Table of contents
Volume 458 Number 7234 pp7-114
(this content only available online) indicates content that is available online only
Editorials
What price health? p7
When it comes to health care, the balance between cost and effectiveness is a difficult one to strike. The injection of $1.1 billion into the US system therefore needs to produce sustainable results.
doi:10.1038/458007a
Down, but not out p8
NASA should work immediately to replace the lost Orbiting Carbon Observatory.
doi:10.1038/458008a
Advice needed p8
The Obama administration should ensure that science informs the US strategy on nuclear waste.
doi:10.1038/458008b
Research Highlights
Ecology: Shark sex line p10
doi:10.1038/458010a
Astronomy: Galactic striptease p10
doi:10.1038/458010b
Plant science: Pigment puzzle p10
doi:10.1038/458010c
Zoology: Nightingale serenade p10
doi:10.1038/458010d
Genetics: Hopping hope p10
doi:10.1038/458010e
Neurosciences: Child abuse 'scars' DNA p10
doi:10.1038/458010f
Mechanics: Good vibrations p11
doi:10.1038/458011a
Palaeoclimatology: Global cooling p11
doi:10.1038/458011b
Microscopy: Pogo-stick pictures p11
doi:10.1038/458011c
Metamaterials: Taming terahertz p11
doi:10.1038/458011d
News
English university funding unveiled p12
Research rewarded as institutions count their share of £8 billion in government support.
Natasha Gilbert
doi:10.1038/458012a
Something wiki this way comes p13
Stephen Friend and Eric Schadt reveal their vision for an open-access platform in medical research.
Bryn Nelson
doi:10.1038/458013a
Public universities left reeling by recession p14
Slumping state revenues are putting US public universities under pressure. Rex Dalton reports on how one institution is coping.
Rex Dalton
doi:10.1038/458014a
Looking for worlds like this one p17
NASA's Kepler mission is the best shot yet at detecting an Earth-sized planet elsewhere in the Galaxy.
Katharine Sanderson
doi:10.1038/458017a
Budget numbers for US science looking up p18
Big boosts for climate and basic research in President Barack Obama's proposed spending for next year.
Eric Hand & Meredith Wadman
doi:10.1038/458018a
Virus-free pluripotency for human cells p19
Stem-cell advance could bring tailored treatments closer.
Erika Check Hayden & Monya Baker
doi:10.1038/458019a
US climate-research shake-up recommended p20
doi:10.1038/458020a
Italy plans nuclear plants in cooperation with France p20
doi:10.1038/458020b
Korean egg-donor lawsuit thrown out of court p20
doi:10.1038/458020c
Ranbaxy censured by FDA over falsified data p20
doi:10.1038/458020d
Europe delays decision on GM crop approvals p20
doi:10.1038/458020e
Obama has second go at choosing US health chief p20
doi:10.1038/458020f
Column
The climate to get things done p21
Despite huge obstacles, political forces in Washington may finally get greenhouse-gas legislation moving, says David Goldston.
David Goldston
doi:10.1038/458021a
News Features
Profile: Being Bob Langer p22
Running one of the biggest academic labs in America gives Robert Langer almost 100 people to help and advise; his BlackBerry gives him the rest of the world. Helen Pearson joins the throng.
doi:10.1038/458022a
Neuroscience: Rethinking rehab p25
Alcoholics Anonymous and its spin-off programmes have been helping people with addictions for decades. Jim Schnabel talks to the neuroscientists who are looking deeper into the approach.
doi:10.1038/458025a
Correspondence
Caution urged in trial of stem cells to treat spinal-cord injury p29
Yves Barde
doi:10.1038/458029a
Cuts to research funding could hurt health care too p29
Kamran Ahmed & Hutan Ashrafian
doi:10.1038/458029b
Separate name for fungus's sexual stage may cause confusion p29
David L. Hawksworth
doi:10.1038/458029c
Essay
We cannot live by scepticism alone p30
Scientists have been too dogmatic about scientific truth and sociologists have fostered too much scepticism — social scientists must now elect to put science back at the core of society, says Harry Collins.
Harry Collins
doi:10.1038/458030a
Books and Arts
Biologist in the Beltway p32
Nobel prizewinner Harold Varmus's autobiography reveals his skill and passion for research and politics, and shows why he is one of Barack Obama's top science advisers in Washington DC, explains Iain Mattaj.
Iain Mattaj
doi:10.1038/458032a
Artistic responses to Darwinism p33
Alison Abbott reviews Darwin: Art and the Search for Origins
doi:10.1038/458033a
The body as a commodity p33
Andrew Webster reviews Biofutures: Owning Body Parts and Information by Robert Mitchell, Helen J. Burgess & Phillip Thurtle
doi:10.1038/458033b
Primed for evolution p34
Eugenie Scott reviews Why Evolution is True by Jerry A. Coyne
doi:10.1038/458034a
Q&A: Poetry in the genes p35
Canadian poet Christian Bök plans to encode his verse into DNA that will sit within the genome of a live bacterium. He tells Nature why he wants to create an organism that will translate its own poetic response.
Krista Zala
doi:10.1038/458035a
News and Views
Structural biology: Inside the living cell p37
Proteins work properly only if they have the correct three-dimensional atomic structure. It is now possible to look at the structures and dynamics of these biological macromolecules as they function inside cells.
David S. Burz & Alexander Shekhtman
doi:10.1038/458037a
See also: Editor's summary
Condensed-matter physics: Carbon conductor corrupted p38
Atomically thin sheets of graphite are metal-like conductors — until they react with hydrogen, when they become insulators. This curious effect could be an excellent model for studying metal–insulator transitions.
Michael S. Fuhrer & Shaffique Adam
doi:10.1038/458038a
Drug discovery: Not as fab as we thought p39
Ever since penicillin was isolated from mould, it has been assumed that naturally occurring antibiotics are good starting points for drug-discovery programmes. The latest study shows that this isn't always true.
Soumaya Zlitni & Eric D. Brown
doi:10.1038/458039a
See also: Editor's summary
Astrophysics: Capturing black-hole pairs p40
The observed growth of galaxies suggests that the black holes thought to lurk at their centres may find each other and merge. A large survey of galaxies has finally netted two black holes in a tight pairing.
Jon M. Miller
doi:10.1038/458040a
See also: Editor's summary
Cancer: Blood vessels kept quiet p41
Tumours must get their oxygen fix, otherwise invasive tumour growth and spread can occur. One way of quelling oxygen-deprived tumours might be through manipulating the oxygen sensor PHD2.
Andrew V. Benest & Hellmut G. Augustin
doi:10.1038/458041a
Chemical physics: Melted in a flash p42
The observation that atomic disorder emerges exceptionally fast during laser-induced melting of crystalline bismuth prompts fresh thinking about the nature of this phase transition.
A. Cavalleri
doi:10.1038/458042a
See also: Editor's summary
Immunology: Cause of death matters p44
The process of programmed cell death can either induce anti-inflammatory immune responses or actively promote inflammation. Whether the dying cell is infected seems to govern which response is triggered.
Brigitta Stockinger
doi:10.1038/458044a
See also: Editor's summary
Planetary science: Volatility in Martian magmas p45
The geochemistry of the Martian surface has largely been determined by the eruption of magmas to form basaltic rocks. A new line of argument has chlorine as an influential agent in that process.
Harry Y. McSween
doi:10.1038/458045a
Article
Molecular basis of transport and regulation in the Na+/betaine symporter BetP p47
Susanne Ressl, Anke C. Terwisscha van Scheltinga, Clemens Vonrhein, Vera Ott & Christine Ziegler
doi:10.1038/nature07819
PDB code
3D view
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,041K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Letters
A candidate sub-parsec supermassive binary black hole system p53
Todd A. Boroson & Tod R. Lauer
doi:10.1038/nature07779
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (179K)
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Miller
Electronic acceleration of atomic motions and disordering in bismuth p56
Germán Sciaini, Maher Harb, Sergei G. Kruglik, Thomas Payer, Christoph T. Hebeisen, Frank-J. Meyer zu Heringdorf, Mariko Yamaguchi, Michael Horn-von Hoegen, Ralph Ernstorfer & R. J. Dwayne Miller
doi:10.1038/nature07788
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (496K)
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Cavalleri
Temperature-induced A–B intersite charge transfer in an A-site-ordered LaCu3Fe4O12 perovskite p60
Y. W. Long, N. Hayashi, T. Saito, M. Azuma, S. Muranaka & Y. Shimakawa
doi:10.1038/nature07816
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (537K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Shallow fault-zone dilatancy recovery after the 2003 Bam earthquake in Iran p64
Eric J. Fielding, Paul R. Lundgren, Roland Bürgmann & Gareth J. Funning
doi:10.1038/nature07817
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (780K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Phytoplankton in the ocean use non-phosphorus lipids in response to phosphorus scarcity p69
Benjamin A. S. Van Mooy,
Helen F. Fredricks,
Byron E. Pedler,
Sonya T. Dyhrman,
David M. Karl,
Michal Koblí
ek,
Michael W. Lomas,
Tracy J. Mincer,
Lisa R. Moore,
Thierry Moutin,
Michael S. Rappé
&
Eric A. Webb
doi:10.1038/nature07659
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (227K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Sleep and sensorimotor integration during early vocal learning in a songbird p73
Sylvan S. Shank & Daniel Margoliash
doi:10.1038/nature07615
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (885K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Innate immune recognition of infected apoptotic cells directs TH17 cell differentiation p78
Miriam Beer Torchinsky, Johan Garaude, Andrea P. Martin & J. Magarian Blander
doi:10.1038/nature07781
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (693K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Stockinger
Type II fatty acid synthesis is not a suitable antibiotic target for Gram-positive pathogens p83
Sophie Brinster, Gilles Lamberet, Bart Staels, Patrick Trieu-Cuot, Alexandra Gruss & Claire Poyart
doi:10.1038/nature07772
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (271K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Zlitni & Brown
The rate of N-WASP exchange limits the extent of ARP2/3-complex-dependent actin-based motility p87
Ina Weisswange, Timothy P. Newsome, Sibylle Schleich & Michael Way
doi:10.1038/nature07773
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (661K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Casein kinase 1
governs antigen-receptor-induced NF-
B activation and human lymphoma cell survival p92
Nicolas Bidère, Vu N. Ngo, Jeansun Lee, Cailin Collins, Lixin Zheng, Fengyi Wan, R. Eric Davis, Georg Lenz, D. Eric Anderson, Damien Arnoult, Aimé Vazquez, Keiko Sakai, Jun Zhang, Zhaojing Meng, Timothy D. Veenstra, Louis M. Staudt & Michael J. Lenardo
doi:10.1038/nature07613
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (601K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Transcriptome sequencing to detect gene fusions in cancer p97
Christopher A. Maher, Chandan Kumar-Sinha, Xuhong Cao, Shanker Kalyana-Sundaram, Bo Han, Xiaojun Jing, Lee Sam, Terrence Barrette, Nallasivam Palanisamy & Arul M. Chinnaiyan
doi:10.1038/nature07638
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (418K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary
Protein structure determination in living cells by in-cell NMR spectroscopy p102
Daisuke Sakakibara, Atsuko Sasaki, Teppei Ikeya, Junpei Hamatsu, Tomomi Hanashima, Masaki Mishima, Masatoshi Yoshimasu, Nobuhiro Hayashi, Tsutomu Mikawa, Markus Wälchli, Brian O. Smith, Masahiro Shirakawa, Peter Güntert & Yutaka Ito
doi:10.1038/nature07814
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (1,994K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Burz & Shekhtman
High-resolution multi-dimensional NMR spectroscopy of proteins in human cells p106
Kohsuke Inomata, Ayako Ohno, Hidehito Tochio, Shin Isogai, Takeshi Tenno, Ikuhiko Nakase, Toshihide Takeuchi, Shiroh Futaki, Yutaka Ito, Hidekazu Hiroaki & Masahiro Shirakawa
doi:10.1038/nature07839
First paragraph | Full Text | PDF (872K) | Supplementary information
See also: Editor's summary | News and Views by Burz & Shekhtman
Addendum
Reconciling complexity with stability in naturally assembling food webs p110
Anje-Margriet Neutel, Johan A. P. Heesterbeek, Johan van de Koppel, Guido Hoenderboom, An Vos, Coen Kaldeway, Frank Berendse & Peter C. de Ruiter
doi:10.1038/nature07825
Full Text | PDF (36K) | Supplementary information
Naturejobs
ProspectsLevelling the playing field p111
There are concrete ways to address the obstacles that face women and people from minority groups in science.
Karen Kaplan
doi:10.1038/nj7234-111a
Career View
Mary Pearl, dean and administrative vice-president, Stony Brook University, Southampton, New York p112
Conservation scientist brings zeal to innovative new curriculum.
Karen Kaplan
doi:10.1038/nj7234-112a
Precourt takes up energy challenge p112
New energy institute at Stanford aims to help meet future energy demands.
Virginia Gewin
doi:10.1038/nj7234-112b
Cyclical science p112
Not your father's recession
Bryan Venters
doi:10.1038/nj7234-112c
