Volume 507 Issue 7490, 6 March 2014

Regulatory agencies must demand conflict-of-interest statements for the research they use.

Identifiers that follow researchers’ work from grant to paper will make funding more effective.

From car design to drug discovery, the failure to acknowledge sex differences can be costly and even lethal, argues Londa Schiebinger.

The week in science: Snow satellite launches; publishers remove computer-generated papers; and Switzerland’s access to EU research funds restricted.

Radioactive leak brings nuclear repositories into the spotlight.

As the third anniversary of the Fukushima disaster nears, the nation is faltering in its resolution to shun nuclear power.

US agency’s reassessment of silica exposure rules provokes conflict-of-interest row with senators.

But the increasingly accurate analyses carry the ethical dilemma of uncertain outcomes.

Debate rages as collectors accused of exporting specimens face up to 20 years in jail.

Costly cancer trials a challenge for revamped US programme.

The roots of inheritance may extend beyond the genome, but the mechanisms remain a puzzle.

Chemists are reinventing rechargeable cells to drive down costs and boost capacity.

Bold strategies are needed to identify the elusive particles that should make up most of the Universe's mass, say Mario Livio and Joe Silk.

With improved breeding and cultivation, ruminant animals can yield food that is better for people and the planet, say Mark C. Eisler, Michael R. F. Lee and colleagues.

Li Gong ponders a translation of a Chinese novel on the world of code-breaking.

Ewen Callaway revels in an exhibition chronicling the ebb and flow of early humanity over the British Isles.

Materials scientist and engineer Andrea Hamilton at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, UK, uses chemistry research to conserve the structural and aesthetic integrity of concrete. She talks about dams, nuclear-waste storage and an artwork that explores weathering.

The discovery of crystallographic imperfections known as disclinations in the most profuse mineral in Earth's upper mantle has the potential to solve a problem that has vexed mineral physicists for decades. See Article p.51

An elastic membrane cast around a three-dimensional printed model of a specific heart allows diverse aspects of cardiac function to be monitored and modified, and paves the way to new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

The protein NRT1.1 transports nitrate ions into plants over a wide range of concentrations. Two studies provide structural insight into this unusual behaviour, but give different explanations for it. See Articles p.68 & p.73

An optomechanical device has been designed that converts radio-frequency electrical signals into laser light. The system could allow computers to share data in a future quantum network based on optical fibres. See Letter p.81

Predicting the long-term evolution of influenza is difficult. But a model incorporating the effects of deleterious and beneficial mutations has met the more tangible goal of predicting year-to-year frequencies of viral groups. See Article p.57

Tumour spread is the main cause of death in patients with melanoma. Exposure of melanoma to ultraviolet radiation has now been found to cause an inflammatory response that drives the formation of distant metastases. See Letter p.109

Using electron backscattering diffraction maps of deformed olivine to resolve the disclinations at grain boundaries, combined with a disclination-based model of a high-angle tilt boundary in olivine, reveals the missing mechanism for describing plastic flow in polycrystalline olivine: an applied shear induces grain-boundary migration through disclination motion.

A computational approach for predicting the future evolution of the human influenza virus, based on population-genetic data of previous strains, is presented; this model holds promise for improving vaccine strain selection for seasonal influenza.

This study defines how a short DNA sequence, known as the PAM, is critical for target DNA interrogation by the CRISPR-associated enzyme Cas9 — DNA melting and heteroduplex formation initiate near the PAM and extend directionally through the remaining target sequence, and the PAM is also required to activate the catalytic activity of Cas9.

In Arabidopsis thaliana the phosphorylation state of the ‘dual affinity’ transporter, NRT1.1, allows the uptake of nitrate over a wide concentration range; the crystal structure and molecular basis for this is described in this study.

A description of the crystal structure of unphosphorylated NRT1.1 provides insights into how phosphorylation switches the nitrate transporter between the low-affinity and high-affinity states.

Observations of a protostellar envelope and disk (from which planets should form) in the relatively close star-forming region of the Taurus molecular cloud reveal unexpected chemistry in the gas between the envelope and the disk: the unsaturated hydrocarbon molecule cyclic-C₃H₂ and sulphur monoxide.

A room-temperature nanomechanical transducer that couples efficiently to both radio waves and light allows radio-frequency signals to be detected as an optical phase shift with quantum-limited sensitivity.

Scanning tunnelling microscopy reveals that molecules of ferrocenecarboxylic acid can self-assemble into quasicrystal monolayers containing highly unusual cyclic hydrogen-bonded pentamers; this molecular framework could form the basis of a large range of supramolecular assemblies.

A global analysis shows that for most tree species the largest trees are the fastest-growing trees, a finding that resolves conflicting assumptions about tree growth and that has implications for understanding forest carbon dynamics, resource allocation trade-offs within trees and plant senescence.

Direct neural recordings from electrodes over bilateral cortices show that sensory–motor transformations for speech occur bilaterally; neural responses are robust during both perception and production in an overt word-repetition task, and bilateral sensory–motor responses can perform transformations between speech-perception and speech-production representations during a non-word transformation task.

Generation of human induced pluripotent stem cells from patient fibroblasts containing ring chromosomes with large deletions reveals that reprogrammed cells lose the abnormal chromosome and duplicate the wild-type homologue through compensatory uniparental disomy, suggesting that cellular reprogramming may hold potential for ‘chromosome therapy’.

This study shows that PADI4-mediated citrullination occurs during pluripotency and that citrullination of H1 results in loosening of chromatin compaction; furthermore, citrullination is shown to be important for the activation of stem-cell genes, for iPS cell reprogramming and to maintain pluripotent cells in the early mouse embryo.

Mouse experiments show that ultraviolet radiation can promote tumour metastasis in melanoma by enhancing the expansion of tumour cells on blood vessel surfaces in a process linked to inflammation and requiring neutrophils and the proteins HMGB1 and TLR4.

Escherichia coli K-12 performs sulphoglycolysis; heterologous expression of enzymes encoded in a ten-gene cluster present in almost all (>91%) available E. coli genomes is used to show that sulphoquinovose is catabolised through four reactions to produce dihydroxyacetone phosphate, which powers energy conservation and growth, and a sulphonate product, which is excreted.

Here it is shown that T-cell receptors accumulate at the immunological synapse after stimulation with cognate antigen and are released in extracellular microvesicles by an ESCRT-dependent mechanism, the microvesicles deliver transcellular signals from CD4 T cells to antigen-presenting B cells and can induce B-cell signalling.

In Arabidopsis, the RNA-directed DNA methylation pathway is important for establishing and maintaining DNA methylation — here Pol V is shown to depend on SUVH2 and SUVH9, where both of these proteins are proposed to bind specifically to methylated DNA to recruit Pol V, providing a self-reinforcing loop mechanism for maintenance of RNA-directed DNA methylation.

China is luring back expatriates with generous incentives, causing many to weigh the pros and cons of returning.

Scientists should find engaging ways to present information to their target audience, says Yoshimi Rii.

Reconnect with your past.

The advent of routine childhood vaccination has led to dramatic declines in many contagious diseases in the United States. Maintaining these gains there and spreading these successes worldwide are major public-health challenges. By Tony Scully.

Malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis are humanity's deadliest foes, and have stymied vaccinologists for centuries. New technology and ideas could finally make a difference.

Extreme temperatures damage vaccines. Efforts are underway to find better ways to deliver the goods.

Tapping into big data could inform better vaccine design.

China is poised to become a major global vaccine maker, but first it must overcome serious problems with quality control.

Researchers are developing a strategy that could put an end to polio forever.

We must push harder to eliminate diseases, for everyone's benefit, say Andrew Artenstein and Gregory Poland.

Faced with outbreaks of preventable diseases, public-health experts need to win over parents who refuse vaccinations.

Klaus Stöhr asks whether those responsible for public health will grasp new opportunities to ensure pandemic vaccine readiness.

Vaccination is a triumph of preventative healthcare. But the project to erect immunological shields against deadly pathogens is far from complete — some of the most lethal diseases still lack effective vaccines. Moreover, major inequities exist in the global distribution of vaccines. Despite substantial advances in vaccine production and development, global efforts to eradicate disease through inoculation still face scientific, technological and economic hurdles.