科学出版界は、400年近く続いたのんびりした印刷の時代を経て、クラウドコンピューティング、クラウドソーシング、ユビキタスシェアリングからなるテンポの速いインターネット時代に突入した。それに伴い、従来の出版モデルが再検討され、著者支払い型オープンアクセス出版などの新しい出版モデルが提案されている。Nature は、科学出版界で作用している力と、今後数十年の展望について考察した。
今週号
Volume 498 Number 7453
今週のハイライト
- Cover Story: 野生の走り：GPS追跡によって明らかになったチーターの優れた狩猟能力の秘密
- 構造生物学: GIRK2–Gタンパク質βγ二量体の構造
- 宇宙: 球状星団の星は進化の最終段階を早々に離脱する
- 物理: 低温原子のスピントランジスター
- 物理: 通信中に姿を隠すメッセージ
- 物理: ナノスケールの接合における熱測定
- 地球: マントルの粘性に対する水の影響
- 免疫: 自己炎症におけるインターロイキン1αの役割
- 医学: 媒介動物である蚊は感染と防御の両方に働く？
- 分子生物学: MBNLタンパク質と多能性
- 細胞: 幹細胞が分裂する際の姉妹染色分体の運命
目次
オンライン特集：科学出版の未来
Editorials
精神疾患は重大な社会負担となっているが、病気を恥とする風潮が治療法研究の妨げとなっており、払拭すべき時が来ている。
No dishonour in depression p.137
The stigma associated with mental illness discourages investment in finding cures — even though the burden of the disorders on society is immense.
doi: 10.1038/498137a
プライバシーを守るためには、個人データへのアクセスに関する開かれた議論が不可欠だ。
Track the trackers p.137
Oversight and public debate about access to personal data are crucial to preserving privacy.
doi: 10.1038/498137b
高額賞金が付与される科学賞には批判もあるが、科学へ資金と関心を引き寄せるという恩恵も大きい。
Young upstarts p.138
Lucrative prizes emulating the Nobels bring welcome money and publicity for science.
doi: 10.1038/498138a
News
中国が、キャップ・アンド・トレード制度を導入し、CO2排出削減に強い姿勢を。
China gets tough on carbon p.145
Cap-and-trade pilot schemes set stage for nationwide roll-out.
doi: 10.1038/498145a
個人に合った肺がん治療薬の開発促進を目指し、臨床試験を「統一プロトコル」で行う試みが。
‘Master protocol’ aims to revamp cancer trials p.146
Pilot project will bring drug companies together to test targeted lung-cancer therapies.
doi: 10.1038/498146a
糞便移植も、医薬品と同様、FDAの監督・規制の対象に。
FDA gets to grips with faeces p.147
Regulator triggers efforts to standardize faecal transplants.
doi: 10.1038/498147a
米国の研究チームが、光子で切り替わるトランジスターの作成に成功。
Light flips transistor switch p.149
Photons emerge as competitors to electrons in computer circuits.
doi: 10.1038/498149a
最新式の追跡装置によって、チーターの驚くべき敏捷性が明らかに。
Speed test for wild cheetahs p.150
State-of-the-art collar reveals animal’s quick reflexes and phenomenal acceleration.
doi: 10.1038/498150a
英科学界に、政府の歳出見直しでさらに予算が削減されると、強い不安感が。
UK scientists fear further cuts p.151
Funding jitters rife ahead of government spending review.
doi: 10.1038/498151a
News Features
賞：新たなノーベル
Science prizes: The new Nobels p.152
The launch of several science mega-prizes is making some researchers millionaires — but others question whether such awards are the best way to promote their field.
doi: 10.1038/498152a
無人航空機：飛んで、データを
Drones in science: Fly, and bring me data p.156
Unmanned aerial vehicles are poised to take off as popular tools for scientific research.
doi: 10.1038/498156a
News & Views
幹細胞: ヒト胚のクローニング
Stem cells: Cloning human embryos p.174
Human embryonic stem cells have at last been generated by a technique called somatic-cell nuclear transfer. Further research on such cells should provide insight into ways of improving the generation of stem cells by reprogramming.
doi: 10.1038/498174a
物性物理学: 原子レベルのスピントロニクス
Condensed-matter physics: Spintronics, the atomic way p.175
Ultracold atomic gases are excellent platforms for exploring phenomena in condensed-matter physics. They have now been used to engineer the spin Hall effect and to make the atomic counterpart of the spin transistor. See Letter p.201
doi: 10.1038/498175a
幹細胞: 選択的スプライシングによる調節
Stem cells: Regulation by alternative splicing p.176
Stem-cell differentiation is controlled by RNA processing — as well as by gene expression and transcription. This finding is a milestone towards realizing these cells' potential for research and therapy. See Letter p.241
doi: 10.1038/nature12253
マラリア: 媒介動物がもたらす保護的効果
Malaria: The vector as protector p.177
Malaria infections are not always lethal. One reason for this may be that transmission from mosquitoes creates malaria parasites that trigger a more protective mammalian immune response. See Letter p.228
doi: 10.1038/nature12252
宇宙論: わずかな水素が明らかにする暗黒エネルギー
Cosmology: Hydrogen wisps reveal dark energy p.179
Traces of hydrogen gas, detected over vast regions of space, have for the first time been used as a standard ruler to measure dark energy — the unknown cosmic energy that is causing the Universe's expansion to speed up.
doi: 10.1038/498179a
保全: 元の状態に戻された土壌はそのままにしておこう
Conservation: Spare our restored soil p.180
The conversion of poor-quality arable lands to grassland has prevented soil erosion and sequestered carbon. A study finds that greenhouse gases will be emitted if these lands return to cultivation, especially if they are ploughed.
doi: 10.1038/498180a
地球科学: 水は評判倒れ?
Earth science: Water may be a damp squib p.181
Experiments on silicon diffusion in the mineral olivine cast doubt on the widely held belief that water has a significant effect on the rheological properties of Earth's upper mantle. See Letter p.213
doi: 10.1038/498181a
構造生物学: ねじれて開くイオンチャネル
Structural biology: Ion channel twists to open p.182
GIRK channels allow potassium ions to cross the cell membrane, thereby affecting the electrical status of the cell and so its functioning. Structural data now provide insight into the channels' mode of operation. See Article p.190
doi: 10.1038/nature12255
Articles
生体力学: 野生チーターの狩猟の移動運動力学
Locomotion dynamics of hunting in wild cheetahs p.185
A novel tracking collar provides highly precise location, speed and acceleration data from 367 runs by five cheetahs in the wild; although a top speed of 58 m.p.h. was reported, few runs were above 45 m.p.h. with the average run around 31 m.p.h., and hunting success depended on grip, manoeuvrability and muscle power rather than outright speed.
doi: 10.1038/nature12295
構造生物学: 哺乳類GIRK2–βγGタンパク質複合体のX線構造
X-ray structure of the mammalian GIRK2–βγ G-protein complex p.190
An X-ray structure and electrophysiological analysis of mammalian G-protein-gated inward rectifier potassium channel GIRK2 in complex with βγ reveals a pre-open channel structure consistent with channel activation by membrane delimited G-protein subunits.
doi: 10.1038/nature12241
Letters
宇宙: 球状星団の恒星の後期進化を予測するナトリウム存在量
Sodium content as a predictor of the advanced evolution of globular cluster stars p.198
Investigations show that all the second-generation stars in the globular cluster NGC 6752 fail to reach the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phase; every AGB star in the sample has a low sodium abundance, indicating that they are exclusively first-generation stars.
doi: 10.1038/nature12191
物理: 量子ガスのスピンホール効果
The spin Hall effect in a quantum gas p.201
The spin Hall effect, whereby flowing particles experience orthogonally directed, spin-dependent Lorentz-like forces, is observed in a quantum-degenerate gas and used to produce a cold-atom spin transistor.
doi: 10.1038/nature12185
物理: 通信データ転送速度での時間クローク
A temporal cloak at telecommunication data rate p.205
The ‘time cloak’ experiment is extended here using a time analogue of the Talbot effect in optics — in which a plane wave incident on a diffraction grating produces repeated images of the grating at regular distances — to show that almost half of the time axis can be concealed.
doi: 10.1038/nature12224
物理: 原子スケール接合における熱散逸
Heat dissipation in atomic-scale junctions p.209
An innovative technique based on scanning tunnelling probes with integrated thermocouples is developed and used to measure heat dissipation in the electrodes of atomic and molecular junctions.
doi: 10.1038/nature12183
地球: ケイ素の自己拡散係数に基づく上部マントルのレオロジーに対する水の小さな効果
Small effect of water on upper-mantle rheology based on silicon self-diffusion coefficients p.213
Measurements of the silicon self-diffusion coefficients in olivine at high temperature show that the effect of water content on rock deformation is actually very small, not large as was previously thought.
doi: 10.1038/nature12193
進化: 歯のバリウム分布は霊長類で生後早期に起こる食餌内容の移行を明らかにする
Barium distributions in teeth reveal early-life dietary transitions in primates p.216
The patterning of barium in tooth enamel is shown to be a reliable marker of lactation in humans and macaques; furthermore, the study of a tooth from a Neanderthal child reveals the weaning process in this extinct species.
doi: 10.1038/nature12169
遺伝: 先天性心疾患に見られるヒストン修飾遺伝子のde novo変異
De novo mutations in histone-modifying genes in congenital heart disease p.220
Exome sequencing of patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) and their unaffected parents reveals an excess of strong-effect, protein-altering de novo mutations in genes expressed in the developing heart, many of which regulate chromatin modification in key developmental genes; collectively, these mutations are predicted to account for approximately 10% of severe CHD cases.
doi: 10.1038/nature12141
免疫: RIP1依存性の自己炎症は、インフラマソームおよびRIP3とは無関係にIL-1αによって引き起こされる
RIP1-driven autoinflammation targets IL-1α independently of inflammasomes and RIP3 p.224
This study defines a novel RIP1-kinase- and IL-1α-dependent autoinflammatory pathway that depends on NF-κB and is controlled by the tyrosine phosphatase SHP-1.
doi: 10.1038/nature12174
医学: 媒介動物による伝播はプラスモジウム類の持つ毒力の免疫による制御を調節する
Vector transmission regulates immune control of Plasmodium virulence p.228
Serial passage of the malaria parasite through rodents, primates or human hosts increases parasite virulence, suggesting that vector transmission regulates virulence, although direct evidence for this has been lacking; mosquito transmission is shown here to intrinsically modify asexual blood-stage Plasmodium chabaudi chabaudi, which elicits altered host immune responses that, in turn, modify disease severity.
doi: 10.1038/nature12231
遺伝: 自己免疫疾患関連遺伝子座のコード領域における希少変異は失われた遺伝率に対して無視し得るほどの影響しか与えない
Negligible impact of rare autoimmune-locus coding-region variants on missing heritability p.232
A search for variants in coding exons of 25 genome-wide association study risk genes in a large cohort of autoimmune patients finds that rare coding-region variants at known loci have a negligible role in common autoimmune disease susceptibility, arguing against the previously proposed rare-variant synthetic genome-wide association hypothesis.
doi: 10.1038/nature12170
ゲノミクス: 単一細胞トランスクリプトミクスが示す免疫細胞における発現とスプライシングの二峰性
Single-cell transcriptomics reveals bimodality in expression and splicing in immune cells p.236
Single-cell RNA sequencing is used to investigate the transcriptional response of 18 mouse bone-marrow-derived dendritic cells after lipopolysaccharide stimulation; many highly expressed genes, such as key immune genes and cytokines, show bimodal variation in both transcript abundance and splicing patterns. This variation reflects differences in both cell state and usage of an interferon-driven pathway involving Stat2 and Irf7.
doi: 10.1038/nature12172
分子生物学: MBNLタンパク質はES細胞特異的な選択的スプライシングと再プログラム化を抑制する
MBNL proteins repress ES-cell-specific alternative splicing and reprogramming p.241
This study identifies MBNL proteins as negative regulators of alternative splicing events that are differentially regulated between ES cells and other cell types; several lines of evidence show that these proteins repress an ES cell alternative splicing program and the reprogramming of somatic cells to induced pluripotent stem cells.
doi: 10.1038/nature12270
分子生物学: ブロモドメインタンパク質Brd4は、クロマチンをDNA損傷シグナル伝達から遮蔽する
The bromodomain protein Brd4 insulates chromatin from DNA damage signalling p.246
Isoform B of the chromatin-binding protein Brd4 acts to suppress DNA damage response signalling.
doi: 10.1038/nature12147
細胞: 幹細胞の分裂の際に染色体特異的に見られる非ランダムな姉妹染色分体分離
Chromosome-specific nonrandom sister chromatid segregation during stem-cell division p.251
Using a CO-FISH method with single-chromosome resolution, sister chromatids of the sex chromosomes, but not autosomes, are shown to segregate nonrandomly during asymmetric cell divisions of Drosophila male germline stem cells; this suggests that it is unlikely that nonrandom sister chromatid segregation serves to protect the ‘immortal strand’ to avoid replication-induced mutations as proposed previously.
doi: 10.1038/nature12106
