More than 50 years after the WI-38 cell line was derived from a fetus, science and society has still to get to grips with the ethical issues of using human tissue in research.
doi: 10.1038/498407a
Modern sleep patterns cause ill health, so it is time to work out how much rest we really need.
doi: 10.1038/498408b
Better sequencing techniques are enabling some scientists to take personal genomics literally.
doi: 10.1038/498408a
Chemical analysis links methane in drinking wells to shale-gas extraction.
doi: 10.1038/498415a
Lithium–sulphur batteries benefit from new materials.
doi: 10.1038/498416a
Clinical trial will aim to replicate virus-expunging therapy that worked in US infant.
doi: 10.1038/498417a
Mutation provides clue to daughter’s undefined syndrome.
doi: 10.1038/498418a
Study confirms principle’s limits on measurement accuracy.
doi: 10.1038/498419a
Ocean labs probe effects of ocean acidification on ecosystems.
doi: 10.1038/498420a
1962年に作られたWI-38細胞は、ワクチン生産や老化研究に重要な役割を果たしてきたが、中絶胎児の細胞由来という点で倫理的議論の種にもなっている。
doi: 10.1038/498422a
気体中の非常に多数の原子が、単一のリュードベリ励起状態を共有することがある。このような励起状態と単一光子の間で起こる量子もつれが今回、決定論的に実証された。
doi: 10.1038/nature12259
ゼブラフィッシュ胚では、心臓の一部が損傷を受けると、隣接領域から供給される細胞を使って修復が行われる。再生に関わるこのような細胞は中間前駆細胞集団に起源を持つらしい。
doi: 10.1038/nature12262
はるか昔から、衣類は保温・断熱のために使われてきた。熱の流れは維持しながら熱を遮蔽する、つまり熱センサーから対象を隠せる遮蔽装置が、今回実証された。
doi: 10.1038/498440a
ショウジョウバエの幼虫では、神経幹細胞が異なる時点で異なる細胞種を作り出している。このような時間的進行は遺伝子転写因子が作る複数のカスケードによって制御されていることが明らかになった。
doi: 10.1038/nature12261
カーボンナノチューブを精製し、配置することは、こうしたナノ材料を使った電子デバイスを作る際の難問である。こうした分野での最近の進歩によって、トランジスター技術につながる面白い道が切り開かれそうな勢いが見えてきた。
doi: 10.1038/498443a
細胞は、栄養の入手可能性の変動を感知し、それに応答することができる。このような栄養情報を細胞増殖装置に伝える経路を破壊する変異は、がん細胞の制御を受けない増殖の一因となっているらしい。
doi: 10.1038/498444a
単独性の動物では、学習と記憶は大きなエネルギー消費を伴うので、エネルギー源が不足するとこのような認知機能が損なわれることがある。ミツバチでの研究から、このような影響は集団を作って生活している動物でも起こることがわかった。
doi: 10.1038/498446a
ヒトに寄生するマラリア原虫の全ゲノム塩基配列解読から、アルテミシニンを使った薬剤に対する耐性に関連するゲノム領域が明らかになった。この知見は、アルテミシニン耐性というこの憂慮すべき傾向の起源と広がりを説明するのに役立ちそうだ。
doi: 10.1038/498446b
電子産業で最も広く見られる材料であるシリコンを使って、マイクロメートルサイズのレーザーが作られた。このデバイスは、数マイクロワット程度の電力で作動し、コンパクトな光集積回路への道を開く可能性がある。
doi: 10.1038/498447a
Drosophila neural stem cells and their proliferative progeny are both shown to change over time, thus increasing the diversity of their neuronal and glial progeny; such temporal patterning may also contribute to neuronal complexity in the human neocortex.
doi: 10.1038/nature12266
Five transcription factors are sequentially expressed in a temporal cascade in Drosophila medulla neuroblasts of the visual system; cross-regulations between these transcription factors control the temporal transitions, and temporal switching of neural progenitors may be a common theme in neuronal specification, with different sequences of transcription factors being used in different contexts.
doi: 10.1038/nature12319
Measurements of a precursor to a low-mass white-dwarf star reveal that such white-dwarf stars probably had a thick hydrogen envelope, which was lost by irradiation or shell flashes in the case of rapidly cooling white-dwarf stars.
doi: 10.1038/nature12192
Trapped Rydberg atoms are used to achieve deterministic entanglement between light and an optical atomic coherence, paving the way for functional, many-node quantum networks.
doi: 10.1038/nature12227
A continuous-wave Raman silicon laser with a photonic-crystal nanocavity less than ten micrometres in size and an unprecedentedly low lasing threshold of one microwatt is demonstrated, showing that the integration of all-silicon devices into photonic circuits may be possible.
doi: 10.1038/nature12237
Computational simulations show that variations in the rate of fluvial erosion between tectonically active and inactive mountain ranges may relate to a bidirectional coupling between bedrock river incision and landslides.
doi: 10.1038/nature12218
Global-scale mantle flow patterns can be deduced from the net behaviour (convergence and divergence) of surface plate motions; persistent quadrupole divergence in central Africa and the central Pacific suggest sustained stationary upwelling beneath these locations in the mantle.
doi: 10.1038/nature12203
Humans are able to throw projectiles with high speed and accuracy largely as a result of anatomical features that enable elastic energy storage and release at the shoulder; features that first appear together approximately 2 million years ago in Homo erectus, possibly as a means to hunt.
doi: 10.1038/nature12267
Mosquitoes with null mutations in the orco olfactory co-receptor have reduced preference for humans, are only attracted to human odour in the presence of CO2 and are not repelled by the odour of the insect repellent DEET.
doi: 10.1038/nature12206
Cerebral cavernous malformations associated with loss of function of Ccm1 are shown to be formed by endothelial cells undergoing endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) induced by TGF-β and BMP signalling; inhibition of TGF-β and BMP signalling prevents EndMT and the appearance of CCM lesions.
doi: 10.1038/nature12207
A cardiac injury study in zebrafish reveals the plasticity of heart cell lineages as shown by a Notch-dependent transdifferentiation of atrial to ventricular cardiomyocytes, regenerating a cell type that is damaged in human heart failure.
doi: 10.1038/nature12322
Endothelial protein C receptor is shown to be the receptor for Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 variants associated with severe malaria.
doi: 10.1038/nature12216
Diverse autoimmune and allergic diseases are associated with polymorphisms in a locus encoding the transcription factor BACH2; here, BACH2 is shown to be a broad regulator of immune activation that stabilizes the differentiation of Treg cells by repressing commitment of CD4+ T cells to alternate cell fates.
doi: 10.1038/nature12199
It is unclear whether bidirectional non-coding RNAs transcribed from enhancer elements (eRNAs) have any functional role; here, the repressive functions of Rev-Erb nuclear receptors in macrophages are shown to be linked to their ability to inhibit the transcription of eRNAs.
doi: 10.1038/nature12209
It is unclear whether bidirectional non-coding RNAs transcribed from enhancer elements (eRNAs) have any functional role; here, eRNA transcription is shown to be functionally important during the activation of genes by the oestrogen receptor in human breast cancer cells.
doi: 10.1038/nature12210
The structure of the oligomeric hepatitis C virus viroporin p7 protein, solved by NMR spectroscopy, is reported; this protein can self-assemble into a channel complex that conducts cations and has a funnel-like channel architecture.
doi: 10.1038/nature12283
