Volume 548 Issue 7669, 31 August 2017

Hurricane Harvey highlights the struggle to apply climate science.

Scientists might have made a difference, had they protested against laws that now threaten what can be taught in our classrooms, argues Brandon Haught.

The week in science 25–31 August 2017.

High-speed shooter will help scientists to make molecular movies.

Australian lawsuit highlights how difficult it is to turn global warming data into useful advice.

Energy researcher Daniel Kammen faults US president’s positions on climate change and energy and his failure to condemn white supremacists.

The animals seem to have died while huddling together 70 million years ago.

Blast from Hunley’s own torpedo probably killed its crew instantly.

As the mission speeds towards its conclusion, Nature takes a look at what researchers have learnt about the planet’s moons, rings and tempest-filled skies.

Lab heads should let junior researchers take their projects with them when they start their own labs — it drives innovation and discovery, argues Ben A. Barres.

Stuart Russell weighs up a book on the risks and rewards of the AI revolution.

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

Paul Cairney examines the tangled history of one nation's drive for social equity.

Binary star systems known as cataclysmic variables can exhibit violent explosions called novae. Observations of a system hundreds of years after a nova reveal details about the long-term effects of such explosions. See Letter p.558

Bacteria and archaea use an innate immune system called CRISPR–Cas to combat viral infection. The identification of a family of molecules that play a key part in this system deepens our understanding of such immunity. See Article p.543

A revised timeline for when algae became ecologically important among plankton in the ancient oceans reveals a link between chemical changes in those waters and the emergence of animals in marine ecosystems. See Letter p.578

Molecules that block the activity or production of the protein ANGPTL3 have now been found to lower blood levels of lipoproteins and cholesterol in mice and healthy humans, mimicking the protective effects of genetic mutations in ANGPTL3.

A study confirms that volcanism set off one of Earth's fastest global-warming events. But the release of greenhouse gases was slow enough for negative feedbacks to mitigate impacts such as ocean acidification. See Letter p.573

Formaldehyde, a DNA-damaging agent formed in cells, has now been shown to support metabolic processes that involve molecular units containing a single carbon atom — linking metabolism to a DNA-protection mechanism. See Article p.549

The discovery of the inflammasome protein complex in 2002 was a breakthrough in our understanding of how the immune system triggers inflammation. Now researchers are attempting to modulate its activity to treat disease.

The authors describe a two-cell-type CRISPR screen to identify tumour-intrinsic genes that regulate the sensitivity of cancer cells to effector T cell function.

CRISPR-associated protein Csm6 is activated by a cyclic oligoadenylate second messenger generated by Cas10 activity in the CRISPR type III interference complex, representing a novel mechanism of CRISPR interference.

The mechanism by which formaldehyde, a potent DNA and protein crosslinking agent, is generated from folate is described, with implications for the treatment of certain cancers.

Estimates of parameters of strong gravitational lenses are obtained in an automated way using convolutional neural networks, with similar accuracy and greatly improved speed compared to previous methods.

The re-discovery of the binary star system that created the Nova Scorpii AD 1437 stellar outburst shows that it is now a dwarf nova, suggesting that nova systems spend some time as dwarf novae in between larger outbursts.

Antiskyrmions, in which the magnetization rotates both as a transverse helix and as a cycloid, are found in acentric tetragonal Heusler compounds over a wide range of temperatures.

Rotary molecular machines, activated by ultraviolet light, are able to perturb and drill into cell membranes in a controllable manner, and more efficiently than those exhibiting flip-flopping or random motion.

Boron and carbon isotope data, used in an Earth system model, show that the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum was associated with a much greater release of carbon than thought, most probably triggered by volcanism in the North Atlantic.

Steroid biomarkers provide evidence for a rapid rise of marine planktonic algae between 659 and 645 million years ago, establishing more efficient energy transfers and driving ecosystems towards larger and increasingly complex organisms.

GABAergic Lhx6⁺ neurons in the ventral zona incerta promote both rapid eye movement and non-rapid eye movement sleep and inhibit the activity of wake-promoting GABAergic and Hcrt⁺ neurons of the lateral hypothalamus.

Steady-state turnover of the Drosophila midgut arises through an intercellular, E-cadherin–EGFR relay that couples the death of individual enterocytes to the divisions of nearby stem cells.

In a preclinical study, dopaminergic neurons derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells were implanted into a primate model of Parkinson’s disease, where they were found to exhibit long-term survival, function as mid-brain dopaminergic neurons, and increase spontaneous movements.

Up to 10% of individuals in malaria-endemic regions produce antibodies that react to malaria antigens through an additional LAIR1 domain that is inserted by two different insertion modalities.

The tumour suppressor liver kinase B1 (LKB1) regulates the metabolic and functional fitness of regulatory T cells in the control of immune tolerance and homeostasis.

A high-throughput approach using a DNA-barcoded nucleosome library shows that ISWI chromatin remodellers can distinguish between differently modified nucleosomes.

Software programming, algorithm development and other technological skills can give scientists an edge in their fields.

A Vietnamese emigrant explores the health benefits of Asian plants.

Breaking new ground.