Volume 530 Issue 7588, 4 February 2016

US policymakers must set aside their divisions and give climate research a much-needed boost.

The European Union has its issues, but a Brexit could spell problems for science.

There is no excuse for the shoddy practice of allowing researchers to change outcomes and goals without saying so, says Ben Goldacre.

GM fish flip-flop; Earth’s crust drilled; and stem-cell scandal memoirs published.

Organization says spike might be the result of heightened awareness because of possible link to Zika — but not everyone agrees.

If the United Kingdom leaves the EU, researchers throughout the bloc will feel the effects.

Columbia courts philanthropic benefactors to support research in impacts and adaptation.

Industry and researchers push for ways to assess memory and concentration deficits.

Team at Francis Crick Institute permitted to use CRISPR–Cas9 technology in embryos for early-development research.

Research clusters emerge as the big success of Germany’s Excellence Initiative — despite its focus on elite institutes.

As Earth's dry zones shift rapidly polewards, researchers are scrambling to figure out the cause — and consequences.

Rigid robots step aside — a new generation of squishy, stretchy machines is wiggling our way.

Mistakes in peer-reviewed papers are easy to find but hard to fix, report David B. Allison and colleagues.

Thomas Schnalke extols the dual genius of pathology sculptor and abstract artist Adolf Fleischmann.

Barbara Kiser reviews five of the week's best science picks.

Ewen Callaway finds smart design fostering collaboration at London's biology super-lab.

The water-splitting reaction is a promising route to renewable energy. Catalytic hotspots, and the best sites for co-catalyst placement, have now been pinpointed in a water-splitting catalyst, guiding future catalyst design. See Letter p.77

Plots of survival against time for nematode worms in different conditions can be superimposed by rescaling the time axis. This observation has far-reaching implications for our understanding of the nature of ageing. See Letter p.103

The native structure of the protein α-synuclein, which is implicated in Parkinson's disease, is controversial. In-cell nuclear magnetic resonance now shows that it remains disordered when loaded into living cells. See Article p.45

The response of electrons in atoms to ultrashort optical light pulses has been probed by measuring the ultraviolet light emitted by the atoms. This reveals that a finite time delay occurs before the response. See Letter p.66

Connective-tissue cells known as fibroblasts display an increasing spectrum of functions. Different fibroblast subtypes are now shown to either promote or suppress inflammation-associated intestinal cancers.

Atomic resolution in-cell NMR and EPR spectroscopy show that the human amyloid protein α-synuclein remains disordered within all mammalian cells tested, including neurons, and identifies which parts of the protein dynamically interact or remain shielded from the cytoplasm, thus counteracting aggregation under physiological cell conditions.

By examining viral sequences in lymphoid tissue from three HIV-1-infected individuals receiving drug therapy, the authors find phylogenetic evidence for ongoing virus replication, suggesting that the antiretroviral drug concentration in the lymphoid tissue is insufficient to fully suppress the virus; using a mathematical model, they further explain why drug resistance does not necessarily arise as a result.

Genomic studies of the paediatric brain tumour medulloblastoma have revealed four clinically distinct molecular subgroups; here active gene regulatory elements in 28 primary medulloblastoma tissues are mapped to reveal differentially regulated enhancers across the different subgroups, allowing insights into the transcription factors that characterize subgroup divergence and the cellular origin of the poorly characterized Group 3 and 4 subgroups.

The precise mass, bulk density, porosity and internal structure of the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko are calculated, on the basis of its gravity field, showing it to be dusty, homogeneous, low-density and highly porous.

Intense light pulses in the visible and adjacent spectral ranges with their energy mostly confined to a half wave cycle—optical attosecond pulses—are synthesized and used to measure the time it takes electrons to respond to light.

Electronic implants are often used in diagnosing and treating human illness, but permanent implants come with problems; here, devices are described that can sense temperature, pressure, pH or thermal characteristics, and—crucially—are fully resorbable by the body.

Using single-molecule fluorescence imaging of photoelectrocatalysis, the charge-carrier activities on single TiO₂ nanorods and the corresponding water-oxidation photocurrent are mapped at high spatiotemporal resolution, revealing the best catalytic sites and the most effective sites for depositing an oxygen evolution catalyst.

Deformation experiments on lawsonite reveal that unstable fault slip occurs during dehydration reactions with continuous acoustic emission signals; this indicates the potential for unstable frictional sliding in natural lawsonite layers, which could possibly be the source of intermediate-depth earthquakes in cold subduction zones.

Historical assessment of nectar provision in the UK from the 1930s to 2007 shows an initial dramatic fall, but more recently nectar provision has increased; the diversity of nectar sources has fallen to the point that four species now produce half of the total UK nectar.

Robust phylogenetic analysis based on transcriptomes of Xenoturbella and acoelomorph worms shows that Xenacoelomorpha is an early bilaterian lineage forming the sister group to Nephrozoa.

Description of four new species of Xenoturbella and phylogenomic analyses, aligning Xenacoelomorpha as sister group to the rest of Bilateria, or as sister to Protostomia.

Lentivirus-based transgenic Macaca fascicularis monkeys are generated expressing the human MECP2 transgene in the brain, and they display behavioural alterations including changes in social interaction and increased anxiety; germline transmission of the transgene to the F₁ offspring is shown, and these monkeys also had an altered social interaction phenotype.

A diverse range of molecular and genetic manipulations all alter lifespan distributions of Caenorhabditis elegans by an apparent stretching or shrinking of time.

An adeno-associated virus (AAV) receptor protein essential for AAV2 entry into cells is identified; AAV receptor binds directly to the virus, and its ablation renders a diverse range of mammalian cell types and mice resistant to infection by AAV of multiple serotypes.

Genome-wide binding profiles for eight different chromatin remodellers in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells are determined at single nucleosome resolution; each remodeller binds at specific nucleosome positions relative to the start of genes, and the same remodeller acts as a positive or negative regulator of transcription depending on the promoter chromatin organization and epigenetic marking of the gene it binds.

Peer-review platforms built around online pre-print repositories spread to astrophysics.

Alice Allen discusses the volunteer-run Astrophysics Source Code Library.

A strong network of mentors provides a wealth of experience from which to learn.

Eleftherios P. Diamandis considers when to retire.

A scientific project manager enjoys making connections.

An investment for the future.