Table of contents
Volume 454 Number 7206 pp805-916
In this issue (14 August 2008)
Also this week
(this content only available online) indicates content that is available online only
Editorial
A task of terawatts p805
The world has an abundance of renewable energy to offer, the question is how to harness it.
doi:10.1038/454805a
See also: Editor's summary
Research Highlights
Geophysics: Iceberg smash-up p806
doi:10.1038/454806a
Comparative biology: Animal models p806
doi:10.1038/454806b
Planetary science: Soft metals p806
doi:10.1038/454806c
Climatology: Winter sun p806
doi:10.1038/454806d
Astrophysics: Slow-motion supernovae p806
doi:10.1038/454806e
Zoology: Predatory Lotharios p806
doi:10.1038/454806f
Human history: Digging up data p807
doi:10.1038/454807a
Immunology: Successful delivery p807
doi:10.1038/454807b
Genetics: Appendages of note p807
doi:10.1038/454807c
Materials science: Light beat p807
doi:10.1038/454807d
News
Top climate-impacts programme shut p808
National Center for Atmospheric Research axes developing-world initiative.
Jeff Tollefson
doi:10.1038/454808a
Physicists await dark-matter confirmation p808
PAMELA mission offers tantalizing hint of success.
Geoff Brumfiel
doi:10.1038/454808b
Biodiversity body 'lacks science' p809
Swedish researchers criticize credentials of convention.
Daniel Cressey
doi:10.1038/454809a
Four wheels good? p810
With the world's love of cars showing little sign of abating, manufacturers are under increasing pressure to make vehicles less polluting and oil dependent. Duncan Graham-Rowe explores some of the technologies that could keep us on the road.
Duncan Graham-Rowe
doi:10.1038/454810a
The AIDS fight: looking ahead to 2010 p812
As this month's International AIDS Conference in Mexico City ends, Erika Check Hayden asks leaders of the HIV community what they expect to see on the agenda when the conference reconvenes in Vienna in 2010 — the year by which the world has agreed to provide universal access to HIV treatment.
Erika Check Hayden
doi:10.1038/454812a
Anthrax case ignites new forensics field p813
Biochemical method of tracking microbes hits the limelight.
Amber Dance
doi:10.1038/454813a
Large Hadron Collider passes first proton test p815
doi:10.1038/454815a
Environment agency denies plea to cut biofuel goals p815
doi:10.1038/454815b
San Francisco's biotech hub gets lift from Pfizer deal p815
doi:10.1038/454815c
Gorilla numbers doubled in the Congo p815
doi:10.1038/454815d
FDA further tightens conflict of interest policies p815
doi:10.1038/454815e
Hotspot for midges proves to be fertile ground p815
doi:10.1038/454815f
SciFoo blogged p815
doi:10.1038/454815g
News Feature
Electricity without carbon p816
Nature's News team looks at how much carbon-free energy might ultimately be available — and which sources make most sense.
doi:10.1038/454816a
Correspondence
Mental health: maybe human troubles don't fit into set categories p824
Paul Reeve & Louigi Addario-Berry
doi:10.1038/454824a
See also: Editor's summary
Mental health: don't overlook environment and its risk factors p824
John J. McGrath & Jean-Paul Selten
doi:10.1038/454824b
See also: Editor's summary
Mental health: drop ideological baggage in favour of best tools p824
P. Alexander Arguello
doi:10.1038/454824c
See also: Editor's summary
Books and Arts
On the scent p825
For Marcel Proust, the madeleine evoked childhood memories — a new treatment of the science of smell attempts to take our everyday experience of odour to a more insightful level, explains Gary Beauchamp.
Gary Beauchamp reviews What the Nose Knows: The Science of Scent in Everyday Life by Avery Gilbert
doi:10.1038/454825a
Playing to win p826
Nathaniel Comfort reviews Starting With Serotonin: How a High-Rolling Father of Drug Discovery Repeatedly Beat the Odds by Ann G. Sjoerdsma
doi:10.1038/454826a
Challenging stereotypes p827
Ashleigh Griffin reviews Women in Science, Engineering and Technology: Three Decades of UK Initiatives By Alison Phipps
doi:10.1038/454827a
Bucky's utopian universe p828
Christopher Turner reviews Buckminster Fuller: Starting With the Universe
doi:10.1038/454828a
See also: Editor's summary
In Retrospect: Gödel's proof p829
In today's computer age, the implications of the discovery in formal logic that Newman and Nagel articulated in 1958 are of even broader interest, says Andrew Hodges.
Andrew Hodges reviews Gödel's Proof by Ernest Nagel & James R. Newman
doi:10.1038/454829a
Correction p829
doi:10.1038/454829b
News and Views
Quantum mechanics: The speed of instantly p831
Pairs of quantum-mechanically entangled particles seem to know at once what is happening to each other. Experiments show that even if this signalling is not instantaneous, it must be really, really fast.
Terence G. Rudolph
doi:10.1038/454831a
See also: Editor's summary
Biochemistry: Fit for an enzyme p832
Certain enzymes that synthesize antibiotics play a game of pass the parcel, handing biosynthetic intermediates from one active site to another. A study reveals the dynamic nature of interactions between the enzyme domains.
Shiven Kapur & Chaitan Khosla
doi:10.1038/454832a
See also: Editor's summary
Earth Science: Solid evidence in the inner core p833
The indications are that a solid ball of iron lies at Earth's centre. But only the identification of an elusive seismic signature can confirm the long-standing assumption that it is indeed solid.
Kenneth C. Creager
doi:10.1038/454833a
See also: Editor's summary
Palaeontology: The last giant kangaroo p835
Humans who colonized Australia did not reach Tasmania until thousands of years later — granting the island's giant kangaroos a brief respite before they joined their Australian brethren in oblivion.
Jared Diamond
doi:10.1038/454835a
Nanotechnology: Shaping the void p836
A vacuum may be devoid of matter, but its shape is still important. The strength of the Casimir force caused by quantum fluctuations in the space between surfaces is critically dependent on their nanometre-scale shape.
Astrid Lambrecht
doi:10.1038/454836a
Immunology: Surprising side effects p837
A drug that normally suppresses an immune response by trapping lymphocytes in lymphoid organs results in the elimination of a chronic viral infection when applied at low doses. Why should this be?
Michael J. Bevan & Pamela J. Fink
doi:10.1038/454837a
See also: Editor's summary
Autism: Family connections p838
Autism is a common neurodevelopmental syndrome with a strong genetic component. The study of autistic individuals whose parents are cousins highlights the genetic diversity of this condition.
Daniel H. Geschwind
doi:10.1038/454838a
Neuroscience: State-sanctioned synchrony p839
A sleepy brain pays little attention to its surroundings, and its neurons are lulled by a common oscillation. As the brain swiftly rouses from this sluggish state, its neurons function more independently.
Scott J. Cruikshank & Barry W. Connors
doi:10.1038/454839a
See also: Editor's summary
Review
Genomics of cellulosic biofuels p841
Edward M. Rubin
doi:10.1038/nature07190
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (649K)
See also: Editor's summary
Articles
UCP2 mediates ghrelin's action on NPY/AgRP neurons by lowering free radicals p846
Zane B. Andrews, Zhong-Wu Liu, Nicholas Walllingford, Derek M. Erion, Erzsebet Borok, Jeffery M. Friedman, Matthias H. Tschöp, Marya Shanabrough, Gary Cline, Gerald I. Shulman, Anna Coppola, Xiao-Bing Gao, Tamas L. Horvath & Sabrina Diano
doi:10.1038/nature07181
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (595K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Structural basis for translation termination on the 70S ribosome p852
Martin Laurberg, Haruichi Asahara, Andrei Korostelev, Jianyu Zhu, Sergei Trakhanov & Harry F. Noller
doi:10.1038/nature07115
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,320K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Letters
Compositional differences between meteorites and near-Earth asteroids p858
P. Vernazza, R. P. Binzel, C. A. Thomas, F. E. DeMeo, S. J. Bus, A. S. Rivkin & A. T. Tokunaga
doi:10.1038/nature07154
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (248K)
See also: Editor's summary
Testing the speed of 'spooky action at a distance' p861
Daniel Salart, Augustin Baas, Cyril Branciard, Nicolas Gisin & Hugo Zbinden
doi:10.1038/nature07121
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (585K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Rudolph
Fullerenes from aromatic precursors by surface-catalysed cyclodehydrogenation p865
Gonzalo Otero, Giulio Biddau, Carlos Sánchez-Sánchez, Renaud Caillard, María F. López, Celia Rogero, F. Javier Palomares, Noemí Cabello, Miguel A. Basanta, José Ortega, Javier Méndez, Antonio M. Echavarren, Rubén Pérez, Berta Gómez-Lor & José A. Martín-Gago
doi:10.1038/nature07193
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (876K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
North American ice-sheet dynamics and the onset of 100,000-year glacial cycles p869
R. Bintanja & R. S. W. van de Wal
doi:10.1038/nature07158
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,254K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Inner-core shear-wave anisotropy and texture from an observation of PKJKP waves p873
James Wookey & George Helffrich
doi:10.1038/nature07131
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,819K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Creager
Inapparent infections and cholera dynamics p877
Aaron A. King, Edward L. Ionides, Mercedes Pascual & Menno J. Bouma
doi:10.1038/nature07084
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (290K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Internal brain state regulates membrane potential synchrony in barrel cortex of behaving mice p881
James F. A. Poulet & Carl C. H. Petersen
doi:10.1038/nature07150
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (999K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Cruikshank & Connors
On the spontaneous emergence of cell polarity p886
Steven J. Altschuler, Sigurd B. Angenent, Yanqin Wang & Lani F. Wu
doi:10.1038/nature07119
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (802K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Drosophila RNAi screen identifies host genes important for influenza virus replication p890
Linhui Hao, Akira Sakurai, Tokiko Watanabe, Ericka Sorensen, Chairul A. Nidom, Michael A. Newton, Paul Ahlquist & Yoshihiro Kawaoka
doi:10.1038/nature07151
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (347K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Transient FTY720 treatment promotes immune-mediated clearance of a chronic viral infection p894
Mary Premenko-Lanier, Nelson B. Moseley, Sarah T. Pruett, Pablo A. Romagnoli & John D. Altman
doi:10.1038/nature07199
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (525K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Bevan & Fink
A discontinuous hammerhead ribozyme embedded in a mammalian messenger RNA p899
Monika Martick, Lucas H. Horan, Harry F. Noller & William G. Scott
doi:10.1038/nature07117
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (429K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Dynamic thiolation–thioesterase structure of a non-ribosomal peptide synthetase p903
Dominique P. Frueh, Haribabu Arthanari, Alexander Koglin, David A. Vosburg, Andrew E. Bennett, Christopher T. Walsh & Gerhard Wagner
doi:10.1038/nature07162
PDB code
3D view
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (748K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Kapur & Khosla
Structural basis for the selectivity of the external thioesterase of the surfactin synthetase p907
Alexander Koglin, Frank Löhr, Frank Bernhard, Vladimir V. Rogov, Dominique P. Frueh, Eric R. Strieter, Mohammad R. Mofid, Peter Güntert, Gerhard Wagner, Christopher T. Walsh, Mohamed A. Marahiel & Volker Dötsch
doi:10.1038/nature07161
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (905K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Kapur & Khosla
Naturejobs
ProspectProspects p913
Expanding your curiosity can lead to more job opportunities.
Paul Smaglik
doi:10.1038/nj7206-913a
Futures
Subject to change p916
Getting to grips with scientific variables.
Joseph Lachance
doi:10.1038/454916a
