Science in schools p.287
The US National Center for Science Education teaches researchers how to fight for their cause.
doi: 10.1038/497287b
Volume 497 Number 7449
今週のハイライト
Cover Story: 脳をのぞく窓：脳を透明化する手法によって見られるようになった神経接続の三次元像
進化: 系統発生解析に待ったをかける
構造生物学: smoothened受容体の構造
宇宙: 天王星と海王星の気候は薄い層に閉じ込められている
工学: エネルギー効率の良い電気ポラリトンレーザー
材料: 環境によりやさしい鉄鋼生産
進化: 発生に基づく遺伝子型–表現型マップ
水産学: 温暖化に対する魚類個体群の応答
細胞生物学: 低酸素がmiRNAに与える影響
微生物学: バイオフィルムは「金持ちはさらに金持ちに」型の仕組みによって作られる
生化学: 感染性インフルエンザウイルスの受容体との結合
目次
Editorials
Privacy in the digital age p.287
The proposed European Data Protection Regulation will rightly preserve people’s privacy — but, without exceptions for scientific research, it could hinder or prevent medical discoveries.
doi: 10.1038/497287a
Together we stand p.288
To reach a sustainable future, we must merge economic and environmental agendas.
doi: 10.1038/497288a
News
Human stem cells created by cloning p.295
Breakthrough sets up showdown with induced adult lines.
doi: 10.1038/497295a
Magnetar found at giant black hole p.296
Magnetized neutron star could test Einstein’s theory.
doi: 10.1038/497296a
Chinese project probes the genetics of genius p.297
Bid to unravel the secrets of brainpower faces scepticism.
doi: 10.1038/497297a
Hawking decision fuels Israel debate p.299
Physicist’s stance a ‘turning point’, claim supporters.
doi: 10.1038/497299a
Meeting targets lab lapses p.300
Attendees search for ways to tackle misconduct and sloppy science.
doi: 10.1038/497300a
News Features
Neanderthal culture: Old masters p.302
The earliest known cave paintings fuel arguments about whether Neanderthals were the mental equals of modern humans.
doi: 10.1038/497302a
Invasive species: The 18-km2 rat trap p.306
Ecuador has successfully eradicated invasive pigs and goats from most of the Galapagos archipelago. Now it is taking on the rats.
doi: 10.1038/497306a
News & Views
Fisheries: Climate change at the dinner table p.320
An innovative use of catch statistics shows that climate change has already influenced the composition of species in fisheries around the world, and thereby the fish that we eat. See Letter p.365
doi: 10.1038/497320a
Microbiology: Bacterial communities as capitalist economies p.321
Tracking the behaviour of bacteria as they group together on a surface reveals a 'rich-get-richer' mechanism in which polysaccharide deposition and cellular location amplify in a positive feedback loop. See Letter p.388
doi: 10.1038/nature12103
Planetary science: Plumbing the depths of Uranus and Neptune p.323
An analysis of data collected by the Voyager 2 spacecraft and by ground-based telescopes limits the depths to which winds penetrate into Uranus and Neptune, informing the debate about these planets' internal structures. See Letter p.344
doi: 10.1038/497323a
Metallurgy: Iron production electrified p.324
Scientists have long dreamt of converting molten iron oxide to iron and oxygen using electricity. An anode material that withstands the high temperatures and corrosive chemicals involved brings the dream closer to reality. See Letter p.353
doi: 10.1038/nature12102
Evolution: Stuck between the teeth p.325
A computer model of tooth evolution designed to assess the impact of developmental dynamics on natural selection reveals that complexity reduces the likelihood of maximum fitness being attained. See Letter p.361
doi: 10.1038/nature12099
Articles
Inferring ancient divergences requires genes with strong phylogenetic signals p.327
Determining major branches in the tree of life generally relies on concatenating as much genetic information as possible, but, as shown here, phylogenomic analysis often produces results that are incongruent with the results of concatenation; a method that gives credence to genes or internodes with high average internode support reduces the incongruence.
doi: 10.1038/nature12130
Structural and molecular interrogation of intact biological systems p.332
High-resolution imaging has traditionally required thin sectioning, a process that disrupts long-range connectivity in the case of brains: here, intact mouse brains and human brain samples have been made fully transparent and macromolecule permeable using a new method termed CLARITY, which allows for intact-tissue imaging as well as repeated antibody labelling and in situ hybridization of non-sectioned tissue.
doi: 10.1038/nature12107
Structure of the human smoothened receptor bound to an antitumour agent p.338
The crystal structure of the human smoothened (SMO) receptor is presented in complex with a small-molecule antitumour agent; this represents the first example of a non-class-A, 7-transmembrane (7TM) receptor structure, revealing different conserved motifs common within class frizzled 7TM receptors and an unusually complex arrangement of long extracellular loops stabilized by disulphide bonds.
doi: 10.1038/nature12167
Letters
Atmospheric confinement of jet streams on Uranus and Neptune p.344
On Uranus and Neptune, the measured fourth-order gravity harmonic, J4, constrains the atmospheric dynamics to the outermost 0.15 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively, of the planetary mass, indicating that these dynamics are confined to a thin weather layer no more than 1,000 kilometres deep on both planets.
doi: 10.1038/nature12131
An electrically pumped polariton laser p.348
An electrically pumped polariton laser is constructed using a quantum well microcavity, and its polaritonic nature is demonstrated unambiguously by using a magnetic field to probe the part-light, part-matter character of the system.
doi: 10.1038/nature12036
A new anode material for oxygen evolution in molten oxide electrolysis p.353
Molten oxide electrolysis is considered a promising route for extractive metallurgy with much reduced carbon dioxide emissions relative to traditional routes; now a new chromium-based alloy has been developed for use as an oxygen evolving anode that remains stable in the high-temperature corrosive conditions found during iron production via electrolysis.
doi: 10.1038/nature12134
Deep fracture fluids isolated in the crust since the Precambrian era p.357
Xenon isotopic analysis shows that ancient pockets of water found in a mine in Timmins, Canada, have survived in the Earth’s crust for at least 1.5 billion years.
doi: 10.1038/nature12127
Adaptive dynamics under development-based genotype–phenotype maps p.361
Tooth development is used as a model to examine which aspects of phenotype can be optimized by natural selection; this reveals that the complexity of the relationship between genotypic and phenotypic variation can affect adaptation
doi: 10.1038/nature12142
Signature of ocean warming in global fisheries catch p.365
The mean temperature of the catch, an index designed to characterize the effect of climate change on global fisheries catch, increased at a rate of 0.19 degrees Celsius per decade between 1970 and 2006, showing that ocean warming has already affected global fisheries.
doi: 10.1038/nature12156
Protective astrogenesis from the SVZ niche after injury is controlled by Notch modulator Thbs4 p.369
This paper identifies a specific population of subventricular-zone-generated astrocytes that increases in population density after cortical injury; these activated astrocytes migrate to the site of injury, unlike described properties for their counterparts residing in the cortex.
doi: 10.1038/nature12069
X-ray phase-contrast in vivo microtomography probes new aspects of Xenopus gastrulation p.374
Opaque tissues provide a challenge for live imaging of Xenopus laevis development; a problem solved by in vivo time-lapse X-ray microtomography that is shown to provide a high-resolution three-dimensional view of structural changes and dynamics of gastrulation, and that is applied to identify and analyse new aspects of gastrulation in frog embryos.
doi: 10.1038/nature12116
The shaping and functional consequences of the microRNA landscape in breast cancer p.378
MicroRNA profiling of 1,302 human breast tumour samples provides an overview of the miRNA landscape and its regulation, revealing context-dependent interactions, broad prognostic value of miRNA signatures and an important modulatory role for miRNAs in the biology of breast tumours devoid of copy-number aberrations.
doi: 10.1038/nature12108
EGFR modulates microRNA maturation in response to hypoxia through phosphorylation of AGO2 p.383
Epidermal growth factor receptor, the product of a human oncogene, suppresses the maturation of specific tumour-suppressor-like microRNAs in response to hypoxic stress through phosphorylation of argonaute 2.
doi: 10.1038/nature12080
Psl trails guide exploration and microcolony formation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms p.388
Cell-tracking experiments and simulations show that the Psl exopolysaccharide deposited by Pseudomonas aeruginosa guides the surface motility of subsequent cells that encounter the Psl trails, generating a ‘rich-get-richer’ effect that leads to microcolony formation.
doi: 10.1038/nature12155
Receptor binding by a ferret-transmissible H5 avian influenza virus p.392
Building on previous work that identified a mutant avian H5 virus that is transmissible between ferrets, the authors present an algorithm to predict virus avidity from the affinity of single haemagglutinin (HA)–receptor interactions; these studies predict that the mutant has a 200-fold preference for the human over the avian receptor, and crystal structures of the mutant HA in complex with human and avian receptors shed light on the molecular basis for these altered binding properties.
doi: 10.1038/nature12144
