nature

THIS WEEK

Editorials

Publishing risky research ▶

Imperfect global biosafety standards and a threat to researchers' motivations from biosecurity concerns are among the significant risks in current flu research.

Quiet please ▶

Ismail Serageldin deserves the chance to prepare a new future for the Alexandria library.

Young Americans ▶

The rancorous debate over when people first arrived in America has not helped science.

World View

Mutant flu — the view from the newsroom ▶

When reporters aren't given the facts, they are likely to jump to the most extreme conclusions, says David Brown.

Seven Days

Seven days: 27 April-3 May 2012 ▶

The week in science: US reports 4th ever case of 'mad cow disease'; Japan's Chikyu research vessel drills through earthquake fault; and a new system launches to alert scientists to research updates.

NEWS IN FOCUS

Mutant-flu paper published ▶

Controversial study shows how dangerous forms of avian influenza could evolve in the wild.

Trial tests Austrian integrity body ▶

Unfair-dismissal suit will show whether the young agency's rulings are taken seriously.

Neutrino project changes focus ▶

Budgetary constraints force United States to downgrade plans for flagship experiment.

US satellite laws under scrutiny ▶

NASA allegations muddy waters as government recommends reforms to technology-trade rules.

Brazil set to cut forest protection ▶

Environmentalists pin hopes on presidential veto to reduce harmful impact of weakened legislation.

Pre-term births on the rise ▶

But simple measures could cut the mortality rate  of premature babies in poorer countries.

Universities clash by the Nile ▶

Property dispute dogs Egypt's plans for a science city.

Features

Peopling the planet ▶

Human migrations: Eastern odyssey ▶

Humans had spread across Asia by 50,000 years ago. Everything else about our original exodus from Africa is up for debate.

Archaeology: Date with history ▶

By revamping radiocarbon dating, Tom Higham is painting a new picture of humans' arrival in Europe.

Ancient migration: Coming to America ▶

For decades, scientists thought that the Clovis hunters were the first to cross the Arctic to America. They were wrong — and now they need a better theory

COMMENT

Evolution: What makes a modern human ▶

We probably all carry genes from archaic species such as Neanderthals. Chris Stringer explains why the DNA we have in common is more important than any differences.

Books and Arts

Natural history: The wilder side of Edward Lear ▶

As the poet and artist's bicentenary approaches, Robert McCracken Peck celebrates his natural-history legacy.

Books in brief ▶

Earth science: How a world came to be ▶

Birger Schmitz revels in an account of how life and rock evolved together on Earth.

Q&A: Relativistic composer ▶

Einstein on the Beach, an opera by composer Philip Glass and theatre director Robert Wilson, changed ideas about what opera could do when it was first staged in 1976. As a new production opens at the Barbican Theatre in London, Glass talks about the work's gestation and evolution.

Correspondence

PhDs: Adapt training for developing world Robert Colebunders | PhDs: Acquired skills good for marketplace Henrik G. Dohlman | Conservation: No silver bullets for African soil problems Ken E. Giller | Preclinical trials: Keep 'reproducibility' in context Brad Picha, Matthew Thompson & Thomas M. Vondriska

Corrections

Correction ▶

Correction ▶

Correction ▶

Clarification ▶

RESEARCH

Latest Online

Virology: Bird flu in mammals ▶

Hui-Ling Yen & Joseph Sriyal Malik Peiris

Experimental adaptation of an influenza H5 HA confers respiratory droplet transmission to a reassortant H5 HA/H1N1 virus in ferrets ▶

Masaki Imai, Tokiko Watanabe, Masato Hatta, Subash C. Das, Makoto Ozawa et al.

Only four mutations in H5N1 HA are required to enable ferret-to-ferret transmission of a reassortant virus containing the H5 HA and the remaining seven gene segments from a human pandemic H1N1 influenza virus.

Preferential electrical coupling regulates neocortical lineage-dependent microcircuit assembly ▶

Yong-Chun Yu, Shuijin He, She Chen, Yinghui Fu, Keith N. Brown et al.

In the neocortex, microcircuits are assembled in a lineage-dependent manner through a distinct sequence of events that involves long-range electrical connections between sister neurons, leading to the formation of chemical synapses between these neurons.

Warming experiments underpredict plant phenological responses to climate change ▶

E. M. Wolkovich, B. I. Cook, J. M. Allen, T. M. Crimmins, J. L. Betancourt et al.

Advances in plant flowering and leafing times in response to warming are underpredicted by experimental warming studies.

Prion-like behaviour and tau-dependent cytotoxicity of pyroglutamylated amyloid-β ▶

Justin M. Nussbaum, Stephan Schilling, Holger Cynis, Antonia Silva, Eric Swanson et al.

It is shown that the formation of amyloid-β oligomers, one of the histopathological signatures of Alzheimer’s disease, can be triggered by small quantities of a specifically truncated and post-translationally modified version of amyloid-β.

Clonally related visual cortical neurons show similar stimulus feature selectivity ▶

Ye Li, Hui Lu, Pei-lin Cheng, Shaoyu Ge, Huatai Xu et al.

It has been proposed that, during development, clonally related neurons migrate along the same radial glial fibre to form clusters of functionally similar cells; here, sister neurons in the same radial clone are shown to have similar orientation preferences in mice, providing support for this hypothesis.

A global synthesis reveals biodiversity loss as a major driver of ecosystem change ▶

David U. Hooper, E. Carol Adair, Bradley J. Cardinale, Jarrett E. K. Byrnes, Bruce A. Hungate et al.

Although loss of biodiversity is known to cause reduction in ecosystem function, it is not known how this threat compares to other environmental alterations such as climate change; this analysis of the data from over 100 published studies shows that biodiversity loss is as significant as other major drivers of change in ecosystem function.

ZNRF3 promotes Wnt receptor turnover in an R-spondin-sensitive manner ▶

Huai-Xiang Hao, Yang Xie, Yue Zhang, Olga Charlat, Emma Oster et al.

ZNRF3 and RNF43 are identified as negative feedback regulators of Wnt signalling; the stem-cell growth factor R-spondin is shown to potentiate Wnt signalling by inhibiting ZNRF3.

Topology of the human and mouse m⁶A RNA methylomes revealed by m⁶A-seq ▶

Dan Dominissini, Sharon Moshitch-Moshkovitz, Schraga Schwartz, Mali Salmon-Divon, Lior Ungar et al.

N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A) is the most prevalent internal modification in messenger RNA; here the human and mouse m⁶A modification landscape is presented in a transcriptome-wide manner, providing insights into this epigenetic modification.

Glycolytic oligodendrocytes maintain myelin and long-term axonal integrity ▶

Ursula Fünfschilling, Lotti M. Supplie, Don Mahad, Susann Boretius, Aiman S. Saab et al.

After myelination, oligodendrocytes are able to survive without mitochondrial respiration, suggesting that they can switch to aerobic glycolysis and release lactate.

Autistic-like behaviours and hyperactivity in mice lacking ProSAP1/Shank2 ▶

Michael J. Schmeisser, Elodie Ey, Stephanie Wegener, Juergen Bockmann, A. Vanessa Stempel et al.

Altered glutamatergic neurotransmission can lead to the core symptoms of autism, and ProSAP1/Shank2 and ProSAP2/Shank3 proteins seem to serve different interrelated functions at excitatory synapses, especially in glutamate receptor targeting/assembly.

RNF12 initiates X-chromosome inactivation by targeting REX1 for degradation ▶

Cristina Gontan, Eskeatnaf Mulugeta Achame, Jeroen Demmers, Tahsin Stefan Barakat, Eveline Rentmeester et al.

The pluripotency factor REX1 is a key target of RNF12 during X-chromosome inactivation; degradation of REX1 by RNF12 leads to relief of its inhibitory action on X-chromosome inactivation.

The deubiquitinase USP9X suppresses pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma ▶

Pedro A. Pérez-Mancera, Alistair G. Rust, Louise van der Weyden, Glen Kristiansen, Allen Li et al.

An in vivo transposon screen in a pancreatic cancer model identifies frequent inactivation of Usp9x; deletion of Usp9x cooperates with Kras^G12D to accelerate rapidly pancreatic tumorigenesis in mice, validating their genetic interaction.

Articles and Letters

The translational landscape of mTOR signalling steers cancer initiation and metastasis ▶

Andrew C. Hsieh, Yi Liu, Merritt P. Edlind, Nicholas T. Ingolia, Matthew R. Janes et al.

Ribosome profiling reveals specialized translation of the prostate cancer genome by oncogenic mTOR signalling; stringent inhibition of mTOR signalling reduces prostate cancer invasion and metastasis in a mouse model.

Regulation of circadian behaviour and metabolism by synthetic REV-ERB agonists ▶

Laura A. Solt, Yongjun Wang, Subhashis Banerjee, Travis Hughes, Douglas J. Kojetin et al.

Synthetic REV-ERB agonists can alter the circadian expression of core clock genes in the hypothalami of mice, which changes the expression of metabolic genes in liver, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue, and results in increased energy expenditure.

Osteoprotection by semaphorin 3A ▶

Mikihito Hayashi, Tomoki Nakashima, Masahiko Taniguchi, Tatsuhiko Kodama, Atsushi Kumanogoh et al.

Semaphorin 3A (Sema3A) is shown to function as a protector of bone, by synchronously inhibiting osteoclastic bone resorption and promoting osteoblastic bone formation.

Evidence of non-random mutation rates suggests an evolutionary risk management strategy ▶

Iñigo Martincorena, Aswin S. N. Seshasayee & Nicholas M. Luscombe

The local mutation rate in Escherichia coli has evolved to reduce the risk of deleterious mutations, leading to a non-random occurrence of mutations and suggesting that DNA protection and repair mechanisms preferentially target more important genes.

Restoration of vision after transplantation of photoreceptors ▶

R. A. Pearson, A. C. Barber, M. Rizzi, C. Hippert, T. Xue et al.

Transplanted rod precursor cells restore visual function, from electrophysiology to behaviour, after transplantation into a mouse model of congenital night blindness.

An RNA interference screen uncovers a new molecule in stem cell self-renewal and long-term regeneration ▶

Ting Chen, Evan Heller, Slobodan Beronja, Naoki Oshimori, Nicole Stokes et al.

The transcription factor TBX1 has a role in stem cell activation and self-renewal during long-term tissue regeneration.

A unifying model for mTORC1-mediated regulation of mRNA translation ▶

Carson C. Thoreen, Lynne Chantranupong, Heather R. Keys, Tim Wang, Nathanael S. Gray et al.

mTORC1 is shown to regulate a translational program that requires the rapamycin-resistant 4E-BP family of translational repressors and consists almost entirely of mRNAs containing 5′ terminal oligopyrimidine or related motifs.

A Xanthomonas uridine 5′-monophosphate transferase inhibits plant immune kinases ▶

Feng Feng, Fan Yang, Wei Rong, Xiaogang Wu, Jie Zhang et al.

The plant pathogen Xanthomonas campestris effector, AvrAC, is shown to have uridine 5′-monophosphate transferase activity, enabling it to interfere with plant immune signalling by using this protein modification.

A novel putative auxin carrier family regulates intracellular auxin homeostasis in plants ▶

Elke Barbez, Martin Kubeš, Jakub Rolčík, Chloé Béziat, Aleš Pěnčík et al.

The identification of PILS proteins, putative auxin transport facilitators, suggests that intracellular auxin transport might be evolutionarily older than directional, cell-to-cell PIN-dependent auxin transport, and highlights the developmental importance of intracellular auxin transport.

Regulation of circadian behaviour and metabolism by REV-ERB-α and REV-ERB-β ▶

Han Cho, Xuan Zhao, Megumi Hatori, Ruth T. Yu, Grant D. Barish et al.

The nuclear receptors REV-ERB-α and REV-ERB-β are indispensible for the coordination of circadian rhythm and metabolism; mice without these nuclear receptors show disrupted circadian expression of core circadian clock and lipid homeostatic gene networks.

Inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor regulates hepatic gluconeogenesis in fasting and diabetes ▶

Yiguo Wang, Gang Li, Jason Goode, Jose C. Paz, Kunfu Ouyang et al.

Interactions between cyclic AMP and calcium signalling pathways mediated by the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor are shown to regulate hepatic gluconeogenesis in fasting and diabetes.

Stereospecific binding of a disordered peptide segment mediates BK channel inactivation ▶

Vivian Gonzalez-Perez, Xu-Hui Zeng, Katie Henzler-Wildman & Christopher J. Lingle

Two-step BK channel inactivation mediated by an intrinsically disordered BK β-subunit peptide involves a stereospecific binding interaction that precedes blockade.

News & Views

Drug discovery: Time in a bottle ▶

Joseph Bass

Translational medicine: Double protection for weakened bones ▶

Mone Zaidi & Jameel Iqbal

Cancer biology: The director's cut ▶

Antonio Gentilella & George Thomas

Virology: Bird flu in mammals ▶

Hui-Ling Yen & Joseph Sriyal Malik Peiris

Research Highlights

Bioengineering: Shunting bacteria on a chip | Cancer: A tumour's Kras behaviour | Neuroscience: Small RNAs boost memory process | Zoology: Jellies reproduce as little larvae | Microbiology: Bacterial biofilm breakdown | Cardiovascular biology: Watching risky blood clots form

NEWS & COMMENT

Publishing risky research | Young Americans | Mutant-flu paper published | Trial tests Austrian integrity body | Pre-term births on the rise | Peopling the planet | Human migrations: Eastern odyssey | Archaeology: Date with history | Ancient migration: Coming to America | Evolution: What makes a modern human | Natural history: The wilder side of Edward Lear | Earth science: How a world came to be | Preclinical trials: Keep 'reproducibility' in context Brad Picha, Matthew Thompson & Thomas M. Vondriska

More Biological Sciences ▶

RESEARCH

Latest Online

Prion-like behaviour and tau-dependent cytotoxicity of pyroglutamylated amyloid-β ▶

Justin M. Nussbaum, Stephan Schilling, Holger Cynis, Antonia Silva, Eric Swanson et al.

It is shown that the formation of amyloid-β oligomers, one of the histopathological signatures of Alzheimer’s disease, can be triggered by small quantities of a specifically truncated and post-translationally modified version of amyloid-β.

Articles and Letters

Regulation of circadian behaviour and metabolism by synthetic REV-ERB agonists ▶

Laura A. Solt, Yongjun Wang, Subhashis Banerjee, Travis Hughes, Douglas J. Kojetin et al.

Synthetic REV-ERB agonists can alter the circadian expression of core clock genes in the hypothalami of mice, which changes the expression of metabolic genes in liver, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue, and results in increased energy expenditure.

Liquid-crystal-mediated self-assembly at nanodroplet interfaces ▶

J. A. Moreno-Razo, E. J. Sambriski, N. L. Abbott, J. P. Hernández-Ortiz & J. J. de Pablo

Ordering in liquid-crystal applications is usually achieved using surfactants, but here, in modelled nanodroplets of liquid crystals and surfactants, the liquid crystals control the ordering effects, which resemble those seen in block copolymer ordering, such as spots and stripes.

A unifying model for mTORC1-mediated regulation of mRNA translation ▶

Carson C. Thoreen, Lynne Chantranupong, Heather R. Keys, Tim Wang, Nathanael S. Gray et al.

mTORC1 is shown to regulate a translational program that requires the rapamycin-resistant 4E-BP family of translational repressors and consists almost entirely of mRNAs containing 5′ terminal oligopyrimidine or related motifs.

A Xanthomonas uridine 5′-monophosphate transferase inhibits plant immune kinases ▶

Feng Feng, Fan Yang, Wei Rong, Xiaogang Wu, Jie Zhang et al.

The plant pathogen Xanthomonas campestris effector, AvrAC, is shown to have uridine 5′-monophosphate transferase activity, enabling it to interfere with plant immune signalling by using this protein modification.

Inositol-1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor regulates hepatic gluconeogenesis in fasting and diabetes ▶

Yiguo Wang, Gang Li, Jason Goode, Jose C. Paz, Kunfu Ouyang et al.

Interactions between cyclic AMP and calcium signalling pathways mediated by the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor are shown to regulate hepatic gluconeogenesis in fasting and diabetes.

Stereospecific binding of a disordered peptide segment mediates BK channel inactivation ▶

Vivian Gonzalez-Perez, Xu-Hui Zeng, Katie Henzler-Wildman & Christopher J. Lingle

Two-step BK channel inactivation mediated by an intrinsically disordered BK β-subunit peptide involves a stereospecific binding interaction that precedes blockade.

News & Views

Inorganic chemistry: Two-armed silicon ▶

Robert West

NEWS & COMMENT

Trial tests Austrian integrity body

CAREERS

UK placements down

More Chemical Sciences ▶

RESEARCH

Latest Online

Black holes: Star ripped to shreds ▶

Giuseppe Lodato

An ultraviolet–optical flare from the tidal disruption of a helium-rich stellar core ▶

S. Gezari, R. Chornock, A. Rest, M. E. Huber, K. Forster et al.

The observation of a flare of radiation from the centre of an inactive galaxy fits a model of the tidal disruption of a helium-rich stellar core and its accretion onto a black hole of about three million solar masses.

Warming experiments underpredict plant phenological responses to climate change ▶

E. M. Wolkovich, B. I. Cook, J. M. Allen, T. M. Crimmins, J. L. Betancourt et al.

Advances in plant flowering and leafing times in response to warming are underpredicted by experimental warming studies.

Articles and Letters

Spin–orbital separation in the quasi-one-dimensional Mott insulator Sr₂CuO₃  ▶

J. Schlappa, K. Wohlfeld, K. J. Zhou, M. Mourigal, M. W. Haverkort et al.

The splitting of the electron into distinct quasi-particles separately carrying the elementary particles’ spin and orbital angular momentum is observed in a one-dimensional Mott insulator.

Liquid-crystal-mediated self-assembly at nanodroplet interfaces ▶

J. A. Moreno-Razo, E. J. Sambriski, N. L. Abbott, J. P. Hernández-Ortiz & J. J. de Pablo

Ordering in liquid-crystal applications is usually achieved using surfactants, but here, in modelled nanodroplets of liquid crystals and surfactants, the liquid crystals control the ordering effects, which resemble those seen in block copolymer ordering, such as spots and stripes.

A perovskitic lower mantle inferred from high-pressure, high-temperature sound velocity data ▶

Motohiko Murakami, Yasuo Ohishi, Naohisa Hirao & Kei Hirose

Determination of the shear-wave velocities for silicate perovskite and ferropericlase under the pressure and temperature conditions of the deep lower mantle indicates that perovskite constitutes much more of the lower mantle than predicted by the conventional mantle model and is consistent with the chondritic Earth model.

News & Views

Solid-state physics: Electrons do the split ▶

Ralph Claessen

Black holes: Star ripped to shreds ▶

Giuseppe Lodato

Erratum

Erratum: Aerosols implicated as a prime driver of twentieth-century North Atlantic climate variability ▶

Ben B. B. Booth, Nick J. Dunstone, Paul R. Halloran, Timothy Andrews & Nicolas Bellouin

Research Highlights

Materials: Butterfly-inspired reflectors | Climate modelling: Wetter, drier with warming | Bioengineering: Shunting bacteria on a chip | Materials: Graphene's silicon cousin

NEWS & COMMENT

Neutrino project changes focus | US satellite laws under scrutiny | Brazil set to cut forest protection | Q&A: Relativistic composer

More Physical Sciences ▶

RESEARCH

Latest Online

Warming experiments underpredict plant phenological responses to climate change ▶

E. M. Wolkovich, B. I. Cook, J. M. Allen, T. M. Crimmins, J. L. Betancourt et al.

Advances in plant flowering and leafing times in response to warming are underpredicted by experimental warming studies.

A global synthesis reveals biodiversity loss as a major driver of ecosystem change ▶

David U. Hooper, E. Carol Adair, Bradley J. Cardinale, Jarrett E. K. Byrnes, Bruce A. Hungate et al.

Although loss of biodiversity is known to cause reduction in ecosystem function, it is not known how this threat compares to other environmental alterations such as climate change; this analysis of the data from over 100 published studies shows that biodiversity loss is as significant as other major drivers of change in ecosystem function.

Articles and Letters

Impact spherules as a record of an ancient heavy bombardment of Earth ▶

B. C. Johnson & H. J. Melosh

The fossilized remnants of vaporized asteroids, called spherules, can be used to infer that the flux of asteroid impacts on Earth 3.5 billion years ago was much greater than it is now.

An Archaean heavy bombardment from a destabilized extension of the asteroid belt ▶

William F. Bottke, David Vokrouhlický, David Minton, David Nesvorný, Alessandro Morbidelli et al.

The Late Heavy Bombardment lasted much longer than previously thought, up to 1.7 billion years ago on Earth, with impacts on the Moon and Earth coming mostly from the E-belt-survivor Hungaria asteroids.

A perovskitic lower mantle inferred from high-pressure, high-temperature sound velocity data ▶

Motohiko Murakami, Yasuo Ohishi, Naohisa Hirao & Kei Hirose

Determination of the shear-wave velocities for silicate perovskite and ferropericlase under the pressure and temperature conditions of the deep lower mantle indicates that perovskite constitutes much more of the lower mantle than predicted by the conventional mantle model and is consistent with the chondritic Earth model.

News & Views

Solar System: Focus on ancient bombardment ▶

Frank T. Kyte

Earth science: Lower mantle may be rich in silica ▶

Ian Jackson

Planetary science: Mercury's mysteries start to unfold ▶

David J. Stevenson

Erratum

Erratum: Aerosols implicated as a prime driver of twentieth-century North Atlantic climate variability ▶

Ben B. B. Booth, Nick J. Dunstone, Paul R. Halloran, Timothy Andrews & Nicolas Bellouin

Research Highlights

Climate modelling: Wetter, drier with warming

NEWS & COMMENT

Brazil set to cut forest protection | Earth science: How a world came to be

More Earth & Environmental Sciences ▶

Research: Uncovering misconduct ▶

Cases of scientific wrongdoing seem to be rising. But when should researchers blow the whistle?

Women miss out ▶

Informal benefits are more frequently awarded to men, according to study of one university.

Career-path support ▶

US universities should offer more support and guidance for diverse career options, report says.

UK placements down ▶

Research traineeships with drugmakers have declined as sector tightens.

Careers related news & comment

Trial tests Austrian integrity body | PhDs: Adapt training for developing world Robert Colebunders | PhDs: Acquired skills good for marketplace Henrik G. Dohlman

Fellowship in Cardiovascular Research

University of Zurich and University Hospital Zurich 

Postdoctoral Research Assistant

Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford 

Postdoctoral fellow

National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Health 

2-year post-doctoral fellowship HIV transmission

Inserm 

Live Lab Tour 2012

12.06.12 Darmstadt, Germany