A policy change that could discourage UK government scientists from talking to the media is a backwards step. All researchers need to speak up to put science on the political agenda.
doi: 10.1038/520005a
The world must follow Brazil’s lead and do more to protect and restore forests.
doi: 10.1038/520005b
A passive device that augments calf muscles improves on natural selection’s best effort.
doi: 10.1038/520006a
But effort to catalogue brain’s building blocks may stoke disagreements over classification.
doi: 10.1038/520013a
Panel creates scientific baseline for debate about climate reparations.
doi: 10.1038/nature.2015.17202
What the rising influence of the Greens, UKIP and the Scottish National Party means for research policy.
doi: 10.1038/520016a
Discovery expands potential CRISPR toolbox for treating genetic diseases in humans.
doi: 10.1038/520018a
ブラジルは熱帯雨林の破壊との戦いに成功を収めたが、危うい勝利であり、後に続く他国にとって学ぶことは多い。
doi: 10.1038/520020a
現代医学は、膨大なコストがかかる輸血に必要以上に頼っているため、その削減を目指す取り組みが行われている。
doi: 10.1038/520024a
ホン–オウ–マンデル効果によれば、ビームスプリッタ－の2つの入力ポートに同時に入射された2つの全く同じ量子粒子は、必ず一塊となって同じ1つの出力ポートから出てくることになる。この効果がヘリウム4原子を使って実証された。
doi: 10.1038/520036a
フェロトーシスと呼ばれる、鉄に依存して起こるタイプの細胞死は、p53の腫瘍抑制活性の一部であることが示された。この知見は、p53タンパク質ががん発生を防止する仕組みについての全く新しい手掛かりを与えてくれる。
doi: 10.1038/nature14374
局所スケールでのメタ解析から、土地利用の変化が種の豊かさを全球平均でほぼ8.1％低下させていることが明らかになった。これは主に、農耕地と牧草地が大幅に増加した結果である。
doi: 10.1038/520038a
新たに形成中の巨大惑星コアが親星に向かってらせん状に急降下するのを防ぐ仕組みが見つかった。これによって、土星や木星のような惑星が現在見られる位置を占めている理由が説明できるかもしれない。
doi: 10.1038/520040a
マイクロRNA塩基配列の前駆体の非コード領域、つまり「ジャンク」と考えられてきた領域にコードされているペプチドが見つかり、遺伝子調節の今まで知られていなかった部分が明らかになってきた。このような非コード塩基配列は、結局のところはジャンクではないのかもしれない。
doi: 10.1038/nature14378
ドラゴンを伝説や空想の産物として片付けることがもう不可能であることを示す証拠が増えつつある。こうした証拠はまた、全球の気候に対する人為起源の影響が、このような巨獣が復活する道をうかつにも作り出しかねないことを示している。
doi: 10.1038/520042a
Analysis of a global data set of local biodiversity comparisons reveals an average 13.6% reduction in species richness and 10.7% reduction in abundance as a result of past human land use, and projections based on these data under a business-as-usual land-use scenario predict further substantial loss this century, unless strong mitigation efforts are undertaken to reverse the effects.
doi: 10.1038/nature14324
In severe autism, deleterious variants at conserved residues are enriched in patients arising from female-enriched multiplex families, enhancing the detection of key autism genes in modest numbers of cases.
doi: 10.1038/nature14186
p53 suppresses expression of SLC7A11, a key component of the cystine/glutamate amino acid transport machinery, leading to inhibition of cystine uptake and promoting ferroptosis, an iron-dependent form of cell death.
doi: 10.1038/nature14344
Modelling of planetary formation reveals that asymmetries in the temperature rise associated with accretion produce a torque that counteracts inward migration, suggesting how the conditions for giant-planet formation may arise.
doi: 10.1038/nature14277
The Hong–Ou–Mandel effect—in which two indistinguishable photons that enter a 50:50 beam-splitter are found only as a pair at one of the two outputs, leading to a dip in the coincidence rate of the detectors—is now realized with 4He atoms instead of photons; this opens the way to performing basic quantum-physics experiments with mechanical observables of massive particles.
doi: 10.1038/nature14331
A miniature laser is reported that uses two-dimensional tungsten diselenide as the active medium, which is placed on a photonic crystal membrane that acts as the laser cavity; the laser emits visible light, with an ultralow pump threshold.
doi: 10.1038/nature14290
A shape-changing sensor made of pairs of magnetic disks spaced by swellable hydrogel material removes all need for optical access by operating in the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) radio-frequency spectrum.
doi: 10.1038/nature14294
Mapping the frontier-orbital interactions with atom specificity using X-ray laser-based femtosecond-resolution spectroscopy reveals that spin crossover and ligation determine the sub-picosecond excited-state dynamics of a transition-metal complex in solution.
doi: 10.1038/nature14296
A new analysis of a 415-million-year-old fossil fish head originally described as from an early osteichthyan (bony fish) puts it instead as the sister group of the gnathosomes (jawed vertebrates), and suggests that the extinct acanthodians were relatives of cartilaginous fishes.
doi: 10.1038/nature14065
Traditionally, the vertebral column of snakes was thought to have lost regionalization; Hox regionalization is now shown to be maintained in snakes, suggesting that gradational vertebral column regionalization is primitive to amniotes.
doi: 10.1038/nature14042
Plant primary microRNA (miRNA) transcripts (pri-miRNAs) are not just a source of miRNAs but can also encode regulatory peptides (miPEPs) that enhance the accumulation, and so the effect, of the corresponding mature miRNAs—an observation that may have agronomical applications.
doi: 10.1038/nature14346
α-MSH and AgRP, two hypothalamus-derived peptides with opposing actions on the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R), modulate neurons driving feeding behaviour; although previous downstream mechanisms of cellular modulation by these peptides have been determined, here α-MSH and AgRP are shown to regulate neural activity by coupling MC4R to Kir7.1 potassium channels and closing or opening them, respectively.
doi: 10.1038/nature14051
Development of a segmented filamentous bacteria and host cell co-culturing system that supports filamentation, segmentation, and differentiation to release viable infectious intracellular offspring.
doi: 10.1038/nature14027
Defined skin commensal bacteria elicit a dermal dendritic-cell-dependent, long-lasting, commensal-specific CD8+ T-cell response that promotes protection against pathogens while preserving tissue homeostasis.
doi: 10.1038/nature14052
Human antibodies in complex with the soluble dimeric form of the dengue virus envelope protein E recognize a quaternary epitope and exhibit strong neutralizing activity against all four virus serotypes.
doi: 10.1038/nature14130
Meiotic recombination is initiated by a fairly uniform distribution of hundreds of DNA double-strand breaks catalysed by the Spo11 protein; here, Tel1 (orthologue of human ATM) is shown to be required for the localized inhibition that prevents double-strand breaks from forming close to one another.
doi: 10.1038/nature13993
