. This finding opens up opportunities for the design of self-assembling materials.

With the laser just over half a century old, another dream of the pioneers of this light source has been fulfilled. An atomic X-ray laser with unprecedentedly high photon energy has been demonstrated. See Letter p.488

Different cell types produce signals that regulate the activity of blood-forming stem cells. A study shows that certain rare mesenchymal cells surrounding blood vessels are the main source of one such signal in mice. See Article p.457

Most drug candidates fail clinical trials, in many cases because the compounds have less than optimal physico-chemical properties. A new method for assessing the 'drug-likeness' of compounds might help to remedy the situation.

The cellular sources of stem cell factor, a major haematopoietic stem cell (HSC) niche cytokine required for HSC maintenance, are identified.

In mice, expression of PGC1-α in muscles is shown to stimulate expression of FNDC5, which is cleaved and secreted in the circulation as the newly identified hormone irisin; on exercise, this hormone stimulates browning of subcutaneous adipose tissue.

The X-ray crystal structure of LeuT, the bacterial homologue of the neurotransmitter sodium symporter family, is reported in the outward-open and inward-open states.

Two double-sun exoplanets have been discovered by the Kepler spacecraft, establishing a new class of ‘circumbinary’ exoplanets and suggesting that at least several million such systems exist in our Galaxy.

Experimental simulations of galaxy-forming conditions using lasers show that the Biermann battery generates seed magnetic fields, which turbulence can amplify to affect galaxy evolution.

No limit to the speed of information propagation exists in non-relativistic quantum field theory, but finite-velocity transport of correlations is now found in a system of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice, aiding fundamental understanding of closed quantum systems far from equilibrium.

A femtosecond, high-intensity atomic X-ray laser with a photon energy of 849 electronvolts is produced in singly ionized neon by pumping using an X-ray free-electron laser.

Kinetic control of the self-assembly of the π-conjugated oligomer S-chiral oligo(p-phenylenevinylene) (SOPV) reveals two competing pathways, leading to a kinetically favoured metastable product and a thermodynamically favoured stable product with opposite helicity, but the addition of a chiral tartaric acid changes the assembly process to produce only the desired metastable product.

The social networks of Hadza hunter-gatherers are structurally similar to modern social networks and show signs of clustering in cooperative behaviour, which suggests that these networks may have contributed to the emergence of cooperation in early humans.

Through a combination of intrinsic and synaptic properties, synchronous activation of a small number of Purkinje cells can set the spike timing of target neurons in the cerebellar nuclei.

The sequencing of AML genomes of eight patients before and after relapse reveals two major patterns of clonal evolution, with chemotherapy appearing to have a role in both patterns.

Acute exercise is shown to induce autophagy in skeletal muscle of fed mice, indicating a possible mechanism for the beneficial metabolic effects of exercise.

Multi-isotope imaging mass spectrometry is used to investigate the ‘immortal strand hypothesis’, Drosophila lipid metabolism and human lymphopoiesis.

Multi-isotope imaging mass spectrometry is used to quantify protein turnover in animal stereocilia, showing that rapid turnover occurs only in stereocilia tips.

A sphingomyelin-binding motif is identified in the membrane-spanning domain of p24, a COPI machinery protein.

The function of the KCNH family of potassium channels is critical for the repolarization of the cardiac action potential and the regulation of neuronal excitability; here, the X-ray crystal structure of the cyclic-nuclotide-binding homology domain of the zebrafish ELK channel is reported.

There is a wealth of fellowships and postdoctoral openings in China for foreign researchers who aren't afraid of culture shock.

The winner of New Zealand's Emerging Scientist prize tells how he achieved success despite a career hiatus.

The looks and the lifestyle.