Rise of the citizen scientist p.265
From the oceans to the soil, technology is changing the part that amateurs can play in research. But this greater involvement raises concerns that must be addressed.
doi: 10.1038/524265a
From the oceans to the soil, technology is changing the part that amateurs can play in research. But this greater involvement raises concerns that must be addressed.
doi: 10.1038/524265a
People who fund or manage many research projects could do it better with mindful analysis.
doi: 10.1038/524265b
Research minister says two chunks of money from the European Union can now be released.
doi: 10.1038/524273a
Fears about the virus helped forge deal to elevate existing facility to BSL-4 status.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2015.18179
Fields with more women found to be more welcoming.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2015.18187
Analysis could force climate scientists to revisit estimates of global cycle.
doi: 10.1038/524276a
Researchers strive to reproduce and understand landmark result.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2015.18191
Proposed alpine ski area lies within nature reserve, prompting fears of development in other conservation areas.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2015.18174
As marijuana use becomes more acceptable, researchers are scrambling to answer key questions about the drug.
doi: 10.1038/524280a
Damaged organelles called mitochondria were once thought to be disposed of by a simple signalling cascade. Cell-based analyses now reveal that a network of complicated molecular interactions initiates disposal. See Article p.309
doi: 10.1038/nature15199
A human antibody against dengue virus serotype 2 has been shown to protect mice against disease. Structures of the antibody bound to the virus illuminate how it binds different viral forms to prevent virus entry into cells.
doi: 10.1038/524295a
The report of a light-activated catalyst that generates usually inaccessible nickel intermediates provides a general strategy that might allow elusive catalytic reactions to be realized. See Letter p.330
doi: 10.1038/nature15200
The crystal structures of two proteins that respond to reduced tissue oxygen levels — hypoxia-inducible factors — provide insight into their function and reveal sites for rational drug design. See Article p.303
doi: 10.1038/nature14641
A study of DNA sequences from more than 1,800 organisms on Mount Kinabalu in Borneo reveals the evolutionary mechanisms that led to the mountain's high and unique biodiversity. See Letter p.347
doi: 10.1038/nature14645
The G2 cloud in our Galaxy's core has survived an encounter with the central black hole and failed to trigger a major flare-up in the black hole's activity. A promising theory endeavours to explain the cloud's nature.
doi: 10.1038/524301a
This study describes the long-awaited crystal structures for hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) heterodimers, including complexes bound to small molecules and DNA; the HIF–ARNT architecture is distinct from the bHLH-PAS-containing CLOCK–BMAL1 heterodimer, and HIF mutations linked to cancer can be mapped to important structural regions, with the structures providing future reference for small-molecule drug discovery efforts.
doi: 10.1038/nature14883
The PINK1 ubiquitin kinase is shown to recruit the two autophagy receptors NDP52 and OPTN to mitochondria to activate mitophagy directly, independently of the ubiquitin ligase parkin; once recruited to mitochondria, NDP52 and OPTN recruit autophagy initiation components, and parkin may amplify the phospho-ubiquitin signal generated by PINK1, resulting in robust autophagy induction.
doi: 10.1038/nature14893
X-ray crystallography and molecular dynamics simulations of the μ-opioid receptor reveal the conformational changes in the extracellular and intracellular domains of this G-protein-coupled receptor that are associated with its activation.
doi: 10.1038/nature14886
Gas-giant planets are widely thought to form from solid ‘cores’ of roughly ten Earth masses; simulations now show that such cores can be produced from ‘pebbles’ (centimetre-to-metre-sized objects) provided that the pebbles form sufficiently slowly, leading to the formation of one to four gas giants in agreement with the observed structure of the Solar System.
doi: 10.1038/nature14675
A position sensor is demonstrated that is capable of resolving the zero-point motion of a nanomechanical oscillator in the timescale of its thermal decoherence; it achieves an imprecision that is four orders of magnitude below that at the standard quantum limit and is used to feedback-cool the oscillator to a mean photon number of five.
doi: 10.1038/nature14672
Despite advances in carbon–carbon fragment couplings, the ability to forge carbon–oxygen bonds in a general fashion via nickel catalysis has been largely unsuccessful; here, visible-light-excited photoredox catalysts are shown to provide transient access to Ni(iii) species that readily participate in reductive elimination, leading to carbon–oxygen coupling.
doi: 10.1038/nature14875
A revised estimate of Chinese carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning and cement production is presented, based on updated energy consumption and clinker production data and two new sets of measured emission factors for Chinese coal.
doi: 10.1038/nature14677
Geochemical data from inclusions within diamonds from the Northwest Territories, Canada, indicate that saline fluids are parental to silicic and carbonatitic deep mantle melts, via fluid–rock interaction; a subducting plate under western North America is suggested to be the source of the fluids.
doi: 10.1038/nature14857
The Ediacaran macrofossil Fractofusus reveals a complex life history of multigenerational, stolon-like asexual reproduction, interspersed with dispersal of waterborne propagules.
doi: 10.1038/nature14646
Investigating the evolutionary origins of montane biodiversity by sampling the entire biota from a single mountain, Mount Kinabalu in Borneo, allows for a better understanding not only of the origins of endemism, but also of this biota’s forecasted response to environmental change.
doi: 10.1038/nature14949
Feedbacks between the dissociation and advection of myosin II result in self-organized behaviour of actomyosin networks that drives shape changes during tissue morphogenesis.
doi: 10.1038/nature14603
Zinc transporter ZIP12 expression is increased in many cell types in remodelled mammalian pulmonary arterioles in hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension.
doi: 10.1038/nature14620
The MiT/TFE family of transcription factors is found to coordinate constitutive activation of autophagy and lysosome biogenesis to drive the metabolic programming and malignant growth of pancreatic cancer.
doi: 10.1038/nature14587
Diatoms optimize their photosynthetic efficiency via extensive energetic exchanges between plastids and mitochondria.
doi: 10.1038/nature14599
This study provides insights into conformational changes that lead to phospho-ubiquitin-induced PARKIN activation and how PARKIN is recruited to phospho-ubiquitin chains on mitochondria; the crystal structure of PARKIN in complex with phospho-ubiquitin also indicates that the pocket within PARKIN where phospho-ubiquitin binds carries amino acid residues that are mutated in patients with autosomal-recessive juvenile Parkinsonism.
doi: 10.1038/nature14879
NMR spectroscopy reveals the conformational changes of the μ-opioid receptor that are associated with receptor activation, helping to explain why the allosteric coupling between the agonist-binding pocket and the cytoplasmic G-protein-coupling interface of this receptor is relatively weak.
doi: 10.1038/nature14680