Volume 492 Issue 7429, 20 December 2012

Despite some shortcomings, a global study of health metrics should be applauded.

Japanese scientists deserve support in their bid for the next big collider.

US science advocates are depending on strategies and statistics that may not survive contemporary politics, says David Goldston.

The news in brief: Broken boiler delays Antarctic drilling; Texas cancer institute faces criminal probe; and massive shark sanctuary is founded in the Pacific.

Early results from Atacama telescope signal the opening of a scientific frontier.

Government plans to close struggling institutions and increase funding to the best.

Amgen’s deal with deCODE Genetics shows value of combined medical and genetic data.

Study tracks changes in life expectancy and health burdens.

Court decision sets precedent for protecting intellectual property.

This epic year for science saw the discovery of the Higgs boson and Curiosity’s arrival on Mars, but researchers also felt the sting of austerity.

Disintegrating ice, spectacular sunbursts and minuscule lizards are among 2012’s most striking pictures.

Ten people who mattered this year.

The debate over publishing potentially dangerous research on flu viruses would benefit from a closer look at history, argue David Kaiser and Jonathan D. Moreno.

Those wishing to maximize the benefits of public research must require more than free access, says Cameron Neylon — they must facilitate reuse.

Jamie Goode tracks how our changing climate is sending ripples of disruption through the wine world.

Nature uncorks five tales of researchers who plunged into the heady science of viticulture.

Ewen Callaway delights in a cherry-picked selection of the London Natural History Museum's gargantuan trove.

David Katz finds much to chew on in a polemic on the risk of consuming too much high-fructose corn syrup.

A thermal effect predicted more than 40 years ago was nearly forgotten, while a related phenomenon stole the limelight. Now experimentally verified, the effect could spur the development of heat-controlling devices. See Letter p.401

The RNA-binding protein FMR1 has a key role in the neurodevelopmental disorder fragile X syndrome, but the RNAs targeted by the protein were mostly unknown. An analysis reveals thousands of possible targets. See Article p.382

Heart muscle cells die en masse after injury, yet the adult mammalian heart retains little capacity to regenerate them. Regulatory microRNA sequences may stimulate self-renewal of these muscle cells. See Article p.376

It is increasingly accepted that metabolic changes in cancer cells can drive tumour formation. The finding that the SIRT6 protein suppresses tumour formation by regulating metabolism adds weight to this view.

Tet proteins regulate gene expression by removing methyl groups from DNA bases. This activity may be a facilitating step in turning on the cell-division pathway that produces sperm and egg cells. See Letter p.443

A sample of the hydroxyl radical has been cooled to a temperature of a few millikelvin. The result opens the door to observing phenomena such as Bose–Einstein condensation of molecules in their ground state. See Letter p.396

Adapted extracts from selected News & Views articles published this year.

A series of genetic studies have led to the discovery of novel independent loci and candidate genes associated with red blood cell phenotype; for a proportion of these genes potential single-nucleotide genetic variants are also identified, providing new insights into genetic pathways controlling red blood cell formation, function and pathology.

The human heart regenerates poorly, causing insufficient healing after injury; here, microRNAs screened for the ability to induce cardiomyocyte proliferation are shown to stimulate cardiac regeneration and almost complete recovery of the heart after infarction.

RNA-recognition elements are identified for the fragile-X-syndrome-associated RNA-binding protein FMRP, in addition to its target messenger RNAs; although many of FMRP gene targets discovered are involved in brain function and autism spectrum disorder, a proportion are also dysregulated in mouse ovaries, suggesting cross-regulation of signalling pathways in different tissues.

The X-ray crystal structure of the human G-protein-coupled receptor protease-activated receptor 1 (PAR1) bound to the antagonist vorapaxar is solved, revealing an unusual method of drug binding that should facilitate the development of improved PAR1-selective antagonists.

Globular clusters can be grouped into a few distinct families on the basis of the radial distribution of ‘blue stragglers’, stars with masses greater than those at the turn-off point on the main sequence; this grouping can yield a direct measure of the cluster’s dynamical age purely from observed properties.

Evaporative cooling of molecules has not been achieved so far, owing to unfavourable collision properties and trap losses; microwave-forced evaporative cooling of hydroxyl molecules loaded in a magnetic quadrupole trap is now reported.

A thermal analogue of a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID, widely used to measure small magnetic fields) is realized, in which the flow of heat between the superconductors is dependent on the quantum phase difference between them.

Neutron scattering measurements on single-crystal samples of the mineral herbertsmithite, which is a spin-1/2 kagome-lattice antiferromagnet, provide evidence of fractionalized spin excitations at low temperatures, indicating that the ground state of herbertsmithite may be a quantum spin liquid.

Results on light scattering from metal hole arrays show the relative importance of surface plasmon polaritons and quasi-cylindrical waves in extraordinary optical transmission.

Measurements of the viscous anisotropy of highly deformed polycrystalline olivine find it to be approximately an order of magnitude larger than that predicted by grain-scale simulations; the maximum degree of anisotropy is reached at geologically low shear strain, such that deforming regions of the Earth’s upper mantle should exhibit significant viscous anisotropy.

Critical transitions in experimental and theoretical systems can be anticipated on the basis of specific warning signs, with ‘critical slowing down’ being the best studied; long-term data from a real system, a Chinese lake, now show that a flickering phenomenon can be observed up to 20 years before the critical transition to a eutrophic state.

The Gossypium genus is used to investigate emergent consequences of polyploidy in cotton species; comparative genomic analyses reveal a complex evolutionary history including interactions among subgenomes that result in genetic novelty in elite cottons and provide insight into the evolution of spinnable fibres.

High-speed tracking of effortful responses and neuronal activity in rats during a forced swim test identifies medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) neurons that respond during escape-related swimming but not normal locomotion, and optogenetics shows that mPFC neurons projecting to the brainstem dorsal raphe nucleus, which is implicated in depression, modulate this behavioural response to challenge

Dopamine is synonymous with reward in mammals but associated with aversive reinforcement in insects, where reward seems to be signalled by octopamine; here it is shown that flies have discrete populations of dopamine neurons representing positive or negative values that are coordinately regulated by octopamine.

A whole-genome and transcriptome analysis of 20 human induced pluripotent stem-cell lines shows that reprogramming does not necessarily add de novo copy number variants to what is already present in the somatic cells from which they originated.

A loss-of-function approach in mice is used to show that the methylcytosine dioxygenase Tet1 has a role in regulating meiosis and meiotic gene activation in female germ cells; Tet1 deficiency does not greatly affect genome-wide demethylation but has a more specific effect on the expression of a subset of meiotic genes.

The crystal structure of the Mediator head module from the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe is solved at 3.4 Å resolution.

GABA-releasing neurons from the ventral tegmental area that project to the nucleus accumbens are shown to block the firing of cholinergic accumbal interneurons, affecting learning in mice.

The three Nordic winners of this year's Nature mentoring awards respond exceptionally to scientific and personal challenges, says Philip Campbell.

Materials scientist hopes tenure will allow her time for new research directions — and to play the piano.

The best mentors listen closely, help to set goals and have useful networks.

US National Academies suspends popular science programme.

Executive director of US postdoctoral association steps down.

Things can only get better.

Science is finally getting to grips with this enigmatic autoimmune disease.

No mere passive barrier, the skin is being revealed to be an active part of the immune system. Researchers are now starting to understand its role in driving psoriasis.

Severe psoriasis carries cardiovascular risks. Dermatologists should consider more than just patients' outer layers, argues Henning Boehncke.

Recent discoveries are redefining the role of the immune system in psoriasis, and may help to unravel the mystery of the disease's origins.

The latest drugs hold fantastic promise for people with severe psoriasis. But where are the treatment options for the far larger number with less serious cases?

Our skin is home to thousands of species of bacteria — and when these microscopic societies are disrupted, skin infections can arise.

As the link between stress and psoriasis flare-ups becomes clearer, it seems the most vulnerable patients require a new type of treatment.

Psoriasis can have a profound impact on patients' emotional and social lives. Christopher Griffiths, a dermatologist at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, discusses the disease's psychological fallout and its links with stress.

After decades of modest advances, psoriasis research has caught fire. The drug pipeline is full of novel agents. Research into the role of the immune system in this skin disease is bearing fruit. Genetic studies hint at the condition's starting point. And now psoriasis is a proof-of-principle disease for other chronic inflammatory conditions.