米国の立法府は、イデオロギーではなく事実に基づいた銃規制ができるように、銃器関連犯罪の研究を後押しすべきだ。
Who calls the shots? p.129
US law-makers need to encourage research on firearms-related violence so that gun laws can be based on facts rather than ideology.
doi: 10.1038/488129a
US law-makers need to encourage research on firearms-related violence so that gun laws can be based on facts rather than ideology.
doi: 10.1038/488129a
Enjoy Curiosity on Mars. We may not see its like again.
doi: 10.1038/488129b
doi: 10.1038/488139a
doi: 10.1038/488143a
doi: 10.1038/488137a
doi: 10.1038/488140a
doi: 10.1038/488144a
エピジェネティクスの制御によって、がんを克服できる日が来ると信じる研究者がいる。
doi: 10.1038/488148a
doi: 10.1038/488146a
宇宙生物学、つまり宇宙に存在する生命体の研究は時として、既存の研究分野を新しいイメージで売り込むための流行を追ったレッテルだと批判されることがある。だが、こういう研究を実際にやっている人たちは、この学問は生物学の最前線の理解を進めるための広い枠組みを与えると論じている。このフォーラムでは、生物学者と惑星科学者1名ずつがそれぞれの見解を述べている。
doi: 10.1038/488160a
顔面を含む3つの新化石の解剖学的性質は、我々を含むヒト属の進化史の初期に、少なくとも2つの系統が同時に存在していたという仮説を裏付けている。
doi: 10.1038/488162a
doi: 10.1038/488163b
パリティ・時間対称性という数学的概念は、量子力学の場の理論において初めて導入されたものだが、これが大規模な光学系で実験的に実証された。
doi: 10.1038/488163a
森林での測定結果から、大気中にあって硫酸の供給源となる、以前には知られていなかった酸化物質が見つかった。硫酸は、エアロゾル粒子や雲の形成と成長の主要な前駆物質の1つである。
doi: 10.1038/488164a
タンパク質–DNA複合体の形成にタンパク質の動きが重要な役割を持つことが、核磁気共鳴分光法を使って確証された。この知見は、タンパク質の機能を調整するための新たな方法につながるかもしれない。
doi: 10.1038/488165a
doi: 10.1038/nature11298
Hunger is a complex behavioural state that elicits intense food seeking and consumption. These behaviours are rapidly recapitulated by activation of starvation-sensitive AGRP neurons, which present an entry point for reverse-engineering neural circuits for hunger. Here we mapped synaptic interactions of AGRP neurons with multiple cell populations in mice and probed the contribution of these distinct circuits to feeding behaviour using optogenetic and pharmacogenetic techniques. An inhibitory circuit with paraventricular hypothalamus (PVH) neurons substantially accounted for acute AGRP neuron-evoked eating, whereas two other prominent circuits were insufficient. Within the PVH, we found that AGRP neurons target and inhibit oxytocin neurons, a small population that is selectively lost in Prader–Willi syndrome, a condition involving insatiable hunger. By developing strategies for evaluating molecularly defined circuits, we show that AGRP neuron suppression of oxytocin neurons is critical for evoked feeding. These experiments reveal a new neural circuit that regulates hunger state and pathways associated with overeating disorders.
doi: 10.1038/nature11270
Alterations in intestinal microbiota composition are associated with several chronic conditions, including obesity and inflammatory diseases. The microbiota of older people displays greater inter-individual variation than that of younger adults. Here we show that the faecal microbiota composition from 178 elderly subjects formed groups, correlating with residence location in the community, day-hospital, rehabilitation or in long-term residential care. However, clustering of subjects by diet separated them by the same residence location and microbiota groupings. The separation of microbiota composition significantly correlated with measures of frailty, co-morbidity, nutritional status, markers of inflammation and with metabolites in faecal water. The individual microbiota of people in long-stay care was significantly less diverse than that of community dwellers. Loss of community-associated microbiota correlated with increased frailty. Collectively, the data support a relationship between diet, microbiota and health status, and indicate a role for diet-driven microbiota alterations in varying rates of health decline upon ageing.
doi: 10.1038/nature11319
doi: 10.1038/nature11332
doi: 10.1038/nature11293
doi: 10.1038/nature11278
doi: 10.1038/nature11295
doi: 10.1038/nature11322
doi: 10.1038/nature11227
doi: 10.1038/nature11238
doi: 10.1038/nature11241
doi: 10.1038/nature11239
doi: 10.1038/nature11242
doi: 10.1038/nature11240
doi: 10.1038/nature11179
doi: 10.1038/nature11271