nature

THIS WEEK

Editorials

High-interest clones ▶

Research into cloned human cells has left the spectre of past scientific fraud behind. But reaction to the earlier work still holds worthwhile lessons.

The games begin ▶

Frustrations of the newest European member states will shape debate over research funding.

Back to the Futures ▶

As Nature's science-fiction column reaches a milestone, we recall some of the highlights.

World View

The voice of science: let's agree to disagree ▶

Consensus reports are the bedrock of science-based policy-making. But disagreement and arguments are more useful, says Daniel Sarewitz.

Seven Days

Seven days: 30 September–6 October 2011 ▶

The week in science: farewell to the Tevatron; UK geo-engineering project placed on hold; and duelling over NIH budget.

NEWS IN FOCUS

Nobel announcement marred by winner's death ▶

Immunology takes prize for medicine, but award comes three days too late for one recipient.

Stellar performance nets physics prize ▶

Nobel for supernovae signals of accelerating Universe.

Trillion-dollar brain drain ▶

Enormous costs of mental health problems in Europe not matched by research investment.

Europe cuts funding red tape ▶

Changes to €80-billion Horizon 2020 research programme simplify grant process.

Secrets of the human genome disclosed ▶

Meeting debates ethics of revealing genetic findings.

Nature readers flirt with personal genomics ▶

Survey reveals eagerness to use latest DNA technologies.

Experts question rankings of journals ▶

F1000 scoring system could throw off results, say critics.

Features

Human genetics: Genomes on prescription ▶

The first clinical uses of whole-genome sequencing show just how challenging it can be.

A broken system: The trouble with retractions ▶

A surge in withdrawn papers is highlighting weaknesses in the system for handling them.

COMMENT

Phosphorus cycle: A broken biogeochemical cycle ▶

Excess phosphorus is polluting our environment while, ironically, mineable resources of this essential nutrient are limited. James Elser and Elena Bennett argue that recycling programmes are urgently needed.

Books and Arts

History: Scaling up ▶

Andrew Robinson applauds a chronicle of metrication that balances physics with philosophy.

Books in brief ▶

Palaeoanthropology: Craniums with clout ▶

A look at two early human fossils reveals the prejudices in ideas about human evolution, finds Henry Gee.

Q&A: Speculative realist ▶

Novelist Margaret Atwood's essay collection In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination, published this month, is a companion piece to her dystopian fictional world of global warming and engineered plagues. The Canadian author discusses where she gets her science, and her concerns for the future.

Correspondence

Pharmaceuticals: Reduce drug waste in the environment Michael Depledge | Athena SWAN awards: Bridging the gender gap in UK science Athene Donald, Paul H. Harvey & Angela R. McLean | Stem cells: Cloning advance calls for careful regulation Insoo Hyun & Paul Tesar | Degree courses: Energy should form its own discipline Sheril R. Kirshenbaum & Michael E. Webber | Energy production: Giant dam threatens Brazilian rainforest Alison G. Nazareno & Thomas E. Lovejoy | Research community: Pilot scheme for misconduct database Timothée Flutre, Thomas Julou, Livio Riboli-Sasco & Claire Ribrault | Academic ladder: Discovery inspires those seeking tenure Barbara-Ann Lewis

RESEARCH

Latest Online

An endogenous tumour-promoting ligand of the human aryl hydrocarbon receptor ▶

Christiane A. Opitz, Ulrike M. Litzenburger, Felix Sahm, Martina Ott, Isabel Tritschler et al.

Activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) by environmental xenobiotic to...

Crystal structure of a bacterial homologue of the bile acid sodium symporter ASBT ▶

Nien-Jen Hu, So Iwata, Alexander D. Cameron & David Drew

High cholesterol levels greatly increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Abo...

Metabolic priming by a secreted fungal effector ▶

Armin Djamei, Kerstin Schipper, Franziska Rabe, Anupama Ghosh, Volker Vincon et al.

Maize smut caused by the fungus Ustilago maydis is a widespread disease characte...

Active tactile exploration using a brain–machine–brain interface ▶

Joseph E. O’Doherty, Mikhail A. Lebedev, Peter J. Ifft, Katie Z. Zhuang, Solaiman Shokur et al.

Brain–machine interfaces use neuronal activity recorded from the brain t...

CTCF-promoted RNA polymerase II pausing links DNA methylation to splicing ▶

Sanjeev Shukla, Ersen Kavak, Melissa Gregory, Masahiko Imashimizu, Bojan Shutinoski et al.

Alternative splicing of pre-messenger RNA is a key feature of transcriptome expa...

DNA stretching by bacterial initiators promotes replication origin opening ▶

Karl E. Duderstadt, Kevin Chuang & James M. Berger

Many replication initiators form higher-order oligomers that process host replic...

S-nitrosylation of NADPH oxidase regulates cell death in plant immunity ▶

Byung-Wook Yun, Angela Feechan, Minghui Yin, Noor B. B. Saidi, Thierry Le Bihan et al.

Changes in redox status are a conspicuous feature of immune responses in a varie...

Molecular mechanism of anaerobic ammonium oxidation ▶

Boran Kartal, Wouter J. Maalcke, Naomi M. de Almeida, Irina Cirpus, Jolein Gloerich et al.

Two distinct microbial processes, denitrification and anaerobic ammonium oxidati...

Inhibition of BET recruitment to chromatin as an effective treatment for MLL-fusion leukaemia ▶

Mark A. Dawson, Rab K. Prinjha, Antje Dittman, George Giotopoulos, Marcus Bantscheff et al.

Recurrent chromosomal translocations involving the mixed lineage leukaemia (MLL)...

Articles and Letters

Deep sequencing reveals 50 novel genes for recessive cognitive disorders ▶

Hossein Najmabadi, Hao Hu, Masoud Garshasbi, Tomasz Zemojtel, Seyedeh Sedigheh Abedini et al.

Common diseases are often complex because they are genetically heterogeneous, wi...

Frequent pathway mutations of splicing machinery in myelodysplasia ▶

Kenichi Yoshida, Masashi Sanada, Yuichi Shiraishi, Daniel Nowak, Yasunobu Nagata et al.

Myelodysplastic syndromes and related disorders (myelodysplasia) are a heterogen...

Human oocytes reprogram somatic cells to a pluripotent state ▶

Scott Noggle, Ho-Lim Fung, Athurva Gore, Hector Martinez, Kathleen Crumm Satriani et al.

The exchange of the oocyte’s genome with the genome of a somatic cell, f...

Complement factor H binds malondialdehyde epitopes and protects from oxidative stress ▶

David Weismann, Karsten Hartvigsen, Nadine Lauer, Keiryn L. Bennett, Hendrik P. N. Scholl et al.

Oxidative stress and enhanced lipid peroxidation are linked to many chronic infl...

Mirror extreme BMI phenotypes associated with gene dosage at the chromosome 16p11.2 locus ▶

Sébastien Jacquemont, Alexandre Reymond, Flore Zufferey, Louise Harewood, Robin G. Walters et al.

Both obesity and being underweight have been associated with increased mortality...

Genetic variants in novel pathways influence blood pressure and cardiovascular disease risk ▶

Georg B. Ehret, Patricia B. Munroe, Kenneth M. Rice, Murielle Bochud, Andrew D. Johnson et al.

Blood pressure is a heritable trait influenced by several biological pathways an...

Dynamics of human adipose lipid turnover in health and metabolic disease ▶

Peter Arner, Samuel Bernard, Mehran Salehpour, Göran Possnert, Jakob Liebl et al.

Adipose tissue mass is determined by the storage and removal of triglycerides in...

Endonuclease G is a novel determinant of cardiac hypertrophy and mitochondrial function ▶

Chris McDermott-Roe, Junmei Ye, Rizwan Ahmed, Xi-Ming Sun, Anna Serafín et al.

Left ventricular mass (LVM) is a highly heritable trait and an independent risk ...

Control of flowering and storage organ formation in potato by FLOWERING LOCUS T ▶

Cristina Navarro, José A. Abelenda, Eduard Cruz-Oró, Carlos A. Cuéllar, Shojiro Tamaki et al.

Seasonal fluctuations in day length regulate important aspects of plant developm...

Peripheral SMN restoration is essential for long-term rescue of a severe spinal muscular atrophy mouse model ▶

Yimin Hua, Kentaro Sahashi, Frank Rigo, Gene Hung, Guy Horev et al.

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a motor neuron disease and the leading genetic ...

Pathogenic exon-trapping by SVA retrotransposon and rescue in Fukuyama muscular dystrophy ▶

Mariko Taniguchi-Ikeda, Kazuhiro Kobayashi, Motoi Kanagawa, Chih-chieh Yu, Kouhei Mori et al.

Fukuyama muscular dystrophy (FCMD; MIM253800), one of the most common autosomal ...

ATP-induced helicase slippage reveals highly coordinated subunits ▶

Bo Sun, Daniel S. Johnson, Gayatri Patel, Benjamin Y. Smith, Manjula Pandey et al.

Helicases are vital enzymes that carry out strand separation of duplex nucleic a...

News & Views

Stem cells: Triple genomes go far ▶

George Q. Daley & Jan Helge Solbakk

Molecular medicine: Defence against oxidative damage ▶

Fernando Cruz-Guilloty & Victor L. Perez

Palaeoanthropology: Malapa and the genus Homo ▶

Fred Spoor

Muscular dystrophy: A hidden ancestral legacy trumped ▶

Masayuki Nakamori & Charles Thornton

Corrigendum

Detection of prokaryotic mRNA signifies microbial viability and promotes immunity ▶

Leif E. Sander, Michael J. Davis, Mark V. Boekschoten, Derk Amsen, Christopher C. Dascher et al.

Research Highlights

Neuroscience: A cancer–memory connection | Palaeoanthropology: Adding bite to hominin history | Cell biology: When fat droplets fatten | Climate change ecology: Following frogs as they flee | Biomaterials: 'Braille code' for cell growth | Neuroscience: Autism in a mouse | Zoology: How sounds make goldfish skittish

NEWS & COMMENT

High-interest clones | Microscopy: Bright light, better labels | Phosphorus cycle: A broken biogeochemical cycle | Books in brief | Palaeoanthropology: Craniums with clout | Q&A: Speculative realist | Pharmaceuticals: Reduce drug waste in the environment Michael Depledge | Stem cells: Cloning advance calls for careful regulation Insoo Hyun & Paul Tesar

CAREERS

The human touch

More Biological Sciences ▶

RESEARCH

Latest Online

Crystal structure of a bacterial homologue of the bile acid sodium symporter ASBT ▶

Nien-Jen Hu, So Iwata, Alexander D. Cameron & David Drew

High cholesterol levels greatly increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Abo...

CTCF-promoted RNA polymerase II pausing links DNA methylation to splicing ▶

Sanjeev Shukla, Ersen Kavak, Melissa Gregory, Masahiko Imashimizu, Bojan Shutinoski et al.

Alternative splicing of pre-messenger RNA is a key feature of transcriptome expa...

S-nitrosylation of NADPH oxidase regulates cell death in plant immunity ▶

Byung-Wook Yun, Angela Feechan, Minghui Yin, Noor B. B. Saidi, Thierry Le Bihan et al.

Changes in redox status are a conspicuous feature of immune responses in a varie...

Articles and Letters

Complement factor H binds malondialdehyde epitopes and protects from oxidative stress ▶

David Weismann, Karsten Hartvigsen, Nadine Lauer, Keiryn L. Bennett, Hendrik P. N. Scholl et al.

Oxidative stress and enhanced lipid peroxidation are linked to many chronic infl...

ATP-induced helicase slippage reveals highly coordinated subunits ▶

Bo Sun, Daniel S. Johnson, Gayatri Patel, Benjamin Y. Smith, Manjula Pandey et al.

Helicases are vital enzymes that carry out strand separation of duplex nucleic a...

News & Views

Molecular medicine: Defence against oxidative damage ▶

Fernando Cruz-Guilloty & Victor L. Perez

More Chemical Sciences ▶

RESEARCH

Latest Online

Low-Mach-number turbulence in interstellar gas revealed by radio polarization gradients ▶

B. M. Gaensler, M. Haverkorn, B. Burkhart, K. J. Newton–McGee, R. D. Ekers et al.

The interstellar medium of the Milky Way is multiphase, magnetized and turbulent...

Active tactile exploration using a brain–machine–brain interface ▶

Joseph E. O’Doherty, Mikhail A. Lebedev, Peter J. Ifft, Katie Z. Zhuang, Solaiman Shokur et al.

Brain–machine interfaces use neuronal activity recorded from the brain t...

Ocean-like water in the Jupiter-family comet 103P/Hartley 2 ▶

Paul Hartogh, Dariusz C. Lis, Dominique Bockelée-Morvan, Miguel de Val-Borro, Nicolas Biver et al.

For decades, the source of Earth's volatiles, especially water with a deuterium-...

Unprecedented Arctic ozone loss in 2011 ▶

Gloria L. Manney, Michelle L. Santee, Markus Rex, Nathaniel J. Livesey, Michael C. Pitts et al.

Chemical ozone destruction occurs over both polar regions in local winter|[ndash...

Articles and Letters

Detectable radio flares following gravitational waves from mergers of binary neutron stars ▶

Ehud Nakar & Tsvi Piran

Mergers of neutron-star/neutron-star binaries are strong sources of gravitationa...

Resonances arising from hydrodynamic memory in Brownian motion ▶

Thomas Franosch, Matthias Grimm, Maxim Belushkin, Flavio M. Mor, Giuseppe Foffi et al.

Observation of the Brownian motion of a small probe interacting with its environ...

Laser cooling of a nanomechanical oscillator into its quantum ground state ▶

Jasper Chan, T. P. Mayer Alegre, Amir H. Safavi-Naeini, Jeff T. Hill, Alex Krause et al.

The simple mechanical oscillator, canonically consisting of a coupled mass|[ndas...

Reviews and Perspectives

Persistence of soil organic matter as an ecosystem property ▶

Michael W. I. Schmidt, Margaret S. Torn, Samuel Abiven, Thorsten Dittmar, Georg Guggenberger et al.

Globally, soil organic matter (SOM) contains more than three times as much carbo...

News & Views

Extrasolar planets: Homing in on another Earth ▶

Jacob Bean

Statistical physics: Self-aware particles ▶

Ulrich F. Keyser

Quantum mechanics: The gentle cooling touch of light ▶

Florian Marquardt

Research Highlights

Materials: A maglev construction kit | Climate change ecology: Following frogs as they flee | Biomaterials: 'Braille code' for cell growth

NEWS & COMMENT

History: Scaling up | Books in brief | Q&A: Speculative realist

CAREERS

Education: Inspiration for informatics

More Physical Sciences ▶

RESEARCH

Latest Online

Ocean-like water in the Jupiter-family comet 103P/Hartley 2 ▶

Paul Hartogh, Dariusz C. Lis, Dominique Bockelée-Morvan, Miguel de Val-Borro, Nicolas Biver et al.

For decades, the source of Earth's volatiles, especially water with a deuterium-...

Unprecedented Arctic ozone loss in 2011 ▶

Gloria L. Manney, Michelle L. Santee, Markus Rex, Nathaniel J. Livesey, Michael C. Pitts et al.

Chemical ozone destruction occurs over both polar regions in local winter|[ndash...

Articles and Letters

A carbon isotope challenge to the snowball Earth ▶

P. Sansjofre, M. Ader, R. I. F. Trindade, M. Elie, J. Lyons et al.

The snowball Earth hypothesis postulates that the planet was entirely covered by...

Reviews and Perspectives

Persistence of soil organic matter as an ecosystem property ▶

Michael W. I. Schmidt, Margaret S. Torn, Samuel Abiven, Thorsten Dittmar, Georg Guggenberger et al.

Globally, soil organic matter (SOM) contains more than three times as much carbo...

News & Views

Extrasolar planets: Homing in on another Earth ▶

Jacob Bean

Research Highlights

Climate change ecology: Following frogs as they flee | Oceanography: Why the Atlantic is so hot

NEWS & COMMENT

Phosphorus cycle: A broken biogeochemical cycle | Books in brief | Q&A: Speculative realist | Pharmaceuticals: Reduce drug waste in the environment Michael Depledge | Degree courses: Energy should form its own discipline Sheril R. Kirshenbaum & Michael E. Webber | Energy production: Giant dam threatens Brazilian rainforest Alison G. Nazareno & Thomas E. Lovejoy

More Earth & Environmental Sciences ▶

Microscopy: Bright light, better labels ▶

The tiniest structures in cells can be seen only using sophisticated instrumentation and informatics, but what biologists really need are improved fluorescent probes. 

Education: Inspiration for informatics ▶

Trainees in bioinformatics and computational biology should seek depth of knowledge over breadth.

The human touch ▶

A little empathy goes a long way in the competitive confines of a laboratory, argues Lydia Soraya Murray.

Careers related news & comment

Experts question rankings of journals | Athena SWAN awards: Bridging the gender gap in UK science Athene Donald, Paul H. Harvey & Angela R. McLean | Degree courses: Energy should form its own discipline Sheril R. Kirshenbaum & Michael E. Webber | Academic ladder: Discovery inspires those seeking tenure Barbara-Ann Lewis

Accelarator Engineer

Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands Paramaribo, SR

PhD

Research Center Borstel Dörverden, DE

Postdoctoral Fellowship

University of California, San Francisco San Francisco, US

Research Fellow: Nanobiotechnology

University of South Australia Adelaide, AU

Emergent Magnetic Monopoles in Frustrated Magnetic Systems

17.-18.10.11 London, UK