Pregnant mice illuminate risk factors that could lead to autism p.131
Studies highlight link between immune response and unusual neural wiring.doi: 10.1038/549131b
Volume 549 Issue 7671
Editorials
Support Ismail Serageldin p.131
Egypt’s courts must listen to dozens of Nobel prizewinners who have defended the founder of the Alexandria Library.doi: 10.1038/549131a
Giraffes could have evolved long necks to keep cool p.132
Another explanation offered for one of animal kingdom’s most distinctive features.doi: 10.1038/549132a
News
Geneticists pan paper that claims to predict a person's face from their DNA p.139
Reviewers and a co-author of a paper by genomics entrepreneur Craig Venter claim that it misrepresents the risks of public access to genome data.doi: 10.1038/nature.2017.22580
Researchers riled by lack of detail in Brexit science plans p.140
UK government document fails to extinguish concerns over funding and migration.doi: 10.1038/nature.2017.22566
South Korean researchers lobby government to lift human-embryo restrictions p.141
Regulations are deterring research that could lead to disease treatments, say scientists.doi: 10.1038/nature.2017.22585
Jordan seeks to become an oasis of water-saving technology p.142
As strains on the desert nation’s supply increase, scientists collaborate on projects to keep water flowing.doi: 10.1038/549142a
UK gender-equality scheme spreads across the world p.143
The United States is set to trial a version that will also cover race and disability, while other countries have already embraced the voluntary rating system.doi: 10.1038/549143a
News Features
The new economy of excrement p.146
Entrepreneurs are finding profits turning human waste into fertiliser, fuel and even food.doi: 10.1038/549146a
News & Views
A fight for scraps of ammonia p.162
Bacteria that can oxidize both ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate seem to be better adapted to ammonia-limited environments than most cultured microbes that oxidize ammonia to nitrite only, contrary to expectations. See Letter p.269doi: 10.1038/549162a
A laser model for cosmology p.163
Experiments reveal that the laws governing the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang also apply to the behaviour of coupled lasers. The findings could be used to solve complex computational problems.doi: 10.1038/549163a
Division hierarchy leads to cell heterogeneity p.164
Cellular diversity can hamper cancer treatment. Analysis of tumour cell-division patterns now reveals how such heterogeneity can arise by a hierarchical pattern of stem-cell divisions yielding a mosaic of different cells. See Article p.227doi: 10.1038/nature23546
The future of Asia's glaciers p.166
Glaciers in the high mountains of Asia are a crucial water resource, but are at risk from global warming. Modelling suggests that the glaciers will shed mass in direct proportion to the warming to which they are exposed. See Letter p.257doi: 10.1038/549166a
Plenty of fish in the tree p.167
Polypterid fish were considered to be archaic outliers of the bony-fish grouping. Fossil analysis now places them at the heart of early ray-finned fishes, a radical change that transforms the timing of their evolution. See Letter p.265doi: 10.1038/549167a
Nanomagnets boost thermoelectric output p.169
The direct conversion of heat into electricity — a reversible process known as the thermoelectric effect — can be greatly enhanced in some materials by embedding them with a small number of magnetic nanoparticles. See Letter p.247doi: 10.1038/549169a
Review
Detecting recovery of the stratospheric ozone layer p.211
An overview of the nature and timescales of stratospheric ozone recovery and the extent to which it can currently be detected.doi: 10.1038/nature23681
Perspective
The 4D nucleome project p.219
The 4D Nucleome Network aims to develop and apply approaches to map the structure and dynamics of the human and mouse genomes in space and time with the goal of gaining deeper mechanistic insights into how the nucleus is organized and functions. The project will develop and benchmark experimental and computational approaches for measuring genome conformation and nuclear organization, and investigate how these contribute to gene regulation and other genome functions. Validated experimental technologies will be combined with biophysical approaches to generate quantitative models of spatial genome organization in different biological states, both in cell populations and in single cells.
doi: 10.1038/nature23884
Articles
Fate mapping of human glioblastoma reveals an invariant stem cell hierarchy p.227
Using unique barcodes for tumour cells, the authors explore the dynamics of human glioblastoma subpopulations, and suggest that clonal heterogeneity emerges through stochastic fate decisions of a neutral proliferative hierarchy.doi: 10.1038/nature23666
Structural basis of MsbA-mediated lipopolysaccharide transport p.233
Cryo-electron microscopy snapshots of the E. coli flippase MsbA at discrete functional states reveal a ‘trap and flip’ mechanism for lipopolysaccharide flipping and the conformational transitions of MsbA during its substrate transport cycle.doi: 10.1038/nature23649
Letters
Detection of titanium oxide in the atmosphere of a hot Jupiter p.238
Titanium oxide, water, sodium and a strongly scattering haze have been detected in the atmosphere of the hot Jupiter exoplanet WASP-19b.doi: 10.1038/nature23651
Hardware-efficient variational quantum eigensolver for small molecules and quantum magnets p.242
The ground-state energy of small molecules is determined efficiently using six qubits of a superconducting quantum processor.doi: 10.1038/nature23879
Superparamagnetic enhancement of thermoelectric performance p.247
By embedding superparamagnetic nanoparticles in a thermoelectric matrix, phonon and electron transport within the material can be controlled simultaneously at nanometre and mesoscopic length scales, thereby improving the thermoelectric performance of the material.doi: 10.1038/nature23667
Real-space imaging of non-collinear antiferromagnetic order with a single-spin magnetometer p.252
A non-invasive scanning magnetometer, based on a single nitrogen–vacancy defect in diamond, visualizes antiferromagnetic order at the nanometre scale in thin films of bismuth ferrite at room temperature.doi: 10.1038/nature23656
Impact of a global temperature rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius on Asia’s glaciers p.257
Models show that even if global temperature rise can be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius, only about 65 per cent of glacier mass will remain in the high mountains of Asia by the end of this century, and if temperatures rise by more than this the effects will be much more extreme.doi: 10.1038/nature23878
Biodiversity effects in the wild are common and as strong as key drivers of productivity p.261
A synthesis of 67 biodiversity studies shows that, after controlling for environmental covariates, the effects of biodiversity on biomass are stronger in nature than in experiments and are comparable to the effects of other drivers of productivity.doi: 10.1038/nature23886
Early members of ‘living fossil’ lineage imply later origin of modern ray-finned fishes p.265
High-resolution scans of fossilized fish skulls suggest that modern ray-finned fishes originated later than previously thought and necessitate reconsideration of the evolution of this major vertebrate group.doi: 10.1038/nature23654
Kinetic analysis of a complete nitrifier reveals an oligotrophic lifestyle p.269
A pure culture of the complete nitrifier Nitrospira inopinata shows a high affinity for ammonia, low maximum rate of ammonia oxidation, high growth yield compared to canonical nitrifiers and genomic potential for alternative metabolisms, probably reflecting an important role in nitrification in oligotrophic environments.doi: 10.1038/nature23679
m6A modulates haematopoietic stem and progenitor cell specification p.273
doi: 10.1038/nature23883
Neuronal regulation of type 2 innate lymphoid cells via neuromedin U p.277
Group 2 innate lymphoid cells express the neuromedin U receptor 1 (NMUR1) and respond to neuromedin U (NMU) released by adjacent enteric neurons, and this interaction results in an enhanced immediate early response to the nematode Nippostrongylus brasiliensis.doi: 10.1038/nature23469
The neuropeptide neuromedin U stimulates innate lymphoid cells and type 2 inflammation p.282
Intestinal type 2 innate lymphoid cells express the neuropeptide receptor NMUR1, which makes them responsive to neuronal neuromedin U, thereby promoting a type 2 cytokine response and accelerated expulsion of the gastro-intestinal nematode Nippostrongylus brasiliensis.doi: 10.1038/nature23676
Polycomb-like proteins link the PRC2 complex to CpG islands p.287
Crystal structures of the Polycomb-like proteins PHF1 and MTF2 with bound DNA and histone peptides show that extended homologous regions of the two proteins form a winged-helix structure that has an unexpected mechanism of binding to unmethylated CpG-containing DNA motifs.doi: 10.1038/nature23881
