Editorials

Preparing for disaster p889

Earth scientists should find better mechanisms to disseminate facts about the risks of natural disasters, to help local populations make the necessary preparations.

doi:10.1038/438889a

Full Text | PDF (116K)

Europe's right stuff p889

The European Space Agency is making good use of its funds for space exploration.

doi:10.1038/438889b

Full Text | PDF (132K)

Wiki's wild world p890

Researchers should read Wikipedia cautiously and amend it enthusiastically.

doi:10.1038/438890a

Full Text | PDF (101K)

Research Highlights

Research highlights p892

doi:10.1038/438892a

Full Text | PDF (677K)

Correction p893

doi:10.1038/438893a

Full Text | PDF (320K)

News

Big money for cancer genomics p894

NIH announces first phase of ambitious project.

Erika Check

doi:10.1038/438894a

Full Text | PDF (611K)

Developing nations offer hope in climate talks p895

Montreal conference is a qualified success.

Amanda Haag

doi:10.1038/438895a

Full Text | PDF (635K)

Fake pottery buries theory of early start for Christianity p895

Dutch artefacts are not what they seem.

Siëlle Gramser

doi:10.1038/438895b

Full Text | PDF (635K)

Sidelines p896

doi:10.1038/438896a

Full Text | PDF (565K)

Budget boost gets Russia back in the space game p896

Oil revenues help to relaunch Soviet missions.

Tony Reichhardt

doi:10.1038/438896b

Full Text | PDF (564K)

Pokémon blocks gene name p897

Moniker proves too much for games company.

Tom Simonite

doi:10.1038/438897a

Full Text | PDF (317K)

Snapshot: Blot on the landscape p899

Satellite snaps smoke plume over Britain.

doi:10.1038/438899a

Full Text | PDF (426K)

Journal grows suspicious of Vioxx data p899

Editors express concern over paper's conclusions.

Meredith Wadman

doi:10.1038/438899b

Full Text | PDF (427K)

Internet encyclopaedias go head to head p900

Jimmy Wales' Wikipedia comes close to Britannica in terms of the accuracy of its science entries, a Nature investigation finds.

Jim Giles

doi:10.1038/438900a

Full Text | PDF (495K)

News in brief p902

doi:10.1038/438902a

Full Text | PDF (188K)

Correction p902

doi:10.1038/438902b

Full Text | PDF (189K)

News Features

Natural disasters: The chaos to come p903

Natural disasters have wreaked havoc on the planet in the past twelve months, and some say that things will only get worse. Quirin Schiermeier assesses the world's growing vulnerability to catastrophe.

doi:10.1038/438903a

Full Text | PDF (1,386K)

See also: Editor's summary

Natural disasters: The vanishing coast p908

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, coastal experts are trying to gauge the destruction to Louisiana's marshes. Emma Marris travels to the coast to learn what might be saved — and what might not.

doi:10.1038/438908a

Full Text | PDF (688K)

Natural disasters: Roots of recovery p910

Replanting coastal forests destroyed by last December's tsunami sounds like a good idea — especially if they protect against future storms. But such plans need nurturing if they are to succeed, Erika Check discovers.

doi:10.1038/438910a

Full Text | PDF (597K)

Business

Olympus finds market rival hard to swallow p913

Imaging giant finally unveils its capsule endoscope.

Ichiko Fuyuno

doi:10.1038/438913a

Full Text | PDF (618K)

In brief p913

doi:10.1038/438913b

Full Text | PDF (618K)

Correspondence

Biodiversity: there's a role to be played by 'museum-keepers' too p914

Swen C. Renner

doi:10.1038/438914a

Full Text | PDF (106K)

Climate research opponent is not a friend to science p914

William P. Reich

doi:10.1038/438914b

Full Text | PDF (109K)

Languages: Europe puts its money where its mouth is p914

Stephen C. Levinson

doi:10.1038/438914c

Full Text | PDF (109K)

Languages: land may speak louder than words p914

Michael Stocker

doi:10.1038/438914d

Full Text | PDF (109K)

Taxing question of when ethics go up in smoke p914

Johannes Gerdes

doi:10.1038/438914e

Full Text | PDF (109K)

Books and Arts

Changing your world view p915

Software that turns maps into landscapes reveals how cultural baggage can disort scientific images.

Philip Ball reviews Landscapes Without Memory by Joan Fontcuberta

doi:10.1038/438915a

Full Text | PDF (401K)

Taking flight p916

Richard Grimmett reviews Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide by Pamela C. Rasmussen and John C. Anderton

doi:10.1038/438916a

Full Text | PDF (198K)

Tracing the history of art p916

David G. Stork reviews Optics, Instruments and Painting, 1420–1720: Reflections on the Hockney–Falco Thesis [Early Science and Medicine Vol. 10 no. 2]

doi:10.1038/438916b

Full Text | PDF (335K)

Theatre: Self deception p917

Lucy Odling-Smee reviews On Ego

doi:10.1038/438917a

Full Text | PDF (240K)

Essay

An asymmetric world p919

At the level of particles, things can happen in reverse, because particles obey time-symmetric laws of mechanics. But then why does matter, which is made up of these building blocks, behave irreversibly?

Oliver Penrose

doi:10.1038/438919a

Full Text | PDF (127K)

News and Views

Archaeology: Life on the Costa del Cromer p921

Flint fragments from eastern England constitute the earliest known evidence of human occupation of Britain. The climate was balmy, and the environment was home to a wide range of animals and plants.

Wil Roebroeks

doi:10.1038/438921a

Full Text | PDF (406K)

See also: Editor's summary

Fluid dynamics: Drat such custard! p922

The mixing of festive sweetmeats and the stirring of cream into coffee are toothsome examples of the irreversibility of physical processes. In certain systems, however, the concept gets its just desserts.

Troy Shinbrot

doi:10.1038/438922a

Full Text | PDF (228K)

See also: Editor's summary

Neuroscience: A painful factor p923

Peripheral nerve injury activates cells in the spinal cord called microglia. But how do such cells cause the ensuing chronic pain? It seems that they release a small protein that disrupts normal inhibition of pain signalling.

Carole Torsney and Amy B. MacDermott

doi:10.1038/438923a

Full Text | PDF (359K)

See also: Editor's summary

50 & 100 years ago p924

doi:10.1038/438924a

Full Text | PDF (193K)

Earth science: Volte-face in the Punjab p925

Rivers are the great conveyor belts that carry sediment from mountains to the sea. In the Punjab — the Land of Five Rivers — a wholesale shift occurred in the past that re-routed sediment to different oceans.

Philip A. Allen

doi:10.1038/438925a

Full Text | PDF (298K)

Microbiology: Perspectives on plague p926

Helen Dell

doi:10.1038/438926a

Full Text | PDF (266K)

See also: Editor's summary

Developmental biology: A message to the back side p926

Vertebrate embryos from fish to mammals seem to use different routes to work out which way is up and which side is front. Yet a novel system involved in defining the dorsal side of fish might be conserved in mammals.

Wolfgang Driever

doi:10.1038/438926b

Full Text | PDF (267K)

Obituary: Richard Southwood (1931–2005) p928

Entomologist, ecologist and science policy adviser.

Charles Godfray and Michael Hassell

doi:10.1038/438928a

Full Text | PDF (182K)

Brief Communications

Post-spawning egg care by a squid p929

Spying on a brooding deep-sea squid reveals that it cradles and aerates its eggs while they mature.

Brad A. Seibel, Bruce H. Robison and Steven H. D. Haddock

doi:10.1038/438929a

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (291K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary

Colloid science: Non-spherical bubbles p930

Anand Bala Subramaniam, Manouk Abkarian, L. Mahadevan and Howard A. Stone

doi:10.1038/438930a

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (230K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary

Erratum: Nanoscale hydrodynamics: Enhanced flow in carbon nanotubes p930

Mainak Majumder, Nitin Chopra, Rodney Andrews and Bruce Hinds

doi:10.1038/438930b

Full Text | PDF (231K)

Brief Communications Arising

Seismology: Tectonic strain in plate interiors? pE9

E. Calais, G. Mattioli, C. DeMets, J. -M. Nocquet, S. Stein, A. Newman and P. Rydelek

doi:10.1038/nature04428

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (248K)

Seismology: Tectonic strain in plate interiors? (Reply) pE10

R. Smalley, Jr, M. A. Ellis, J. Paul and R. B. Van Arsdale

doi:10.1038/nature04429

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (84K)

Articles

Probing ion-channel pores one proton at a time p975

Gisela D. Cymes, Ying Ni and Claudio Grosman

doi:10.1038/nature04293

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (449K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary

Hypomethylation-linked activation of PAX2 mediates tamoxifen-stimulated endometrial carcinogenesis p981

Huijian Wu, Yupeng Chen, Jing Liang, Bin Shi, Ge Wu, Ying Zhang, Dan Wang, Ruifang Li, Xia Yi, Hua Zhang, Luyang Sun and Yongfeng Shang

doi:10.1038/nature04225

Abstract | Full Text | PDF (651K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary

Letters

The afterglow and elliptical host galaxy of the short -ray burst GRB 050724 p988

E. Berger, P. A. Price, S. B. Cenko, A. Gal-Yam, A. M. Soderberg, M. Kasliwal, D. C. Leonard, P. B. Cameron, D. A. Frail, S. R. Kulkarni, D. C. Murphy, W. Krzeminski, T. Piran, B. L. Lee, K. C. Roth, D.-S. Moon, D. B. Fox, F. A. Harrison, S. E. Persson, B. P. Schmidt, B. E. Penprase, J. Rich, B. A. Peterson and L. L. Cowie

doi:10.1038/nature04238

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (253K)

See also: Editor's summary

An origin in the local Universe for some short -ray bursts p991

N. R. Tanvir, R. Chapman, A. J. Levan and R. S. Priddey

doi:10.1038/nature04310

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (207K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary

An origin for short -ray bursts unassociated with current star formation p994

S. D. Barthelmy, G. Chincarini, D. N. Burrows, N. Gehrels, S. Covino, A. Moretti, P. Romano, P. T. O'Brien, C. L. Sarazin, C. Kouveliotou, M. Goad, S. Vaughan, G. Tagliaferri, B. Zhang, L. A. Antonelli, S. Campana, J. R. Cummings, P. D'Avanzo, M. B. Davies, P. Giommi, D. Grupe, Y. Kaneko, J. A. Kennea, A. King, S. Kobayashi, A. Melandri, P. Meszaros, J. A. Nousek, S. Patel, T. Sakamoto and R. A. M. J. Wijers

doi:10.1038/nature04392

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (202K)

See also: Editor's summary

Chaos and threshold for irreversibility in sheared suspensions p997

D. J. Pine, J. P. Gollub, J. F. Brady and A. M. Leshansky

doi:10.1038/nature04380

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (232K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Shinbrot

Reorganization of the western Himalayan river system after five million years ago p1001

Peter D. Clift and Jerzy Blusztajn

doi:10.1038/nature04379

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (316K) | Supplementary information

See also: News and Views by Allen

Efficacy of the post-perovskite phase as an explanation for lowermost-mantle seismic properties p1004

James Wookey, Stephen Stackhouse, J-Michael Kendall, John Brodholt and G. David Price

doi:10.1038/nature04345

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (403K) | Supplementary information

The earliest record of human activity in northern Europe p1008

Simon A. Parfitt, René W. Barendregt, Marzia Breda, Ian Candy, Matthew J. Collins, G. Russell Coope, Paul Durbidge, Mike H. Field, Jonathan R. Lee, Adrian M. Lister, Robert Mutch, Kirsty E. H. Penkman, Richard C. Preece, James Rose, Christopher B. Stringer, Robert Symmons, John E. Whittaker, John J. Wymer and Anthony J. Stuart

doi:10.1038/nature04227

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (516K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Roebroeks

A RhoGDP dissociation inhibitor spatially regulates growth in root hair cells p1013

Rachel J. Carol, Seiji Takeda, Paul Linstead, Marcus C. Durrant, Hana Kakesova, Paul Derbyshire, Sinéad Drea, Viktor Zarsky and Liam Dolan

doi:10.1038/nature04198

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (215K) | Supplementary information

BDNF from microglia causes the shift in neuronal anion gradient underlying neuropathic pain p1017

Jeffrey A. M. Coull, Simon Beggs, Dominic Boudreau, Dominick Boivin, Makoto Tsuda, Kazuhide Inoue, Claude Gravel, Michael W. Salter and Yves De Koninck

doi:10.1038/nature04223

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (869K)

See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Torsney & MacDermott

Heat activation of TRPM5 underlies thermal sensitivity of sweet taste p1022

Karel Talavera, Keiko Yasumatsu, Thomas Voets, Guy Droogmans, Noriatsu Shigemura, Yuzo Ninomiya, Robert F. Margolskee and Bernd Nilius

doi:10.1038/nature04248

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (407K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary

Mapping stem cell activities in the feather follicle p1026

Zhicao Yue, Ting-Xin Jiang, Randall Bruce Widelitz and Cheng-Ming Chuong

doi:10.1038/nature04222

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (323K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary

The zebrafish dorsal axis is apparent at the four-cell stage p1030

Aniket V. Gore, Shingo Maegawa, Albert Cheong, Patrick C. Gilligan, Eric S. Weinberg and Karuna Sampath

doi:10.1038/nature04184

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (487K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Driever

The Rae1–Nup98 complex prevents aneuploidy by inhibiting securin degradation p1036

Karthik B. Jeganathan, Liviu Malureanu and Jan M. van Deursen

doi:10.1038/nature04221

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (432K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary

Towards complete cofactor arrangement in the 3.0 Å resolution structure of photosystem II p1040

Bernhard Loll, Jan Kern, Wolfram Saenger, Athina Zouni and Jacek Biesiadka

doi:10.1038/nature04224

First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (527K) | Supplementary information

See also: Editor's summary

Naturejobs

Same society, different rules p1045

Max Planck students try collective bargaining.

Paul Smaglik

doi:10.1038/nj7070-1045a

Full Text | PDF (138K)

Italy's bright spots p1046

Public funding problems have prevented Italy from catching up with other European scientific hubs. But some privately funded local initiatives show glimmers of hope. Quirin Schiermeier and Alison Abbott report.

Alison Abbott & Quirin Schiermeier

doi:10.1038/nj7070-1046a

Full Text | PDF (652K)

Graduate journal - Year-End Review: The longest year

Reflections on a tumultuous period of heartache, graduation, travels and renewal.

Jason Underwood

doi:10.1038/nj0104

Full Text

Graduate journal - Year-End Review: An examination of conscience

Successes and setbacks mark the first year as a PhD student.

Karolina Tkaczuk

doi:10.1038/nj0105

Full Text

Futures

RAM shift phase 2 p1050

The Fourth Law, and beyond.

Greg Bear

doi:10.1038/4381050a

Full Text | PDF (181K)