Table of contents
Volume 438 Number 7069 pp711-888
In this issue (8 December 2005)
Also this week
(this content only available online) indicates content that is available online only
Editorials
Unapproved tests on a chip p711
Prenatal genetic tests can now check for abnormalities in developing fetuses, but there is still no regulatory framework for them in the United States.
doi:10.1038/438711a
Launching a business p711
There's little evidence that commercial approaches can radically reduce the cost of getting into space.
doi:10.1038/438711b
Enough, already p712
No convincing case has been made for increasing the amount of plutonium held at a Californian lab.
doi:10.1038/438712a
News
UK animal labs still under siege p716
Activists maintain pressure as building of Oxford lab resumes.
Tom Simonite and Jim Giles
doi:10.1038/438716a
Animal-rights militancy exported to US and Europe p717
Rise in extremist activity abroad 'aided by British expertise'.
Emma Marris and Tom Simonite
doi:10.1038/438717a
TV show gives research lobbyist a rat's-eye view of laboratory life p717
Pro-animal researcher runs the gauntlet of tests.
doi:10.1038/438717b
Sidelines p718
doi:10.1038/438718a
TV tests call into question cloner's stem-cell success p718
Korean star faces challenges over data.
David Cyranoski
doi:10.1038/438718b
Avian flu centre put under threat of closure p719
Indonesian authorities halt research at frontline station.
Declan Butler
doi:10.1038/438719a
Climate talks edge towards twin-track future p721
UN convention could complement Kyoto Protocol.
Amanda Haag
doi:10.1038/438721a
Prospect of stricter timekeeping alarms US biologists p721
Hackles are raised over revamped guidelines.
Emma Marris
doi:10.1038/438721b
German hostage was saving Iraq digs p722
Kidnapped archaeologist fought against looting.
Andreas von Bubnoff
doi:10.1038/438722a
Cowrie study strikes a blow for traditional taxonomy p722
DNA barcoding fails identification test.
Erika Check
doi:10.1038/438722b
Chairman explains Europe's research council p723
doi:10.1038/438723a
News Features
Nonsense mutations: Running the red light p726
A trial drug encourages cells to ignore the signs that stop them making faulty proteins. Sound dangerous? Claire Ainsworth discovers that it could be a cure for genetic disease.
doi:10.1038/438726a
See also: Editor's summary
Neutron science: Back on track? p730
Next June, a $1.4-billion neutron-scattering facility will come online in the United States. Karen Fox finds out whether this machine really can breathe fresh life into the ageing Tennessee lab that is its home.
doi:10.1038/438730a
Fetal genetic testing: Screen test p733
A new technique could allow doctors to spot hundreds of potential genetic problems in unborn babies. But is it too soon to put it to use? Erika Check finds out.
doi:10.1038/438733a
Business
Internet star shoots for a rocket revolution p736
A newcomer to the space arena claims that his start-up launch company can buck the trend of commercial failures. Tony Reichhardt reports.
Tony Reichhardt
doi:10.1038/438736a
In brief p737
doi:10.1038/438737a
Market Watch p737
doi:10.1038/438737b
Correspondence
Supplementary data need to be kept in public repositories p738
Carlos Santos, Judith Blake and David J. States
doi:10.1038/438738a
Turkish science needs more than membership of the EU p738
Mehmet Somel
doi:10.1038/438738b
Flu virus will not be sent in the regular US mail p738
Julie Louise Gerberding
doi:10.1038/438738c
Books and Arts
Physics ain't what it used to be p739
Science is venturing into areas where experimental verification simply isn't possible.
George Ellis reviews The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design
doi:10.1038/438739a
Pet project p740
Stephen J. O'Brien reviews The Dog and Its Genome
doi:10.1038/438740a
See also: Editor's summary
On top of the world p741
doi:10.1038/438741a
Exhibition: A close look at Darwin p741
Alan Packer reviews Darwin
doi:10.1038/438741b
Essay
ConceptThe message of the quantum p743
Einstein challenged physics to describe "the real factual situation". But an understanding of the very concepts that he criticized a century ago may provide the best clues yet about reality 'out there'.
Anton Zeilinger
doi:10.1038/438743a
News and Views
Genomics: The dog has its day p745
Domestication and selective breeding have transformed wolves into the diversity of dogs we see today. The sequence of the genome of one breed adds to our understanding of mammalian biology and genome evolution.
Hans Ellegren
doi:10.1038/438745a
See also: Editor's summary
Water: Ins and outs of ice nucleation p746
Laboratory experiments point to a mechanism by which ice forms from supercooled water with surprising alacrity. Such a mechanism may help to explain ice formation in the atmosphere under certain conditions.
Srikanth Sastry
doi:10.1038/438746a
Cell biology: Relays at the membrane p747
The Wnt signalling pathway is a major route by which the cell conveys information from its exterior to the nucleus. A gap in the sequence of signalling proteins has now been filled.
Roel Nusse
doi:10.1038/438747a
Quantum information: Remember that photon p749
Storing single photons in atomic memories, and releasing them at a later time, is a required step on the way to quantum repeaters and long-distance quantum cryptography networks. This step has now been taken.
Philippe Grangier
doi:10.1038/438749a
See also: Editor's summary
50 & 100 years ago p750
doi:10.1038/438750a
Cancer biology: Emissaries set up new sites p750
The capacity of tumours to spread to other organs is one of their most dangerous attributes. A study of how cancer cells settle in new places shows that they send out envoys to prepare the ground for them.
Patricia S. Steeg
doi:10.1038/438750b
See also: Editor's summary
Obituary: Alastair Cameron (1925–2005) p752
Astrophysicist and planetary scientist.
John Wood
doi:10.1038/438752a
Brief Communications
Biomechanics: No force limit on greyhound sprint speed p753
Unlike human athletes, these dogs do not need to slow down when racing round a tight bend.
James R. Usherwood and Alan M. Wilson
doi:10.1038/438753a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (311K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Astrophysics: Is a doomsday catastrophe likely? p754
Max Tegmark and Nick Bostrom
doi:10.1038/438754a
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (151K) | Supplementary information
Corrigendum p754
doi:10.1038/438754b
Top of page
Brief Communications Arising
Planetary science: Are there active glaciers on Mars? pE9
Alan R. Gillespie, David R. Montgomery and Amit Mushkin
doi:10.1038/nature04357
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (261K)
See also: Editor's summary
Planetary science: Are there active glaciers on Mars? (Reply) pE10
J. W. Head, G. Neukum, R. Jaumann, H. Hiesinger, E. Hauber, M. Carr, P. Masson, B. Foing, H. Hoffmann, M. Kreslavsky, S. Werner, S. Milkovich, S. van Gasselt and The HRSC Co-Investigator Team
doi:10.1038/nature04358
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (58K)
Huygens News & Views
Planetary science: Huygens rediscovers Titan p756
The first analyses of data sent by the Huygens probe from Saturn's largest moon Titan are flooding in. They paint a picture of a 'Peter Pan' world — potentially like Earth, but with its development frozen at an early stage.
Tobias Owen
doi:10.1038/438756a
See also: Editor's summary
Huygens Articles
An overview of the descent and landing of the Huygens probe on Titan p758
Jean-Pierre Lebreton, Olivier Witasse, Claudio Sollazzo, Thierry Blancquaert, Patrice Couzin, Anne-Marie Schipper, Jeremy B. Jones, Dennis L. Matson, Leonid I. Gurvits, David H. Atkinson, Bobby Kazeminejad and Miguel Pérez-Ayúcar
doi:10.1038/nature04347
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,285K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | Authors
Rain, winds and haze during the Huygens probe's descent to Titan's surface p765
M. G. Tomasko, B. Archinal, T. Becker, B. Bézard, M. Bushroe, M. Combes, D. Cook, A. Coustenis, C. de Bergh, L. E. Dafoe, L. Doose, S. Douté, A. Eibl, S. Engel, F. Gliem, B. Grieger, K. Holso, E. Howington-Kraus, E. Karkoschka, H. U. Keller, R. Kirk, R. Kramm, M. Küppers, P. Lanagan, E. Lellouch, M. Lemmon, J. Lunine, E. McFarlane, J. Moores, G. M. Prout, B. Rizk, M. Rosiek, P. Rueffer, S. E. Schröder, B. Schmitt, C. See, P. Smith, L. Soderblom, N. Thomas and R. West
doi:10.1038/nature04126
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (3,029K)
See also: Editor's summary | Authors
The abundances of constituents of Titan's atmosphere from the GCMS instrument on the Huygens probe p779
H. B. Niemann, S. K. Atreya, S. J. Bauer, G. R. Carignan, J. E. Demick, R. L. Frost, D. Gautier, J. A. Haberman, D. N. Harpold, D. M. Hunten, G. Israel, J. I. Lunine, W. T. Kasprzak, T. C. Owen, M. Paulkovich, F. Raulin, E. Raaen and S. H. Way
doi:10.1038/nature04122
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (258K)
See also: Editor's summary | Authors
In situ measurements of the physical characteristics of Titan's environment p785
M. Fulchignoni, F. Ferri, F. Angrilli, A. J. Ball, A. Bar-Nun, M. A. Barucci, C. Bettanini, G. Bianchini, W. Borucki, G. Colombatti, M. Coradini, A. Coustenis, S. Debei, P. Falkner, G. Fanti, E. Flamini, V. Gaborit, R. Grard, M. Hamelin, A. M. Harri, B. Hathi, I. Jernej, M. R. Leese, A. Lehto, P. F. Lion Stoppato, J. J. López-Moreno, T. Mäkinen, J. A. M. McDonnell, C. P. McKay, G. Molina-Cuberos, F. M. Neubauer, V. Pirronello, R. Rodrigo, B. Saggin, K. Schwingenschuh, A. Seiff, F. Simões, H. Svedhem, T. Tokano, M. C. Towner, R. Trautner, P. Withers and J. C. Zarnecki
doi:10.1038/nature04314
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (521K)
See also: Editor's summary | Authors
A soft solid surface on Titan as revealed by the Huygens Surface Science Package p792
John C. Zarnecki, Mark R. Leese, Brijen Hathi, Andrew J. Ball, Axel Hagermann, Martin C. Towner, Ralph D. Lorenz, J. Anthony M. McDonnell, Simon F. Green, Manish R. Patel, Timothy J. Ringrose, Philip D. Rosenberg, Karl R. Atkinson, Mark D. Paton, Marek Banaszkiewicz, Benton C. Clark, Francesca Ferri, Marcello Fulchignoni, Nadeem A. L. Ghafoor, Günter Kargl, Håkan Svedhem, John Delderfield, Manuel Grande, David J. Parker, Peter G. Challenor and John E. Geake
doi:10.1038/nature04211
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (245K)
See also: Editor's summary | Authors
Huygens Letters
Complex organic matter in Titan's atmospheric aerosols from in situ pyrolysis and analysis p796
G. Israël, C. Szopa, F. Raulin, M. Cabane, H. B. Niemann, S. K. Atreya, S. J. Bauer, J.-F. Brun, E. Chassefière, P. Coll, E. Condé, D. Coscia, A. Hauchecorne, P. Millian, M.-J. Nguyen, T. Owen, W. Riedler, R. E. Samuelson, J.-M. Siguier, M. Steller, R. Sternberg and C. Vidal-Madjar
doi:10.1038/nature04349
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (220K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | Authors
The vertical profile of winds on Titan p800
M. K. Bird, M. Allison, S. W. Asmar, D. H. Atkinson, I. M. Avruch, R. Dutta-Roy, Y. Dzierma, P. Edenhofer, W. M. Folkner, L. I. Gurvits, D. V. Johnston, D. Plettemeier, S. V. Pogrebenko, R. A. Preston and G. L. Tyler
doi:10.1038/nature04060
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (187K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | Authors
Articles
Genome sequence, comparative analysis and haplotype structure of the domestic dog p803
Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, Claire M Wade, Tarjei S. Mikkelsen, Elinor K. Karlsson, David B. Jaffe, Michael Kamal, Michele Clamp, Jean L. Chang, Edward J. Kulbokas, III, Michael C. Zody, Evan Mauceli, Xiaohui Xie, Matthew Breen, Robert K. Wayne, Elaine A. Ostrander, Chris P. Ponting, Francis Galibert, Douglas R. Smith, Pieter J. deJong, Ewen Kirkness, Pablo Alvarez, Tara Biagi, William Brockman, Jonathan Butler, Chee-Wye Chin, April Cook, James Cuff, Mark J. Daly, David DeCaprio, Sante Gnerre, Manfred Grabherr, Manolis Kellis, Michael Kleber, Carolyne Bardeleben, Leo Goodstadt, Andreas Heger, Christophe Hitte, Lisa Kim, Klaus-Peter Koepfli, Heidi G. Parker, John P. Pollinger, Stephen M. J. Searle, Nathan B. Sutter, Rachael Thomas and Caleb Webber, Broad Sequencing Platform members and Eric S. Lander
doi:10.1038/nature04338
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,210K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Ellegren
VEGFR1-positive haematopoietic bone marrow progenitors initiate the pre-metastatic niche p820
Rosandra N. Kaplan, Rebecca D. Riba, Stergios Zacharoulis, Anna H. Bramley, Loïc Vincent, Carla Costa, Daniel D. MacDonald, David K. Jin, Koji Shido, Scott A. Kerns, Zhenping Zhu, Daniel Hicklin, Yan Wu, Jeffrey L. Port, Nasser Altorki, Elisa R. Port, Davide Ruggero, Sergey V. Shmelkov, Kristian K. Jensen, Shahin Rafii and David Lyden
doi:10.1038/nature04186
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (907K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Steeg
Letters
Measurement-induced entanglement for excitation stored in remote atomic ensembles p828
C. W. Chou, H. de Riedmatten, D. Felinto, S. V. Polyakov, S. J. van Enk and H. J. Kimble
doi:10.1038/nature04353
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (334K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Storage and retrieval of single photons transmitted between remote quantum memories p833
T. Chanelière, D. N. Matsukevich, S. D. Jenkins, S.-Y. Lan, T. A. B. Kennedy and A. Kuzmich
doi:10.1038/nature04315
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (534K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Grangier
Electromagnetically induced transparency with tunable single-photon pulses p837
M. D. Eisaman, A. André, F. Massou, M. Fleischhauer, A. S. Zibrov and M. D. Lukin
doi:10.1038/nature04327
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (353K)
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Grangier
A lithospheric instability origin for Columbia River flood basalts and Wallowa Mountains uplift in northeast Oregon p842
T. C. Hales, D. L. Abt, E. D. Humphreys and J. J. Roering
doi:10.1038/nature04313
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (369K) | Supplementary information
Determinants of woody cover in African savannas p846
Mahesh Sankaran, Niall P. Hanan, Robert J. Scholes, Jayashree Ratnam, David J. Augustine, Brian S. Cade, Jacques Gignoux, Steven I. Higgins, Xavier Le Roux, Fulco Ludwig, Jonas Ardo, Feetham Banyikwa, Andries Bronn, Gabriela Bucini, Kelly K. Caylor, Michael B. Coughenour, Alioune Diouf, Wellington Ekaya, Christie J. Feral, Edmund C. February, Peter G. H. Frost, Pierre Hiernaux, Halszka Hrabar, Kristine L. Metzger, Herbert H. T. Prins, Susan Ringrose, William Sea, Jörg Tews, Jeff Worden and Nick Zambatis
doi:10.1038/nature04070
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (410K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | Authors
The phylogenetic position of the 'giant deer' Megaloceros giganteus p850
A. M. Lister, C. J. Edwards, D. A. W. Nock, M. Bunce, I. A. van Pijlen, D. G. Bradley, M. G. Thomas and I. Barnes
doi:10.1038/nature04134
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (229K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Morphine reward in dopamine-deficient mice p854
Thomas S. Hnasko, Bethany N. Sotak and Richard D. Palmiter
doi:10.1038/nature04172
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (237K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | Authors
BMP inhibition-driven regulation of six-3 underlies induction of newt lens regeneration p858
Matthew W. Grogg, Mindy K. Call, Mitsumasa Okamoto, M. Natalia Vergara, Katia Del Rio-Tsonis and Panagiotis A. Tsonis
doi:10.1038/nature04175
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (466K) | Supplementary information
A colonization factor links Vibrio cholerae environmental survival and human infection p863
Thomas J. Kirn, Brooke A. Jude and Ronald K. Taylor
doi:10.1038/nature04249
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (288K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Casein kinase 1 
couples Wnt receptor activation to cytoplasmic signal transduction p867
Gary Davidson, Wei Wu, Jinlong Shen, Josipa Bilic, Ursula Fenger, Peter Stannek, Andrei Glinka and Christof Niehrs
doi:10.1038/nature04170
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (487K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Nusse
A dual-kinase mechanism for Wnt co-receptor phosphorylation and activation p873
Xin Zeng, Keiko Tamai, Brad Doble, Shitao Li, He Huang, Raymond Habas, Heidi Okamura, Jim Woodgett and Xi He
doi:10.1038/nature04185
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (513K) | Supplementary information
See also: News and Views by Nusse
The importance of sequence diversity in the aggregation and evolution of proteins p878
Caroline F. Wright, Sarah A. Teichmann, Jane Clarke and Christopher M. Dobson
doi:10.1038/nature04195
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (296K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Naturejobs
ProspectSeeking soft skills p883
Career panel points to off-the-bench skills.
Paul Smaglik
doi:10.1038/nj7069-883a
Postdocs and Students
Toddlers, teens and test tubes p884
Young careers and young families can leave investigators feeling stretched. Kendall Powell finds out how to keep the two from clashing.
Kendall Powell
doi:10.1038/nj7069-884a
Career Views
Graduate journal - Year-End Review: A change of outlook
From tough decisions and unexpected complications come new perspectives and opportunities.
Anne Margaret Lee
doi:10.1038/nj0101
Graduate journal - Year-End Review: Evaluating a career decision
A switch from medicine to research brings reflections on the value of medical education, the freedom of science and the constants that help one survive graduate school.
Tobias Langenhan
doi:10.1038/nj0102
Futures
Transport of delight p888
The highs and lows of commuting.
Roland Denison
doi:10.1038/438888a
