Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Nature contents: 21 August 2014

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  Volume 512 Number 7514   
 

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This week's highlights

 
 

Biological Sciences

More Biological sciences
 
A microbial ecosystem beneath the West Antarctic ice sheet
 

Whether there is microbial life in subglacial lakes in the Antarctic has been a matter of controversy as early results were compromised by contamination that may have occurred during drilling. Discovered less than a decade ago using satellite data, Lake Whillans lies beneath some 800 metres of ice on the lower portion of the Whillans Ice Stream (WIS) in West Antarctica. In the first study to sample Antarctic subglacial waters directly, Lake Whillans water has been found to contain more than 3,900 different types of bacterial and archaea, including one closely related to the nitrite oxidizing betaproteobacterium 'Candidatus Nitrotoga arctica'.

 
 
 

Physical Sciences

More Physical sciences
 
Magneto-optical trapping of a diatomic molecule
 

The use of lasers to cool atoms to close to absolute zero, and their subsequent confinement in magneto-optical traps, has enabled applications ranging from new atomic clocks to novel types of quantum matter. Molecules present a different challenge because their complexity renders current magneto-optical trapping techniques ineffective. This paper demonstrates the first realization of a three-dimensional magneto-optical trap for a diatomic molecule, strontium fluoride. The authors’ method is an extension of magneto-optical traps for atoms, but it uses transitions that are rarely exploited for atomic traps. A trapped molecule is an ideal starting point for high-precision measurement of fundamental constants and for the study of chemistry at ultracold temperatures.

 
 
 

Earth & Environmental Sciences

More Earth & Environmental sciences
 
Continuing megathrust earthquake potential in Chile after the 2014 Iquique earthquake
 

Gavin Hayes et al. analyse the seismic context of the Iquique earthquake that occurred off the coast of Northern Chile on 1 April 2014 in a seismic zone that had been quiescent since a significant event in 1877. They identify areas of weakness along the megathrust fault in the region and conclude that the 2014 earthquake was not the one that had been anticipated. Given that significant sections of the northern Chile subduction zone have not ruptured in almost 150 years, they suggest that its future megathrust earthquakes will occur south and potentially north of the 2014 Iquique sequence.

 
 
 
 
 

It is undeniable: Biological research is increasingly multidisciplinary. And as more powerful and computationally complex imaging methods are integrated into life science research, the need for deeper understanding and increased dialogue among biologists, physicists, engineers, mathematicians and statisticians grows. Please visit The Living Image and join us in celebrating science and technology that pushes the limits of what is possible. And, above all, we invite you to do what comes naturally...Explore!

 
 
 
 
 

Podcast & Video

 
 

In this week's podcast: how seals took tuberculosis to the Americas, a better map of Neanderthals in Europe, and microbial life lurking beneath the Antarctic ice. In our latest video feature Nature Video re-winds to 50,000 years ago and re-plays the Neanderthals survival game. Find out when the Neandethals disappeared and how our species came to dominate Europe.

 
 
 
 
News & Comment Read daily news coverage top
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

THIS WEEK

 
 
 
 
 

Editorials

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

What goes up ▶

 
 

Federal restrictions on the use of drones by US researchers threaten an increasingly productive tool. The scientific community must speak out while there is a chance to change matters.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Finding the root ▶

 
 

The NIH is right to investigate whether bias makes grant awards unfair.

 
 
 
 
 
 

World View

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

Scale up the supply of experimental Ebola drugs ▶

 
 

Estimates of the probable impact of the outbreak show that existing stocks of potentially useful medicines are insufficient, says Oliver Brady.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Seven Days

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

Seven days: 15–21 August 2014 ▶

 
 

The week in science: Africa’s Ebola problem continues to worsen, the true cost of scientific misconduct in the United States, and Maryam Mirzakhani is first woman to win a Fields Medal.

 
 
 
 
 
 

NEWS IN FOCUS

 
 
 
 
 

US drone research hits regulatory turbulence ▶

 
 

Federal rules ground scientists using remotely piloted aircraft at private universities.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Double threat for Tibet ▶

 
 

Climate change and human development are jeopardizing the plateau’s fragile environment.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Bone technique redrafts prehistory ▶

 
 

Carbon-dating improvements show that Neanderthals disappeared from Europe much earlier than thought.

 
 
 
 
 
 

NIH to probe racial disparity in grant awards ▶

 
 

US agency will assess whether grant reviewers are biased against minority applicants.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Feature

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

Lakes under the ice: Antarctica’s secret garden ▶

 
 

Samples from a lake hidden under 800 metres of ice contain thousands of microbes and hint at vast ecosystems yet to be discovered.

 
 
 
 
 
 

COMMENT

 
 
 
 
 

Microbiology: Microbiome science needs a healthy dose of scepticism ▶

 
 

To guard against hype, those interpreting research on the body's microscopic communities should ask five questions, says William P. Hanage.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Books and Arts

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

History of science: The first scientist ▶

 
 

Roberto Lo Presti applauds a brilliant reappraisal of Aristotle as the father of observational biology.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Books in brief ▶

 
 
 
 
 
 

Planetary science: Second rock from the Sun ▶

 
 

Andrew P. Ingersoll relishes a study of scientific discoveries on hot, toxic Venus.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Correspondence

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

Non-native species: UK bill could prompt biodiversity loss Sarah Durant | Archiving: Don't let microbial samples perish Noah Fierer, Craig Cary | Madagascar: Risk review is under way for invasive toad Franco Andreone | Ageing: Develop models of frailty Susan E. Howlett, Kenneth Rockwood | Ageing: Research needs social science Philipe de Souto Barreto

 
 
 
 
 
 

Corrections

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

Clarification ▶

 
 
 
 
 
 

Corrections ▶

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Biological Sciences top
 
 
 
 
 
 

RESEARCH

 
 
 
 
 

Latest Online

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

Hallucigenia’s onychophoran-like claws and the case for Tactopoda ▶

 
 

Martin R. Smith, Javier Ortega-Hernández

 
 

The claws of the Cambrian lobopodian Hallucigenia resemble the claws and jaws of extant onychophorans, establishing a close relationship between hallucigeniid lobopodians and onychophorans, resolving tardigrades as the closest extant relatives of true arthropods, and showing that the earliest ancestor of the arthropods and their kin would have looked like a lobopodian.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Pre-Columbian mycobacterial genomes reveal seals as a source of New World human tuberculosis ▶

 
 

Kirsten I. Bos, Kelly M. Harkins, Alexander Herbig et al.

 
 

Three 1,000-year-old mycobacterial genomes from Peruvian human skeletons reveal that a member of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex derived from seals caused human disease before contact in the Americas.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Contrasting roles of histone 3 lysine 27 demethylases in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia ▶

 
 

Panagiotis Ntziachristos, Aristotelis Tsirigos, G. Grant Welstead et al.

 
 

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL) is a haematological malignancy with a poor prognosis and no available targeted therapies; now two histone H3 lysine 27 demethylases, JMJD3 and UTX, are shown to have contrasting roles in human T-ALL cells and a mouse model of the disease, and a small molecule demethylase inhibitor is found to inhibit the growth of T-ALL cell lines, introducing a potential therapeutic avenue for acute leukaemia.

 
 
 
 
 
 

RIPK1 maintains epithelial homeostasis by inhibiting apoptosis and necroptosis ▶

 
 

Marius Dannappel, Katerina Vlantis, Snehlata Kumari et al.

 
 

RIPK1 is shown to have a crucial role—independent of its known kinase function—in suppressing epithelial cell apoptosis and necroptosis in mice, thereby regulating homeostasis and preventing inflammation in barrier tissues.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Structure and mechanism of Zn2+-transporting P-type ATPases ▶

 
 

Kaituo Wang, Oleg Sitsel, Gabriele Meloni et al.

 
 

The X-ray crystal structures of a zinc-ion-transporting P-type ATPase are solved in a zinc-free, phosphoenzyme ‘ground’ state and in a transition state of dephosphorylation, characterizing these transporters of an essential micronutrient that is needed for many biological processes but is cytotoxic when free.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Diabetes recovery by age-dependent conversion of pancreatic δ-cells into insulin producers ▶

 
 

Simona Chera, Delphine Baronnier, Luiza Ghila et al.

 
 

An investigation of the influence of age on the generation of insulin-producing cells after β-cell loss in mice reveals that, whereas α-cells can reprogram to produce insulin from puberty to adulthood, efficient reconstitution in the very young is through δ-cell reprogramming, leading to complete diabetes recovery.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Transcriptional interference by antisense RNA is required for circadian clock function ▶

 
 

Zhihong Xue, Qiaohong Ye, Simon R. Anson et al.

 
 

The transcriptions of frq sense and antisense RNAs are mutually inhibitory and form a double negative feedback loop required for robust and sustained circadian rhythmicity: antisense transcription inhibits sense expression by causing chromatin modifications and premature transcription termination.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Comparative population genomics in animals uncovers the determinants of genetic diversity ▶

 
 

J. Romiguier, P. Gayral, M. Ballenghien et al.

 
 

Genome-wide DNA polymorphism analysis across 76 animal species reveals a strong effect of ecological strategies, and particularly parental investment, on species levels of genetic diversity.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Saturation editing of genomic regions by multiplex homology-directed repair ▶

 
 

Gregory M. Findlay, Evan A. Boyle, Ronald J. Hause et al.

 
 

The authors perform saturation mutagenesis of genomic regions in their native endogenous chromosomal context by using CRISPR/Cas9 RNA-guided cleavage and multiplex homology-directed repair; its utility is demonstrated by measuring the effects of hundreds to thousands of genomic edits to BRCA1 and DBR1 on splicing and cellular fitness, respectively.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Structure of malaria invasion protein RH5 with erythrocyte basigin and blocking antibodies ▶

 
 

Katherine E. Wright, Kathryn A. Hjerrild, Jonathan Bartlett et al.

 
 

Reticulocyte-binding protein homologue 5 (PfRH5) of Plasmodium falciparum, the malaria parasite, is known to be necessary for red blood cell invasion, making PfRH5 a promising vaccine candidate; here the X-ray crystallographic structure of PfRH5 in complex with basigin and with inhibitory antibodies is determined.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Synaptic dysregulation in a human iPS cell model of mental disorders ▶

 
 

Zhexing Wen, Ha Nam Nguyen, Ziyuan Guo et al.

 
 

Generation and neural differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) from patients enables new ways to investigate the cellular pathophysiology of mental disorders; this approach was used with samples from a family with a schizophrenia pedigree and a DISC1 mutation, revealing synaptic abnormalities and large-scale transcriptional dysregulation.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Articles and Letters

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

Ribosomal frameshifting in the CCR5 mRNA is regulated by miRNAs and the NMD pathway ▶

 
 

Ashton Trey Belew, Arturas Meskauskas, Sharmishtha Musalgaonkar et al.

 
 

Programmed −1 ribosomal frameshifting (−1 PRF) is a process by which a signal in a messenger RNA causes a translating ribosome to shift by one nucleotide, thus changing the reading frame; here −1 PRF in the mRNA for the co-receptor for HIV-1, CCR5, is stimulated by two microRNAs and leads to degradation of the transcript by nonsense-mediated decay and at least one other decay pathway.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Crystal structure of a human GABAA receptor ▶

 
 

Paul S. Miller, A. Radu Aricescu

 
 

GABAA receptors are the principal mediators of rapid inhibitor synaptic transmission in the brain, and a decline in GABAA signalling leads to diseases including epilepsy, insomnia, anxiety and autism; here, the first X-ray crystal structure of a human GABAA receptor, the human β3 homopentamer, reveals structural features unique for this receptor class and uncovers the locations of key disease-causing mutations.

 
 
 
 
 
 

X-ray structure of the mouse serotonin 5-HT3 receptor ▶

 
 

Ghérici Hassaine, Cédric Deluz, Luigino Grasso et al.

 
 

The first X-ray crystal structure of the mouse serotonin 5-HT3 receptor, a pentameric ligand-gated ion channel, is similar to those of other Cys-loop receptors — though here electron density for part of the cytoplasmic domain, which is important for trafficking, synaptic localization, and modulation by cytoplasmic proteins, but not visible in previous structures, is also described.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Dietary specializations and diversity in feeding ecology of the earliest stem mammals ▶

 
 

Pamela G. Gill, Mark A. Purnell, Nick Crumpton et al.

 
 

Differences in function and dietary ecology between Morganucodon and Kuehneotherium show that lineage splitting during the earliest stages of mammalian evolution was associated with ecomorphological specialization and niche partitioning.

 
 
 
 
 
 

The timing and spatiotemporal patterning of Neanderthal disappearance ▶

 
 

Tom Higham, Katerina Douka, Rachel Wood et al.

 
 

Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating is used to construct a chronology of Neanderthal disappearance, showing that Neanderthals overlapped with anatomically modern humans for between about 2,000 and 5,000 years.

 
 
 
 
 
 

A microbial ecosystem beneath the West Antarctic ice sheet ▶

 
 

Brent C. Christner, John C. Priscu, Amanda M. Achberger et al.

 
 

There has been active debate over microbial life in Antarctic subglacial lakes owing to a paucity of direct observations from beneath the ice sheet and concerns about contamination in the samples that do exist; here the authors present the first geomicrobiological description of pristine water and surficial sediments from Subglacial Lake Whillans, and show that the lake water contains a diverse microbial community, many members of which are closely related to chemolithoautotrophic bacteria and archaea.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Haematopoietic stem cell induction by somite-derived endothelial cells controlled by meox1 ▶

 
 

Phong Dang Nguyen, Georgina Elizabeth Hollway, Carmen Sonntag et al.

 
 

A new somite compartment, called the endotome, that contributes to the formation of the embryonic dorsal aorta by providing endothelial progenitors is identified here; endotome-derived endothelial progenitors, whose formation is regulated by the activity of the meox1 gene, induce haematopoietic stem cell formation upon colonization of the nascent dorsal aorta.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Jam1a–Jam2a interactions regulate haematopoietic stem cell fate through Notch signalling ▶

 
 

Isao Kobayashi, Jingjing Kobayashi-Sun, Albert D. Kim et al.

 
 

Notch signalling has a key role in the generation of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) during vertebrate development; here two adhesion molecules, Jam1a and Jam2a, are shown to be essential for the contact between precursors of HSCs and the somite during embryonic migration, and the Jam1a–Jam2a interaction is shown to be needed to transmit the Notch signal and produce HSCs.

 
 
 
 
 
 

A vaccine targeting mutant IDH1 induces antitumour immunity ▶

 
 

Theresa Schumacher, Lukas Bunse, Stefan Pusch et al.

 
 

The mutant IDH1 protein, which is expressed in a large fraction of human gliomas, is shown to be immunogenic; mutant-specific immune responses can be detected in patients with IDH1 mutated gliomas and generated in mice and are shown to treat established IDH1 mutant tumours in a syngeneic MHC humanized mouse model in a CD4 T-cell-dependent manner.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Dynamic pathways of −1 translational frameshifting ▶

 
 

Jin Chen, Alexey Petrov, Magnus Johansson et al.

 
 

To investigate the mechanism of frameshifting during messenger RNA translation, a technique was developed to monitor translation of single molecules in real time using Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET); ribosomes were revealed to pause tenfold longer than usual during elongation at the frameshifting sites.

 
 
 
 
 
 

X-ray structures of GluCl in apo states reveal a gating mechanism of Cys-loop receptors ▶

 
 

Thorsten Althoff, Ryan E. Hibbs, Surajit Banerjee et al.

 
 

This study solved structures of the glutamate-gated chloride channel (GluCl), a Cys-loop receptor from C. elegans, in an apo, closed state and in a lipid-bound state — comparison of these structures with a previously published structure of GluCl in an ivermectin-bound state reveals what conformational changes probably occur as this membrane protein transitions from the closed/resting state towards an open/activated state.

 
 
 
 
 
 

News & Views

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

Biogeochemistry: Microbes eat rock under ice ▶

 
 

Martyn Tranter

 
 
 
 
 
 

Developmental biology: It takes muscle to make blood cells ▶

 
 

Suphansa Sawamiphak, Didier Y. R. Stainier

 
 
 
 
 
 

Palaeoanthropology: The time of the last Neanderthals ▶

 
 

William Davies

 
 
 
 
 
 

Population history: Human melting pots in southeast Asia ▶

 
 

Jared Diamond

 
 
 
 
 
 

Biological techniques: Edit the genome to understand it ▶

 
 

Fyodor D. Urnov

 
 
 
 
 
 

Retraction

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

Retraction: Generation of pluripotent stem cells from adult human testis ▶

 
 

Sabine Conrad, Markus Renninger, Jörg Hennenlotter et al.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Research Highlights

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

Ocean sciences: Farmed salmon swim to freedom | HIV: Antibody–drug mix stops relapse | Microbiology: How Salmonella bounces back | Conservation biology: Poaching leads to elephant decline | Virology: Secret to Ebola's success | Strong words over a 'Hobbit'

 
 
 
 

NEWS & COMMENT

 
 
 
 
 

Scale up the supply of experimental Ebola drugs | Bone technique redrafts prehistory | Lakes under the ice: Antarctica’s secret garden | Clarification | Microbiology: Microbiome science needs a healthy dose of scepticism | History of science: The first scientist | Books in brief | Non-native species: UK bill could prompt biodiversity loss | Archiving: Don't let microbial samples perish | Madagascar: Risk review is under way for invasive toad | Ageing: Develop models of frailty | Ageing: Research needs social science | NIH to probe racial disparity in grant awards

 
 
 
 
 
 

More Biological Sciences ▶

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
New podcast with Eppendorf Award 2014 winner, Madeline Lancaster

Nature
is the partner for the Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators. This year the prize was awarded to Madeline Lancaster for her work showing that complex neuronal tissues resembling early states of fetal human brain can be created
in vitro from pluripotent stem cells.
 
Listen to a podcast and read a Q&A with Madeline Lancaster to learn more about her work. 
 
 
 
 
Health Sciences top
 
 
 
 
 
 

RESEARCH

 
 
 
 
 

Latest Online

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

Contrasting roles of histone 3 lysine 27 demethylases in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia ▶

 
 

Panagiotis Ntziachristos, Aristotelis Tsirigos, G. Grant Welstead et al.

 
 

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL) is a haematological malignancy with a poor prognosis and no available targeted therapies; now two histone H3 lysine 27 demethylases, JMJD3 and UTX, are shown to have contrasting roles in human T-ALL cells and a mouse model of the disease, and a small molecule demethylase inhibitor is found to inhibit the growth of T-ALL cell lines, introducing a potential therapeutic avenue for acute leukaemia.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Diabetes recovery by age-dependent conversion of pancreatic δ-cells into insulin producers ▶

 
 

Simona Chera, Delphine Baronnier, Luiza Ghila et al.

 
 

An investigation of the influence of age on the generation of insulin-producing cells after β-cell loss in mice reveals that, whereas α-cells can reprogram to produce insulin from puberty to adulthood, efficient reconstitution in the very young is through δ-cell reprogramming, leading to complete diabetes recovery.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Synaptic dysregulation in a human iPS cell model of mental disorders ▶

 
 

Zhexing Wen, Ha Nam Nguyen, Ziyuan Guo et al.

 
 

Generation and neural differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) from patients enables new ways to investigate the cellular pathophysiology of mental disorders; this approach was used with samples from a family with a schizophrenia pedigree and a DISC1 mutation, revealing synaptic abnormalities and large-scale transcriptional dysregulation.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Articles and Letters

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

A vaccine targeting mutant IDH1 induces antitumour immunity ▶

 
 

Theresa Schumacher, Lukas Bunse, Stefan Pusch et al.

 
 

The mutant IDH1 protein, which is expressed in a large fraction of human gliomas, is shown to be immunogenic; mutant-specific immune responses can be detected in patients with IDH1 mutated gliomas and generated in mice and are shown to treat established IDH1 mutant tumours in a syngeneic MHC humanized mouse model in a CD4 T-cell-dependent manner.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Research Highlights

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

HIV: Antibody–drug mix stops relapse | Virology: Secret to Ebola's success

 
 
 
 

NEWS & COMMENT

 
 
 
 
 

Scale up the supply of experimental Ebola drugs | Books in brief | Ageing: Develop models of frailty | Ageing: Research needs social science | NIH to probe racial disparity in grant awards

 
 
 
 
 
 

More Health Sciences ▶

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Physical Sciences top
 
 
 
 
 
 

RESEARCH

 
 
 
 
 

Latest Online

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

A 400-solar-mass black hole in the galaxy M82 ▶

 
 

Dheeraj R. Pasham, Tod E. Strohmayer, Richard F. Mushotzky

 
 

The discovery of two stable peaks at frequencies with a ratio of 3:2 in the power spectrum of X-ray emission from the brightest X-ray source in galaxy M82 suggests that, if the relationship between frequency and mass that holds for stellar-mass black holes can be extended to intermediate masses, the black hole believed to be the source of the emission has a mass approximately 400 times that of the Sun.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Articles and Letters

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

Interacting supernovae from photoionization-confined shells around red supergiant stars ▶

 
 

Jonathan Mackey, Shazrene Mohamed, Vasilii V. Gvaramadze et al.

 
 

A model in which the stellar wind of the fast-moving red supergiant Betelgeuse is photoionized by radiation from external sources can explain the dense, almost static shell recently discovered around the star, and predicts both that debris from Betelgeuse’s eventual supernova explosion will violently collide with the shell and that other red supergiants should have similar, but much more massive, shells.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Magneto-optical trapping of a diatomic molecule ▶

 
 

J. F. Barry, D. J. McCarron, E. B. Norrgard et al.

 
 

Magneto-optical trapping is the standard method for laser cooling and confinement of atomic gases but now this technique has been demonstrated for the diatomic molecule strontium monofluoride, leading to the lowest temperature yet achieved by cooling a molecular gas.

 
 
 
 
 
 

News & Views

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

Molecular physics: Complexity trapped by simplicity ▶

 
 

Francesca Ferlaino

 
 
 
 
 
 

Corrigendum

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

Corrigendum: Palladium-catalysed C–H activation of aliphatic amines to give strained nitrogen heterocycles ▶

 
 

Andrew McNally, Benjamin Haffemayer, Beatrice S. L. Collins et al.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Research Highlights

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

Materials: Soft machines made like Lego | Astronomy: Comets forge organic molecules | Astronomy: Dusty visitors from interstellar space | Engineering: Robot swarms take shape | Strong words over a 'Hobbit'

 
 
 
 

NEWS & COMMENT

 
 
 
 
 

Books in brief | Planetary science: Second rock from the Sun | What goes up | US drone research hits regulatory turbulence

 
 
 
 
 
 

More Physical Sciences ▶

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Earth & Environmental Sciences top
 
 
 
 
 
 

RESEARCH

 
 
 
 
 

Articles and Letters

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

Abrupt glacial climate shifts controlled by ice sheet changes ▶

 
 

Xu Zhang, Gerrit Lohmann, Gregor Knorr et al.

 
 

The volume of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheet controlled abrupt millennial-scale climate changes during the last glacial.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Continuing megathrust earthquake potential in Chile after the 2014 Iquique earthquake ▶

 
 

Gavin P. Hayes, Matthew W. Herman, William D. Barnhart et al.

 
 

The 2014 Iquique event was not the earthquake that had been expected to fill the regional seismic gap; given that significant sections of the northern Chile subduction zone have not ruptured in almost 150 years, it is likely that future megathrust earthquakes will occur south and potentially north of the 2014 Iquique sequence.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Gradual unlocking of plate boundary controlled initiation of the 2014 Iquique earthquake ▶

 
 

Bernd Schurr, Günter Asch, Sebastian Hainzl et al.

 
 

A long foreshock series unlocked the South American plate boundary until eventually initiating the M 8.1 Iquique, Chile, earthquake.

 
 
 
 
 
 

News & Views

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

Biogeochemistry: Microbes eat rock under ice ▶

 
 

Martyn Tranter

 
 
 
 
 
 

Earth science: Warning signs of the Iquique earthquake ▶

 
 

Roland Bürgmann

 
 
 
 
 

NEWS & COMMENT

 
 
 
 
 

Lakes under the ice: Antarctica’s secret garden | Books in brief | Planetary science: Second rock from the Sun | Double threat for Tibet

 
 
 
 
 
 

More Earth & Environmental Sciences ▶

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Nature Collections: Stem Cells - Breaking Barriers: The most versatile of stem cells can be made from an embryo or by reprogramming mature cells. A selection of general articles from Nature highlights the practical, political and ethical considerations of using these cells in research and potential therapies. 
Available in a 25 page PDF format for only $1.99 
 
 
 
 
Careers & Jobs top
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Biomedical science: Houston has lift-off ▶

 
 

Buoyed by state funding, biomedical sciences are booming in the Texan city.

 
 
 
 
 
 

Careers related news & comment

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

Seven days: 15–21 August 2014 | Microbiology: Microbiome science needs a healthy dose of scepticism William P. Hanage | Madagascar: Risk review is under way for invasive toad Franco Andreone | Ageing: Research needs social science Philipe de Souto Barreto | Finding the root | NIH to probe racial disparity in grant awards Sara Reardon

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Development of Cancer Medicines

 
 

27.11.14 London, UK

 
 
 
 

Natureevents Directory is the premier resource for scientists looking for the latest scientific conferences, courses, meetings and symposia. Featured across Nature Publishing Group journals and centrally at natureevents.com it is an essential reference guide to scientific events worldwide.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Futures

 
     
 
 
 
 
 

Away ▶

 
 

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