nature

THIS WEEK

Editorials

Breeding contempt ▶

By failing to explain why a moratorium on breeding chimpanzees seems not to have been enforced, the US National Institutes of Health risks a further loss of public support for chimp research.

The heritage trail ▶

Egypt and Libya can look to the past to help build a more stable future.

Seeing red ▶

Latest mission to Mars promises close-up view of planet's surface.

World View

Science's attitudes must reflect a world in crisis ▶

Colin Macilwain welcomes a wake-up call to science policy-makers to address the consequences of current political and economic upheavals.

Seven Days

Seven days: 18–24 November 2011 ▶

The week in science: Europe appoints first chief scientific adviser; Gilead spends US$11 billion on hepatitis-C hope; and those neutrinos are still going faster than light.

NEWS IN FOCUS

Lab bred chimps despite ban ▶

US facility says it broke no rules — but opponents cry foul.

Showdown nears for climate deal ▶

Expected debate over Kyoto Protocol threatens to stall progress on other fronts.

US science agencies dodge deep cuts ▶

Partial 2012 budget mostly spares research, but deficit-reduction measures still pose a looming threat.

Higgs hunt enters endgame ▶

Large Hadron Collider could soon deliver a clear verdict on missing boson.

Bioengineers debate use of military money ▶

US Department of Defense's call for greener ways to make explosives worries synthetic biologists.

Stem-cell pioneer bows out ▶

Geron halts first-of-its-kind clinical trial for spinal therapy.

Features

Mike Malin: The Mars observer ▶

How the reclusive Mike Malin changed the way that scientists view Mars.

Archaeology meets politics: Spring comes to ancient Egypt ▶

As the country struggles to refashion its government, archaeologists are looking warily towards the future.

COMMENT

Preventing hunger: Sustainability not aid ▶

Fifty years after its founding, UN World Food Programme head Josette Sheeran explains why the agency is now focusing on projects that help communities weather food crises.

Preventing hunger: Biotechnology is key ▶

If African countries can't plant genetically modified crops to produce more and healthier food, vulnerable populations will be at risk, argues Calestous Juma.

Preventing hunger: Change economic policy ▶

Simply giving people food is not enough to prevent famine, says Peter Rosset. Instead, we need to overhaul the policies that have upended the food supply.

Books and Arts

Technology: Inventing beauty ▶

Robert P. Crease revels in the life of a Hollywood goddess who pioneered wireless technology.

Books in brief ▶

Fiction: Small wonder ▶

Paul McEuen savours a technothriller from the late Michael Crichton that makes the tiny terrifying.

Q&A: The space poet ▶

Tracy K. Smith has her head in the stars. Thanks to her late father's job as an engineer on the Hubble Space Telescope, the US poet gathers inspiration from astrophysics and cosmology. Published this year, her third collection, Life on Mars, explores the future of human life, the great beyond and her father's death. As she prepares for a poetry reading at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, Smith talks about the limits of space and time.

Correspondence

Mekong dam: Invest in public health Antoni R. Blaazer | Mekong dam: Assess health risks Gilles Guerrier | Space telescope: Debt problems go deeper Jonathan I. Lunine | Space telescope: Focus on priorities Garth D. Illingworth | Arctic: Sea-ice loss sparks oil drilling boom James B. McClintock

RESEARCH

Latest Online

Mutations causing syndromic autism define an axis of synaptic pathophysiology ▶

Benjamin D. Auerbach, Emily K. Osterweil & Mark F. Bear

Tuberous sclerosis complex and fragile X syndrome are genetic diseases character...

Structure of HIV-1 gp120 V1/V2 domain with broadly neutralizing antibody PG9 ▶

Jason S. McLellan, Marie Pancera, Chris Carrico, Jason Gorman, Jean-Philippe Julien et al.

Variable regions 1 and 2 (V1/V2) of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) gp120...

RAF inhibitor resistance is mediated by dimerization of aberrantly spliced BRAF(V600E) ▶

Poulikos I. Poulikakos, Yogindra Persaud, Manickam Janakiraman, Xiangju Kong, Charles Ng et al.

Activated RAS promotes dimerization of members of the RAF kinase family. ATP-com...

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) ...

FBXO11 targets BCL6 for degradation and is inactivated in diffuse large B-cell lymphomas ▶

Shanshan Duan, Lukas Cermak, Julia K. Pagan, Mario Rossi, Cinzia Martinengo et al.

BCL6 is the product of a proto-oncogene implicated in the pathogenesis of human ...

Physiology: Immune cells fuel the fire ▶

Andrew J. Whittle & Antonio Vidal-Puig

Reductive glutamine metabolism by IDH1 mediates lipogenesis under hypoxia ▶

Christian M. Metallo, Paulo A. Gameiro, Eric L. Bell, Katherine R. Mattaini, Juanjuan Yang et al.

Acetyl coenzyme A (AcCoA) is the central biosynthetic precursor for fatty-acid s...

Natural killer cells act as rheostats modulating antiviral T cells ▶

Stephen N. Waggoner, Markus Cornberg, Liisa K. Selin & Raymond M. Welsh

Antiviral T cells are thought to regulate whether hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hu...

Lyn is a redox sensor that mediates leukocyte wound attraction in vivo ▶

Sa Kan Yoo, Taylor W. Starnes, Qing Deng & Anna Huttenlocher

Tissue wounding induces the rapid recruitment of leukocytes. Wounds and tumours|...

Reductive carboxylation supports growth in tumour cells with defective mitochondria ▶

Andrew R. Mullen, William W. Wheaton, Eunsook S. Jin, Pei-Hsuan Chen, Lucas B. Sullivan et al.

Mitochondrial metabolism provides precursors to build macromolecules in growing ...

Alternatively activated macrophages produce catecholamines to sustain adaptive thermogenesis ▶

Khoa D. Nguyen, Yifu Qiu, Xiaojin Cui, Y. P. Sharon Goh, Julia Mwangi et al.

All homeotherms use thermogenesis to maintain their core body temperature, ensur...

Articles and Letters

The genome of Tetranychus urticae reveals herbivorous pest adaptations ▶

Miodrag Grbić, Thomas Van Leeuwen, Richard M. Clark, Stephane Rombauts, Pierre Rouzé et al.

The spider mite Tetranychus urticae is a cosmopolitan agricultural pest with an ...

Neuronal filtering of multiplexed odour representations ▶

Francisca Blumhagen, Peixin Zhu, Jennifer Shum, Yan-Ping Zhang Schärer, Emre Yaksi et al.

Neuronal activity patterns contain information in their temporal structure, indi...

Changes in plant community composition lag behind climate warming in lowland forests ▶

Romain Bertrand, Jonathan Lenoir, Christian Piedallu, Gabriela Riofrío-Dillon, Patrice de Ruffray et al.

Climate change is driving latitudinal and altitudinal shifts in species distribu...

The earliest evidence for anatomically modern humans in northwestern Europe ▶

Tom Higham, Tim Compton, Chris Stringer, Roger Jacobi, Beth Shapiro et al.

The earliest anatomically modern humans in Europe are thought to have appeared a...

Early dispersal of modern humans in Europe and implications for Neanderthal behaviour ▶

Stefano Benazzi, Katerina Douka, Cinzia Fornai, Catherine C. Bauer, Ottmar Kullmer et al.

The appearance of anatomically modern humans in Europe and the nature of the tra...

Ascaris suum draft genome ▶

Aaron R. Jex, Shiping Liu, Bo Li, Neil D. Young, Ross S. Hall et al.

Parasitic diseases have a devastating, long-term impact on human health, welfare...

Somatic retrotransposition alters the genetic landscape of the human brain ▶

J. Kenneth Baillie, Mark W. Barnett, Kyle R. Upton, Daniel J. Gerhardt, Todd A. Richmond et al.

Retrotransposons are mobile genetic elements that use a germline ‘copy-a...

Commensal microbiota and myelin autoantigen cooperate to trigger autoimmune demyelination ▶

Kerstin Berer, Marsilius Mues, Michail Koutrolos, Zakeya Al Rasbi, Marina Boziki et al.

Active multiple sclerosis lesions show inflammatory changes suggestive of a comb...

Dendritic cells control lymphocyte entry to lymph nodes through high endothelial venules ▶

Christine Moussion & Jean-Philippe Girard

While patrolling the body in search of foreign antigens, naive lymphocytes conti...

Senescence surveillance of pre-malignant hepatocytes limits liver cancer development ▶

Tae-Won Kang, Tetyana Yevsa, Norman Woller, Lisa Hoenicke, Torsten Wuestefeld et al.

Upon the aberrant activation of oncogenes, normal cells can enter the cellular s...

Membrane protein sequestering by ionic protein–lipid interactions ▶

Geert van den Bogaart, Karsten Meyenberg, H. Jelger Risselada, Hayder Amin, Katrin I. Willig et al.

Neuronal exocytosis is catalysed by the SNAP receptor protein syntaxin-1A, which...

News & Views

Cancer: Final act of senescence ▶

Manuel Serrano

Palaeoanthropology: The earliest modern humans in Europe ▶

Paul Mellars

Physiology: Immune cells fuel the fire ▶

Andrew J. Whittle & Antonio Vidal-Puig

Corrigendum

Modelling schizophrenia using human induced pluripotent stem cells ▶

Kristen J. Brennand, Anthony Simone, Jessica Jou, Chelsea Gelboin-Burkhart, Ngoc Tran et al.

Research Highlights

Cancer: Platelets signal cells to invade | Agricultural ecology: Eco-farming fish with rice | Palaeontology: Moth fossils show their colours | Cancer biology: Lifting the brakes on cancer | Neuroscience: Stress speeds up brain degeneration

NEWS & COMMENT

Breeding contempt | The heritage trail | Lab bred chimps despite ban | Bioengineers debate use of military money | Stem-cell pioneer bows out | Archaeology meets politics: Spring comes to ancient Egypt | Preventing hunger: Biotechnology is key | Books in brief | Fiction: Small wonder | Mekong dam: Invest in public health Antoni R. Blaazer | Mekong dam: Assess health risks Gilles Guerrier

CAREERS

Turning point: John Nolan

More Biological Sciences ▶

RESEARCH

Latest Online

RAF inhibitor resistance is mediated by dimerization of aberrantly spliced BRAF(V600E) ▶

Poulikos I. Poulikakos, Yogindra Persaud, Manickam Janakiraman, Xiangju Kong, Charles Ng et al.

Activated RAS promotes dimerization of members of the RAF kinase family. ATP-com...

Reductive glutamine metabolism by IDH1 mediates lipogenesis under hypoxia ▶

Christian M. Metallo, Paulo A. Gameiro, Eric L. Bell, Katherine R. Mattaini, Juanjuan Yang et al.

Acetyl coenzyme A (AcCoA) is the central biosynthetic precursor for fatty-acid s...

Lyn is a redox sensor that mediates leukocyte wound attraction in vivo ▶

Sa Kan Yoo, Taylor W. Starnes, Qing Deng & Anna Huttenlocher

Tissue wounding induces the rapid recruitment of leukocytes. Wounds and tumours|...

Articles and Letters

Structural transformation in supercooled water controls the crystallization rate of ice ▶

Emily B. Moore & Valeria Molinero

One of water’s unsolved puzzles is the question of what determines the l...

Membrane protein sequestering by ionic protein–lipid interactions ▶

Geert van den Bogaart, Karsten Meyenberg, H. Jelger Risselada, Hayder Amin, Katrin I. Willig et al.

Neuronal exocytosis is catalysed by the SNAP receptor protein syntaxin-1A, which...

News & Views

Interfacial chemistry: Gold's enigmatic surface ▶

Robert J. Madix & Cynthia M. Friend

Research Highlights

Chemistry: Hydrogen made metallic

NEWS & COMMENT

Fiction: Small wonder

More Chemical Sciences ▶

RESEARCH

Articles and Letters

Neuronal filtering of multiplexed odour representations ▶

Francisca Blumhagen, Peixin Zhu, Jennifer Shum, Yan-Ping Zhang Schärer, Emre Yaksi et al.

Neuronal activity patterns contain information in their temporal structure, indi...

The alignment of molecular cloud magnetic fields with the spiral arms in M33 ▶

Hua-bai Li & Thomas Henning

The formation of molecular clouds, which serve as stellar nurseries in galaxies,...

Structural transformation in supercooled water controls the crystallization rate of ice ▶

Emily B. Moore & Valeria Molinero

One of water’s unsolved puzzles is the question of what determines the l...

Reconstructed changes in Arctic sea ice over the past 1,450 years ▶

Christophe Kinnard, Christian M. Zdanowicz, David A. Fisher, Elisabeth Isaksson, Anne de Vernal et al.

Arctic sea ice extent is now more than two million square kilometres less than i...

Changes in plant community composition lag behind climate warming in lowland forests ▶

Romain Bertrand, Jonathan Lenoir, Christian Piedallu, Gabriela Riofrío-Dillon, Patrice de Ruffray et al.

Climate change is driving latitudinal and altitudinal shifts in species distribu...

Brief Communications Arising

Does gravity correct gauge couplings? ▶

John Ellis & Nick E. Mavromatos

Toms replies ▶

D. J. Toms

Research Highlights

Materials: Light, springy mesh | Climate change: Out-of-reach goal to limit warming | Materials: Towers grow by drips and drops | Applied Physics: Bubble-powered beads

NEWS & COMMENT

Seeing red | Showdown nears for climate deal | Higgs hunt enters endgame | Mike Malin: The Mars observer | Technology: Inventing beauty | Books in brief | Q&A: The space poet | Mekong dam: Invest in public health Antoni R. Blaazer | Mekong dam: Assess health risks Gilles Guerrier | Space telescope: Debt problems go deeper Jonathan I. Lunine | Space telescope: Focus on priorities Garth D. Illingworth | Arctic: Sea-ice loss sparks oil drilling boom James B. McClintock

CAREERS

Electronics: Organic growth

More Physical Sciences ▶

RESEARCH

Latest Online

Subduction dynamics and the origin of Andean orogeny and the Bolivian orocline ▶

F. A. Capitanio, C. Faccenna, S. Zlotnik & D. R. Stegman

The building of the Andes results from the subduction of the oceanic Nazca plate...

Articles and Letters

Active formation of ‘chaos terrain’ over shallow subsurface water on Europa ▶

B. E. Schmidt, D. D. Blankenship, G. W. Patterson & P. M. Schenk

Europa, the innermost icy satellite of Jupiter, has a tortured young surface and...

Structural transformation in supercooled water controls the crystallization rate of ice ▶

Emily B. Moore & Valeria Molinero

One of water’s unsolved puzzles is the question of what determines the l...

Reconstructed changes in Arctic sea ice over the past 1,450 years ▶

Christophe Kinnard, Christian M. Zdanowicz, David A. Fisher, Elisabeth Isaksson, Anne de Vernal et al.

Arctic sea ice extent is now more than two million square kilometres less than i...

Evidence for an oxygen-depleted liquid outer core of the Earth ▶

Haijun Huang, Yingwei Fei, Lingcang Cai, Fuqian Jing, Xiaojun Hu et al.

On the basis of geophysical observations, cosmochemical constraints, and high-pr...

Changes in plant community composition lag behind climate warming in lowland forests ▶

Romain Bertrand, Jonathan Lenoir, Christian Piedallu, Gabriela Riofrío-Dillon, Patrice de Ruffray et al.

Climate change is driving latitudinal and altitudinal shifts in species distribu...

News & Views

Earth science: Probing the core's light elements ▶

Thomas S. Duffy

Planetary science: Europa awakening ▶

Laszlo P. Keszthelyi

Corrigendum

High-latitude controls of thermocline nutrients and low latitude biological productivity ▶

J. L. Sarmiento, N. Gruber, M. A. Brzezinski & J. P. Dunne

Research Highlights

Climate change: Out-of-reach goal to limit warming | Agricultural ecology: Eco-farming fish with rice

NEWS & COMMENT

Seeing red | Showdown nears for climate deal | Books in brief | Q&A: The space poet | Space telescope: Debt problems go deeper Jonathan I. Lunine | Space telescope: Focus on priorities Garth D. Illingworth | Arctic: Sea-ice loss sparks oil drilling boom James B. McClintock

More Earth & Environmental Sciences ▶

Allergies ▶

Roger East 

Lifestyle: When allergies go west ▶

Modern living seems somehow to make our immune systems overly sensitive. Is cleanliness at fault — or something else? 

Microbiome: Gut reaction ▶

Microbes are under the spotlight in efforts to unravel — and combat — allergies. 

Food: Picky eaters ▶

Clinical trials are testing how careful exposure could protect people with potentially lethal allergies to everyday fare. 

Genetics: Seeking a gene genie ▶

Rare gene variants could be key to unlocking the underlying genetics of allergy, now that whole genome sequencing and other technologies have sharpened the focus of epidemiology. 

Skin: Into the breach ▶

A focus on skin barrier disorders has opened up new thinking about how allergies kick in. 

Atopy: Marching with allergies ▶

They come not single spies, but in battalions. The latest research helps explain why an individual may experience the 'atopic march' from one allergic disorder to another. 

Perspective: Acting on the evidence ▶

Allergy isn't the whole story on atopic eczema, says Hywel Williams. 

Treatment: In search of a booster shot ▶

A plethora of therapies can keep the symptoms of allergy under control, but they can't cure. New research aims to prevent allergies from developing in the first place. 

Asthma: Breathing new life into research ▶

Asthma was once thought to be a uniform disease triggered by one type of immune cell. Researchers are now revealing the complexity of the condition and hope to hasten new drugs for forms unresponsive to steroids. 

Perspective: A human touch ▶

Stephen Holgate argues for a return to more human-centred studies of allergy and asthma. 

Sponsors

Electronics: Organic growth ▶

The multifaceted field of carbon-based electronics offers options for researchers from all areas of the physical sciences.

Turning point: John Nolan ▶

Irish vision researcher and recipient of European grant credits his career independence to Fulbright scholarship.

Careers related news & comment

Lab bred chimps despite ban | Arctic: Sea-ice loss sparks oil drilling boom James B. McClintock

Research Assistant

University of Bristol 

Postdoctoral Fellowhip University of California / CNSI

University of California / California NanoSystems Institute 

Graduate / PhD + experience: Protein Biochemist

Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd 

Up to 10 Scholarships for a PhD in Berlin in the Field of Catalysis

Berlin International Graduate School of Natural Sciences and Engineering (BIG-NSE) 

Omics and Personalised Health

16.-18.02.12 Heidelberg, Germany