nature

THIS WEEK

Editorials

The morning after ▶

President Barack Obama's stance on an emergency contraceptive betrays his promised principles of scientific integrity and sets a troubling precedent for political interference in 'inconvenient' science.

Defend the Amazon ▶

Brazilian lawmakers should not weaken their stance on deforestation to appease landowners.

Ten for 2011 ▶

As the year ends, Nature highlights individuals who rose to prominence — or fell from grace.

World View

Particle physics is at a turning point ▶

The discovery of the Higgs boson will complete the standard model — but it could also point the way to a deeper understanding, says Gordon Kane.

Seven Days

Seven days: 16–22 December 2011 ▶

The week in science: Cornell to build US$2-billion science campus in New York; Kepler finds a twin Earth; and Fukushima is declared to be in cold shutdown.

NEWS IN FOCUS

Fears grow over lab-bred flu ▶

Scientists call for stricter biosafety measures for dangerous avian-influenza variants.

Last-minute wins for US science ▶

Bill tops up health, energy and translational-science spending.

Chimp research under scrutiny ▶

US-government-funded studies to be evaluated under stricter criteria.

Rules on integrity signal tighter stance ▶

Many US agencies now have policies banning political manipulation of research — but ambiguities remain.

365 days: 2011 in review ▶

From neutrinos to stem cells: a round-up of the year in research and science policy.

365 days: Images of the year

Flying rhinos and furious rats vie with graphene knots and space technology in 2011's most striking pictures.

Feature

365 days: Nature's 10 ▶

Ten people who mattered this year.

COMMENT

Crisis response: The new history ▶

The past year has shown how prone a highly networked society is to abrupt change. The future of our complex world, says Philip Ball, depends on becoming resilient to shocks.

Science publishing: The paper is not sacred ▶

Peer review continues long after a paper is published, and that analysis should become part of the scientific record, say Adam Marcus and Ivan Oransky.

Higgs boson: The need for new physics ▶

Regardless of whether the Higgs detection is confirmed, the standard model is incomplete, says John Ellis.

Books and Arts

Technology: Rise of the e-book ▶

Carl Zimmer charts the boom in electronic publishing and what that spells for wood pulp and ink.

Food science: With pipette and ladle ▶

From stretchy ice cream to wire-brushed crackling, Harold McGee digests an eclectic modernist menu.

Q&A: The snowflake designer ▶

For the past decade, physicist Kenneth Libbrecht has been studying how ice crystals form, taking thousands of photographs of their intricate structures. He describes how he grows snowflakes in his lab at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, and never tires of tracking the real thing in the far north.

In retrospect: On the Six-Cornered Snowflake ▶

Philip Ball celebrates the fourth centenary of Johannes Kepler's ice-crystal analysis.

Correspondence

Art history: No refraction in Leonardo's orb André J. Noest & Martin Kemp | Scavenger turned predator: European vultures' altered behaviour Antoni Margalida, David Campión & José A. Donázar | Founding fathers: The cell was defined 150 years ago U. Kutschera

Obituary

Lynn Margulis (1938–2011) ▶

Biologist who revolutionized our view of early cell evolution.

Correction

Corrections ▶

RESEARCH

Latest Online

Angelman syndrome: Drugs to awaken a paternal gene ▶

Arthur L. Beaudet

Vif hijacks CBF-β to degrade APOBEC3G and promote HIV-1 infection ▶

Stefanie Jäger, Dong Young Kim, Judd F. Hultquist, Keisuke Shindo, Rebecca S. LaRue et al.

Restriction factors, such as the retroviral complementary DNA deaminase APOBEC3G...

T-cell differentiation factor CBF-β regulates HIV-1 Vif-mediated evasion of host restriction ▶

Wenyan Zhang, Juan Du, Sean L. Evans, Yunkai Yu & Xiao-Fang Yu

The human APOBEC3 cytidine deaminases are potent inhibitors of diverse retroviru...

Global landscape of HIV–human protein complexes ▶

Stefanie Jäger, Peter Cimermancic, Natali Gulbahce, Jeffrey R. Johnson, Kathryn E. McGovern et al.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has a small genome and therefore relies heavi...

Topoisomerase inhibitors unsilence the dormant allele of Ube3a in neurons ▶

Hsien-Sung Huang, John A. Allen, Angela M. Mabb, Ian F. King, Jayalakshmi Miriyala et al.

Angelman syndrome is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder caused by deletion or ...

Antiparallel EmrE exports drugs by exchanging between asymmetric structures ▶

Emma A. Morrison, Gregory T. DeKoster, Supratik Dutta, Reza Vafabakhsh, Michael W. Clarkson et al.

Small multidrug resistance transporters provide an ideal system to study the min...

A sensing array of radically coupled genetic ‘biopixels’ ▶

Arthur Prindle, Phillip Samayoa, Ivan Razinkov, Tal Danino, Lev S. Tsimring et al.

Although there has been considerable progress in the development of engineering ...

Basic amino-acid side chains regulate transmembrane integrin signalling ▶

Chungho Kim, Thomas Schmidt, Eun-Gyung Cho, Feng Ye, Tobias S. Ulmer et al.

Side chains of Lys/Arg near transmembrane domain (TMD) membrane–water in...

Subnanometre-resolution structure of the intact Thermus thermophilus H+-driven ATP synthase ▶

Wilson C. Y. Lau & John L. Rubinstein

Ion-translocating rotary ATPases serve either as ATP synthases, using energy fro...

Articles and Letters

DNA-binding factors shape the mouse methylome at distal regulatory regions ▶

Michael B. Stadler, Rabih Murr, Lukas Burger, Robert Ivanek, Florian Lienert et al.

Methylation of cytosines is an essential epigenetic modification in mammalian ge...

Lowland–upland migration of sauropod dinosaurs during the Late Jurassic epoch ▶

Henry C. Fricke, Justin Hencecroth & Marie E. Hoerner

Sauropod dinosaurs were the largest vertebrates ever to walk the Earth, and as m...

Additive threats from pathogens, climate and land-use change for global amphibian diversity ▶

Christian Hof, Miguel B. Araújo, Walter Jetz & Carsten Rahbek

Amphibian population declines far exceed those of other vertebrate groups, with ...

The Medicago genome provides insight into the evolution of rhizobial symbioses ▶

Nevin D. Young, Frédéric Debellé, Giles E. D. Oldroyd, Rene Geurts, Steven B. Cannon et al.

Legumes (Fabaceae or Leguminosae) are unique among cultivated plants for their a...

Natural polymorphisms in C. elegans HECW-1 E3 ligase affect pathogen avoidance behaviour ▶

Howard C. Chang, Jennifer Paek & Dennis H. Kim

Heritable variation in behavioural traits generally has a complex genetic basis,...

Adherens junction protein nectin-4 is the epithelial receptor for measles virus ▶

Michael D. Mühlebach, Mathieu Mateo, Patrick L. Sinn, Steffen Prüfer, Katharina M. Uhlig et al.

Measles virus is an aerosol-transmitted virus that affects more than 10 million ...

Basigin is a receptor essential for erythrocyte invasion by Plasmodium falciparum ▶

Cécile Crosnier, Leyla Y. Bustamante, S. Josefin Bartholdson, Amy K. Bei, Michel Theron et al.

Erythrocyte invasion by Plasmodium falciparum is central to the pathogenesis of ...

Response to self antigen imprints regulatory memory in tissues ▶

Michael D. Rosenblum, Iris K. Gratz, Jonathan S. Paw, Karen Lee, Ann Marshak-Rothstein et al.

Immune homeostasis in tissues is achieved through a delicate balance between pat...

Excitation-induced ataxin-3 aggregation in neurons from patients with Machado–Joseph disease ▶

Philipp Koch, Peter Breuer, Michael Peitz, Johannes Jungverdorben, Jaideep Kesavan et al.

Machado–Joseph disease (MJD; also called spinocerebellar ataxia type 3) ...

Dopamine neurons derived from human ES cells efficiently engraft in animal models of Parkinson’s disease ▶

Sonja Kriks, Jae-Won Shim, Jinghua Piao, Yosif M. Ganat, Dustin R. Wakeman et al.

Human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) are a promising source of cells for applicat...

Cryptochromes mediate rhythmic repression of the glucocorticoid receptor ▶

Katja A. Lamia, Stephanie J. Papp, Ruth T. Yu, Grant D. Barish, N. Henriette Uhlenhaut et al.

Mammalian metabolism is highly circadian and major hormonal circuits involving n...

GlcNAcylation of histone H2B facilitates its monoubiquitination ▶

Ryoji Fujiki, Waka Hashiba, Hiroki Sekine, Atsushi Yokoyama, Toshihiro Chikanishi et al.

Chromatin reorganization is governed by multiple post-translational modification...

An equilibrium-dependent retroviral mRNA switch regulates translational recoding ▶

Brian Houck-Loomis, Michael A. Durney, Carolina Salguero, Neelaabh Shankar, Julia M. Nagle et al.

Most retroviruses require translational recoding of a viral messenger RNA stop c...

Structures of the multidrug exporter AcrB reveal a proximal multisite drug-binding pocket ▶

Ryosuke Nakashima, Keisuke Sakurai, Seiji Yamasaki, Kunihiko Nishino & Akihito Yamaguchi

AcrB and its homologues are the principal multidrug transporters in Gram-negativ...

Intermediates in the transformation of phosphonates to phosphate by bacteria ▶

Siddhesh S. Kamat, Howard J. Williams & Frank M. Raushel

Phosphorus is an essential element for all known forms of life. In living system...

Reviews and Perspectives

Cancer immunotherapy comes of age ▶

Ira Mellman, George Coukos & Glenn Dranoff

Activating the immune system for therapeutic benefit in cancer has long been a g...

News & Views

Ecology: Bleak future for amphibians ▶

Ross A. Alford

Psychology: Who needs a leader? ▶

Sadaf Shadan

Physiology: On time metabolism ▶

Joseph Bass

2011 Editors' choice ▶

Angelman syndrome: Drugs to awaken a paternal gene ▶

Arthur L. Beaudet

Research Highlights

Genetics: Case of a missing cluster | Zoology: Birds keep up with the Joneses | Cell biology: The first microtubules | Microbiology: Splitting a bacterial magnet | Animal behaviour: Frogs croak about their pad | Cancer biology: Sisterhood of lymphoma | Evolutionary biology: Modern humans smell good

NEWS & COMMENT

The morning after | Fears grow over lab-bred flu | Chimp research under scrutiny | 365 days: 2011 in review | 365 days: Images of the year | Founding fathers: The cell was defined 150 years ago U. Kutschera | Lynn Margulis (1938–2011)

More Biological Sciences ▶

RESEARCH

Latest Online

Vif hijacks CBF-β to degrade APOBEC3G and promote HIV-1 infection ▶

Stefanie Jäger, Dong Young Kim, Judd F. Hultquist, Keisuke Shindo, Rebecca S. LaRue et al.

Restriction factors, such as the retroviral complementary DNA deaminase APOBEC3G...

Charge order and three-site distortions in the Verwey structure of magnetite ▶

Mark S. Senn, Jon P. Wright & J. Paul Attfield

The mineral magnetite (Fe3O4) undergoes a complex structural distortion and beco...

Global landscape of HIV–human protein complexes ▶

Stefanie Jäger, Peter Cimermancic, Natali Gulbahce, Jeffrey R. Johnson, Kathryn E. McGovern et al.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has a small genome and therefore relies heavi...

Antiparallel EmrE exports drugs by exchanging between asymmetric structures ▶

Emma A. Morrison, Gregory T. DeKoster, Supratik Dutta, Reza Vafabakhsh, Michael W. Clarkson et al.

Small multidrug resistance transporters provide an ideal system to study the min...

Subnanometre-resolution structure of the intact Thermus thermophilus H+-driven ATP synthase ▶

Wilson C. Y. Lau & John L. Rubinstein

Ion-translocating rotary ATPases serve either as ATP synthases, using energy fro...

Articles and Letters

Basigin is a receptor essential for erythrocyte invasion by Plasmodium falciparum ▶

Cécile Crosnier, Leyla Y. Bustamante, S. Josefin Bartholdson, Amy K. Bei, Michel Theron et al.

Erythrocyte invasion by Plasmodium falciparum is central to the pathogenesis of ...

Cryptochromes mediate rhythmic repression of the glucocorticoid receptor ▶

Katja A. Lamia, Stephanie J. Papp, Ruth T. Yu, Grant D. Barish, N. Henriette Uhlenhaut et al.

Mammalian metabolism is highly circadian and major hormonal circuits involving n...

GlcNAcylation of histone H2B facilitates its monoubiquitination ▶

Ryoji Fujiki, Waka Hashiba, Hiroki Sekine, Atsushi Yokoyama, Toshihiro Chikanishi et al.

Chromatin reorganization is governed by multiple post-translational modification...

Intermediates in the transformation of phosphonates to phosphate by bacteria ▶

Siddhesh S. Kamat, Howard J. Williams & Frank M. Raushel

Phosphorus is an essential element for all known forms of life. In living system...

Reviews and Perspectives

Rethinking amide bond synthesis ▶

Vijaya R. Pattabiraman & Jeffrey W. Bode

One of the most important reactions in organic chemistry—amide bond form...

News & Views

Physiology: On time metabolism ▶

Joseph Bass

NEWS & COMMENT

365 days: Images of the year | Food science: With pipette and ladle | In retrospect: On the Six-Cornered Snowflake

More Chemical Sciences ▶

RESEARCH

Latest Online

Charge order and three-site distortions in the Verwey structure of magnetite ▶

Mark S. Senn, Jon P. Wright & J. Paul Attfield

The mineral magnetite (Fe3O4) undergoes a complex structural distortion and beco...

Global landscape of HIV–human protein complexes ▶

Stefanie Jäger, Peter Cimermancic, Natali Gulbahce, Jeffrey R. Johnson, Kathryn E. McGovern et al.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has a small genome and therefore relies heavi...

Two Earth-sized planets orbiting Kepler-20 ▶

Francois Fressin, Guillermo Torres, Jason F. Rowe, David Charbonneau, Leslie A. Rogers et al.

Since the discovery of the first extrasolar giant planets around Sun-like stars,...

A sensing array of radically coupled genetic ‘biopixels’ ▶

Arthur Prindle, Phillip Samayoa, Ivan Razinkov, Tal Danino, Lev S. Tsimring et al.

Although there has been considerable progress in the development of engineering ...

Articles and Letters

DNA-binding factors shape the mouse methylome at distal regulatory regions ▶

Michael B. Stadler, Rabih Murr, Lukas Burger, Robert Ivanek, Florian Lienert et al.

Methylation of cytosines is an essential epigenetic modification in mammalian ge...

A compact system of small planets around a former red-giant star ▶

S. Charpinet, G. Fontaine, P. Brassard, E. M. Green, V. Van Grootel et al.

Planets that orbit their parent star at less than about one astronomical unit (1...

Orbital excitation blockade and algorithmic cooling in quantum gases ▶

Waseem S. Bakr, Philipp M. Preiss, M. Eric Tai, Ruichao Ma, Jonathan Simon et al.

Interaction blockade occurs when strong interactions in a confined, few-body sys...

Tuning charge transport in solution-sheared organic semiconductors using lattice strain ▶

Gaurav Giri, Eric Verploegen, Stefan C. B. Mannsfeld, Sule Atahan-Evrenk, Do Hwan Kim et al.

Circuits based on organic semiconductors are being actively explored for flexibl...

Forcing of wet phases in southeast Africa over the past 17,000 years ▶

Enno Schefuß, Holger Kuhlmann, Gesine Mollenhauer, Matthias Prange & Jürgen Pätzold

Intense debate persists about the climatic mechanisms governing hydrologic chang...

News & Views

Planetary science: The ultimate fate of planets ▶

Eliza M. R. Kempton

50 & 100 years ago ▶

Atomic physics: When ultracold is not cold enough ▶

Gretchen K. Campbell

Condensed-matter physics: A fresh twist on shrinking materials ▶

J. Paul Attfield

2011 Editors' choice ▶

Research Highlights

Planetary science: Mercury's plasma belt | Mathematics: What da Vinci saw in trees | Networks: Control of the super-corporations

NEWS & COMMENT

Particle physics is at a turning point | 365 days: 2011 in review | 365 days: Images of the year | Crisis response: The new history | Higgs boson: The need for new physics | Q&A: The snowflake designer | In retrospect: On the Six-Cornered Snowflake

More Physical Sciences ▶

RESEARCH

Latest Online

Two Earth-sized planets orbiting Kepler-20 ▶

Francois Fressin, Guillermo Torres, Jason F. Rowe, David Charbonneau, Leslie A. Rogers et al.

Since the discovery of the first extrasolar giant planets around Sun-like stars,...

Articles and Letters

Forcing of wet phases in southeast Africa over the past 17,000 years ▶

Enno Schefuß, Holger Kuhlmann, Gesine Mollenhauer, Matthias Prange & Jürgen Pätzold

Intense debate persists about the climatic mechanisms governing hydrologic chang...

Lowland–upland migration of sauropod dinosaurs during the Late Jurassic epoch ▶

Henry C. Fricke, Justin Hencecroth & Marie E. Hoerner

Sauropod dinosaurs were the largest vertebrates ever to walk the Earth, and as m...

Additive threats from pathogens, climate and land-use change for global amphibian diversity ▶

Christian Hof, Miguel B. Araújo, Walter Jetz & Carsten Rahbek

Amphibian population declines far exceed those of other vertebrate groups, with ...

News & Views

Ecology: Bleak future for amphibians ▶

Ross A. Alford

Research Highlights

Planetary science: Mercury's plasma belt

NEWS & COMMENT

Defend the Amazon | 365 days: 2011 in review | 365 days: Images of the year | Q&A: The snowflake designer | Scavenger turned predator: European vultures' altered behaviour Antoni Margalida, David Campión & José A. Donázar

More Earth & Environmental Sciences ▶

Traditional Asian medicine ▶

Michelle Grayson 

TCM: Made in China ▶

Although modern medicine is established in Asia, traditional medicine also plays a big role in people's healthcare — and is gaining in popularity in other countries too. 

Convergence: Where West meets East ▶

The concepts of Asia's traditional medicines might sound alien to Western ears, but some of them are starting to evolve to fit scientific investigation. 

Perspective: All systems go ▶

Systems science can provide guidance in capturing the complementary approaches to healthcare, says Jan van der Greef. 

Microbiome: That healthy gut feeling ▶

Many ingredients in traditional herbal medicines cannot be absorbed by the human gut. Could our microbial inhabitants do for us what we can't do ourselves? 

Modernization: One step at a time ▶

The repertoire of traditional Chinese medicine could offer rich pickings for modern drug developers, but researchers must first define and test herbal concoctions. 

Patents: Protecting China's national treasure ▶

Applying modern intellectual property standards to ancient medicines. 

Modern TCM: Enter the clinic ▶

The editor of Nature China reports on his first visit to a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner to find out how this ancient practice is dispensed in the twenty-first century — and to see if anything can be done to relieve his back pain. 

Japan: Will the sun set on Kampo? ▶

The practice of traditional medicine in Japan includes many modern techniques but faces numerous challenges — including political pressure from China. 

Perspective: Herbal dangers ▶

Traditional plant-based remedies are not risk-free. Doctors and patients need to be informed about the possible side effects, says Masatomo Sakurai. 

Regulations: Herbal medicine rule book ▶

Can Western guidelines govern Eastern herbal traditions? 

Perspective: The clinical trial barriers ▶

To investigate traditional Asian medicines properly, we need to rethink the way they are tested, say Liang Liu, Elaine Lai-Han Leung and Xiaoying Tian. 

Biodiversity: Endangered and in demand ▶

With an ingredients list that includes rhino horn and tiger bone, traditional Asian medicine is on a collision course with wildlife preservation. 

Sponsors

Awards: Conscientious counsellors ▶

Nature's mentoring awards honour three scientists in France.

Testing the waters ▶

Postdoc committees can give insight into industry career paths, argue Christopher Tsang and Michael Fisher.

Careers related news & comment

Ten for 2011 | Chimp research under scrutiny | Rules on integrity signal tighter stance | Science publishing: The paper is not sacred | Technology: Rise of the e-book

Research Scientist - Human Genetics

University of Calgary 

Postdoctoral Research Associate / Research Fellow - Neuropharmacology

University of Sydney 

PhD Student

Centre de Recerca en Agrigenòmica 

College of Science and Engineering Scholarship

University of Glasgow 

Cardiovascular Development and Regeneration (A6)

22.-27.01.12 US