Nature contents: 18 September 2014

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Volume 513 Number 7518      nature •Visit Nature homepage •Subscribe to Nature •View Table of Contents The science that matters. Every week.               APPLY BY SEPT 26th for the 2014 ONCOLOGY RESEARCH GRANT  Together with Illumina, we're giving two deserving researchers the power to tap into the wealth of genomic data locked within FFPE samples using an innovative technique developed by EA | Quintiles using Illumina's RNA Access method. Unleash the power of your research with RNA-seq and DNA Methylation. expressionanalysis.com/grant        Jump to the content that matters to you View Table of Contents ▶ ▼ News & Comment   ▼ Biological Sciences   ▼ Health Sciences   ▼ Physical Sciences   ▼ Earth & Environmental Sciences   ▼ Careers & Jobs       This week's highlights     Specials - Insight: Exoplanets     It was less than twenty years ago that the first discovery of an extrasolar planet orbiting a star similar to the Sun was reported, and as ‘new’ exoplanets were revealed in ones and twos each discovery was a major event. Time and science move on and now this collection of five specially commissioned reviews provides a snapshot of the maturing field of exoplanet research. The final review casts an eye forward at the developments we can expect in the next few years. ▼ more       Biological Sciences More Biological sciences ▼   Lethal aggression in Pan is better explained by adaptive strategies than human impacts   Suggestions that violence in our closest living primate relatives is mainly a response to human activities are refuted in this meta-analysis of studies of chimpanzees and bonobos across Africa. Rather, aggression between chimpanzees is the normal and expected product of adaptive strategies to obtain resources or mates, and has no connection with the presence or otherwise of human beings. Chimps were born to get wild.       Earth & Environmental Sciences More Earth & Environmental sciences ▼   Aridification of the Sahara desert caused by Tethys Sea shrinkage during the Late Miocene   Most evidence suggests that the modern Sahara desert first arose between two and three million years ago, coinciding with the initiation of major glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere. This study puts Saharan origins much earlier. Zhongshi Zhang et al. show that the drying of the Tethys Sea — the progenitor of the modern Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas — weakened the northern extension of the African monsoon and led to the creation of the Sahara desert about seven million years ago.                   Earth & Environmental Sciences More Earth & Environmental sciences ▼   Spreading continents kick-started plate tectonics   Plate tectonics — the large scale motion of Earth’s crust and upper mantle (the lithosphere) — may have been kick-started by the gravitational spreading of Earth’s continents during the Archaean eon, around 2.5 to 4 billion years ago. The findings, reported in a numerical modelling study in Nature this week, add new insights into the tectonic processes on early Earth.     Podcast & Video     In this week's podcast: Artificial sweeteners might cause glucose intolerance, striving for diversity in science, and a taster of new podcast, Backchat.         News & Comment Read daily news coverage▶ ▲top               THIS WEEK           Editorials                   Diversity challenge ▶     There is growing evidence that embracing diversity — in all its senses — is key to doing good science. But there is still work to be done to ensure that inclusivity is the default, not the exception.             A worthy ambition ▶     Finalizing the European Research Area is still a vibrant and relevant goal.             Amped-up plants ▶     Bacterial enzyme supercharges photosynthesis, promising increased yields for crops.             World View                   UN sustainability goals need quantified targets ▶     Scientists must step up and secure meaningful objectives if they are to protect both people and planet, says Mark Stafford-Smith.             Seven Days                   Seven days: 12–18 September 2014 ▶     The week in science:             NEWS IN FOCUS           Japan stem-cell trial stirs envy ▶     Researchers elsewhere can’t wait to test iPS cells in humans.             Lander to aim for comet’s ‘head’ ▶     Touchdown site for Rosetta probe chosen unanimously.             Climate summit previews push for new global treaty ▶     United Nations meeting aims to spark enthusiasm for a 2015 emissions pact.             Sugar substitutes linked to obesity ▶     Artificial sweetener seems to change gut microbiome.             Indian Mars craft prepares for orbit ▶     Mangalyaan aims to be Asia’s first successful Martian mission.             Cross-bred crops get fit faster ▶     Genetic engineering lags behind conventional breeding in efforts to create drought-resistant maize.             Invasive-species control: Bounty hunters ▶     Destructive lionfish are invading coral reefs in the Americas, but fishing competitions can help to keep the problem species in check.             Feature                   Diversity: Pride in science ▶     The sciences can be a sanctuary for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals, but biases may still discourage many from coming out.             COMMENT           Medical research: Missing patients ▶     Effective clinical studies must consider all ethnicities — exclusion can endanger populations, says Esteban G. Burchard.             Developing world: Discuss inequality ▶     Confront economic differences to strengthen global research, urge P. Wenzel Geissler and Ferdinand Okwaro.             Mental health: Tailor informed-consent processes ▶     The first step in studying mental-health interventions across cultures is to adjust procedures to participants' needs, says Mónica Ruiz-Casares.             Collaboration: Strength in diversity ▶     Richard B. Freeman and Wei Huang reflect on a link between a team's ethnic mix and highly cited papers.             Autumn Books                   Genetics: Under the skin ▶     Nathaniel Comfort wonders at the enduring trend of misrepresenting race.         Physics: In thrall to uncertainty ▶     A history of how quantum theory has permeated Western culture refreshes Jim Baggott.             New in paperback ▶     Highlights of this season's releases             Linguistics: The write stuff ▶     Steven Pinker's provocative treatise on language use and abuse would benefit from more data, finds Paul Raeburn.             Evolution: Tribes like us ▶     Tim Lenton is intrigued by E. O. Wilson's sweeping perspective on humanity's past — and possible futures.             Climate policy: A societal sea change ▶     Nico Stehr ponders Naomi Klein's call for strategic mass action on climate change.             Internet: Technology and its discontents ▶     Jaron Lanier surveys four studies probing the vexed nexus of mind and digisphere.             Correspondence                   Africa: Ebola virus control needs local buy-in Gilles Guerrier, Eric D'Ortenzio | Climate models: sunk by humans? Robert A. J. Matthews | Climate models: use archaeology record Felix Riede | Aquarium trade: Monitor Brazil's fish sampling closely Jean R. S. Vitule, Flávia D. F. Sampaio, André L. B. Magalhães | China: Shale gas is a fraught solution to emissions Hong Yang, Julian R. Thompson | Sampling errors: Aristotle's suspect statistical skills Taner Z. Sen             Correction                   Corrections ▶               Specials - Insight: Exoplanets ▲top               Exoplanets ▶             Doppler spectroscopy as a path to the detection of Earth-like planets ▶             Advances in exoplanet science from Kepler ▶             Highlights in the study of exoplanet atmospheres ▶             The role of space telescopes in the characterization of transiting exoplanets ▶             Instrumentation for the detection and characterization of exoplanets ▶                    Dual Use Research on Microbes: Symposium on Biosafety, Biosecurity, and Responsibility The Volkswagen Foundation’s symposium in collaboration with the Max Planck Society (December 10-12, 2014, Germany) will discuss dual use research of concern with microbes: How can we balance scientific freedom, communication of research results, and society’s interest to not be exposed to potentially uncontrollable risks? The rapid development of research requires a broad agreement on possible limits to theoretically harmful experiments. Be part of the discussion between scientists, governmental and research institutions, and public stakeholders and register online.         Biological Sciences ▲top             RESEARCH           Latest Online                   Plant science: Towards turbocharged photosynthesis ▶     G. Dean Price, Susan M. Howitt             Disease models: Statins give bone growth a boost ▶     Bjorn R. Olsen             DNA repair: Making the cut ▶     Lorraine S. Symington             Health: The weighty costs of non-caloric sweeteners ▶     Taylor Feehley, Cathryn R. Nagler             Inorganic chemistry: How calcium affects oxygen formation ▶     Davide Lionetti, Theodor Agapie             Statin treatment rescues FGFR3 skeletal dysplasia phenotypes ▶     Akihiro Yamashita, Miho Morioka, Hiromi Kishi et al.     This study reprograms fibroblasts from thanatophoric dysplasia type I (TD1) and achondroplasia (ACH) patients into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), finding that chondrogenic differentiation results in the formation of degraded cartilage; statin treatment led to significant recovery of bone growth in a mouse model of ACH.             Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota ▶     Jotham Suez, Tal Korem, David Zeevi et al.     Non-caloric artificial sweeteners (NAS), widely used food additives considered to be safe and beneficial alternatives to sugars, are shown here to lead to the development of glucose intolerance through compositional and functional changes in the gut microbiota of mice, and the deleterious metabolic effects are transferred to germ-free mice by faecal transplant; NAS-induced dysbiosis and glucose intolerance are also demonstrated in healthy human subjects.             Histone H2A.Z subunit exchange controls consolidation of recent and remote memory ▶     Iva B. Zovkic, Brynna S. Paulukaitis, Jeremy J. Day et al.     The authors identify a specific histone variant as a memory-suppressor that is initially reduced in expression within the hippocampus during memory formation; as a memory is consolidated to the cortex, reduced histone association with specific plasticity genes is observed, promoting stabilization of the memory.             Discovery and characterization of small molecules that target the GTPase Ral ▶     Chao Yan, Degang Liu, Liwei Li et al.     Using a structure-based approach, small molecule inhibitors that selectively target the GTPase Ral are identified and characterized; these first-generation inhibitors will be valuable tools for elucidating the Ral signalling pathway and constitute a step towards developing Ral-specific agents for cancer therapy.             Epigenetic reprogramming that prevents transgenerational inheritance of the vernalized state ▶     Pedro Crevillén, Hongchun Yang, Xia Cui et al.     The Arabidopsis thaliana floral repressor FLC is epigenetically silenced by prolonged cold in a process called vernalization and then is reactivated before the completion of seed development; a histone demethylase, ELF6, is now shown to be involved in reactivating FLC in reproductive tissues, allowing the resetting of FLC expression and thus the requirement for vernalization in each generation.             A Hox regulatory network of hindbrain segmentation is conserved to the base of vertebrates ▶     Hugo J. Parker, Marianne E. Bronner, Robb Krumlauf     Nested Hox expression domains are found in jawed vertebrates and in non-vertebrate chordates, but it is unclear whether there is a link between brain regionalization and Hox expression in jawless vertebrates; here, Hox expression is shown to be integrated with hindbrain segmentation in lampreys.             Members of the human gut microbiota involved in recovery from Vibrio cholerae infection ▶     Ansel Hsiao, A. M. Shamsir Ahmed, Sathish Subramanian et al.     Recovery from cholera is characterized by a pattern of accumulation of bacterial taxa that shows similarities to the pattern of maturation of the gut microbiota in healthy children, raising the possibility that some of these taxa may be useful for ‘repair’ of the gut microbiota in individuals whose gut communities have been ‘wounded’ through a variety of insults.             Structural and mechanistic insights into the bacterial amyloid secretion channel CsgG ▶     Parveen Goyal, Petya V. Krasteva, Nani Van Gerven et al.     CsgG and CgsE form an encaging translocon for selective, iterative diffusion of curli subunits across the non-energized bacterial outer membrane.             Sae2 promotes dsDNA endonuclease activity within Mre11–Rad50–Xrs2 to resect DNA breaks ▶     Elda Cannavo, Petr Cejka     The MRX complex, required for double-strand break (DSB) repair by homologous recombination, has 3′ to 5′ exonuclease activity, but homologous recombination at a DSB uses a 3′-tailed molecule, which requires resection of the 5′ strand; here it is shown that in yeast, Sae2 nuclease promotes MRX to make an initial endonucleolytic cut on the 5′ strand that may allow MRX to digest the 5′ strand back to the end in a 3′ to 5′ fashion.             A faster Rubisco with potential to increase photosynthesis in crops ▶     Myat T. Lin, Alessandro Occhialini, P. John Andralojc et al.     The plant enzyme Rubisco is the main enzyme converting atmospheric carbon dioxide into biological compounds, however, this enzymatic process is inefficient in vascular plants; this study demonstrates that tobacco plants can be engineered to fix carbon with a faster cyanobacterial Rubisco, thus potentially improving plant photosynthesis.             Articles and Letters                   The genomic substrate for adaptive radiation in African cichlid fish OPEN ▶     David Brawand, Catherine E. Wagner, Yang I. Li et al.     Genomes and transcriptomes of five distinct lineages of African cichlids, a textbook example of adaptive radiation, have been sequenced and analysed to reveal that many types of molecular changes contributed to rapid evolution, and that standing variation accumulated during periods of relaxed selection may have primed subsequent diversification.             Proteogenomic characterization of human colon and rectal cancer ▶     Bing Zhang, Jing Wang, Xiaojing Wang et al.     Proteome analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) colorectal cancer specimens reveals that DNA- or RNA-level measurements cannot reliably predict protein abundance, colorectal tumours can be separated into distinct proteotypes, and that copy number alterations drive mRNA abundance changes but few extend to protein-level changes.             Molecular architecture and mechanism of the anaphase-promoting complex ▶     Leifu Chang, Ziguo Zhang, Jing Yang et al.     The anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) is a large E3 ligase that mediates ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis of cell cycle regulatory proteins; here the complete secondary structure architecture of human APC/C complexed with its coactivator CDH1 and substrate HSL1 is determined at 7.4 Å resolution, revealing allosteric changes induced by the coactivator that enhance affinity for UBCH10–ubiqutin.             Ancient human genomes suggest three ancestral populations for present-day Europeans ▶     A sequencing study comparing ancient and contemporary genomes reveals that most present-day Europeans derive from at least three highly differentiated populations: west European hunter-gatherers, ancient north Eurasians (related to Upper Palaeolithic Siberians) and early European farmers of mainly Near Eastern origin.             Lethal aggression in Pan is better explained by adaptive strategies than human impacts ▶     Michael L. Wilson, Christophe Boesch, Barbara Fruth et al.     A meta-analysis of studies on chimpanzees and bonobos across Africa shows that their conspecific aggression is the normal and expected product of adaptive strategies to obtain resources or mates and has no connection with the impacts of human activities.             Optimization of lag time underlies antibiotic tolerance in evolved bacterial populations ▶     Ofer Fridman, Amir Goldberg, Irine Ronin et al.     Repeated exposure of the bacterium Escherichia coli to clinically relevant concentrations of ampicillin results in the evolution of tolerance—the ability to survive until the antibiotic concentration diminishes—through an extension of the lag phase, a finding that has implications for slowing the evolution of antibiotic resistance.             Genome sequencing of normal cells reveals developmental lineages and mutational processes ▶     Sam Behjati, Meritxell Huch, Ruben van Boxtel et al.     On the basis of whole-genome sequences of clonal lines derived from normal mouse tissues, variation in mutational patterns and load across different tissues are described and early embryonic cell divisions are reconstructed.             Bidirectional switch of the valence associated with a hippocampal contextual memory engram ▶     Roger L. Redondo, Joshua Kim, Autumn L. Arons et al.     An optogenetic approach in mice was used to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying memory valence association; dentate gyrus, but not amygdala, memory engram cells exhibit plasticity in valence associations, suggesting that emotional memory associations can be changed at the circuit level.             Exonuclease-mediated degradation of nascent RNA silences genes linked to severe malaria ▶     Qingfeng Zhang, T. Nicolai Siegel, Rafael M. Martins et al.     A novel type of post-transcriptional regulation controls the expression of virulence genes in blood-stage malaria parasites.             Endocrinization of FGF1 produces a neomorphic and potent insulin sensitizer ▶     Jae Myoung Suh, Johan W. Jonker, Maryam Ahmadian et al.     Pharmacological fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF1) normalizes blood glucose in diabetic mice by means of an FGF receptor signalling pathway that is independent of its mitogenic activity.             Coordinated regulation of protein synthesis and degradation by mTORC1 ▶     Yinan Zhang, Justin Nicholatos, John R. Dreier et al.     mTORC1 is known to stimulate protein synthesis; now, it is shown to also promote the synthesis of proteasomes, which degrade proteins into the amino acids needed to create new proteins.             News & Views                   Evolutionary biology: Radiating genomes ▶     Chris D. Jiggins             Animal behaviour: The evolutionary roots of lethal conflict ▶     Joan B. Silk             50 & 100 Years Ago ▶             Neuroscience: Shedding light on a change of mind ▶     Tomonori Takeuchi, Richard G. M. Morris             Plant science: Towards turbocharged photosynthesis ▶     G. Dean Price, Susan M. Howitt             Disease models: Statins give bone growth a boost ▶     Bjorn R. Olsen             DNA repair: Making the cut ▶     Lorraine S. Symington             Health: The weighty costs of non-caloric sweeteners ▶     Taylor Feehley, Cathryn R. Nagler             Inorganic chemistry: How calcium affects oxygen formation ▶     Davide Lionetti, Theodor Agapie             Brief Communications Arising                   GATM gene variants and statin myopathy risk ▶     D. F. Carr, A. Alfirevic, R. Johnson et al.             GATM locus does not replicate in rhabdomyolysis study ▶     James S. Floyd, Joshua C. Bis, Jennifer A. Brody et al.             Mangravite et al. reply ▶     Lara M. Mangravite, Barbara E. Engelhardt, Matthew Stephens et al.             Corrigendum                   Corrigendum: Systems survey of endocytosis by multiparametric image analysis ▶     Claudio Collinet, Martin Stöter, Charles R. Bradshaw et al.             Retraction                   Retraction: Genomic organization of human transcription initiation complexes ▶     Bryan J. Venters, B. Franklin Pugh             Research Highlights                   Ecology: Bird diversity at risk from farming | Virology: Wide area of Ebola risk in Africa | Palaeontology: How a shark used its saw-like jaw | Immunology: The gut improves vaccine effects | Infectious disease: Mosquitoes awaken malaria | Ecology: Sneaky ants steal in plain sight | Social selection: High retraction rates raise eyebrows         NEWS & COMMENT           Amped-up plants | Sugar substitutes linked to obesity | New in paperback | Linguistics: The write stuff | Evolution: Tribes like us | Internet: Technology and its discontents | Africa: Ebola virus control needs local buy-in | Aquarium trade: Monitor Brazil's fish sampling closely | Japan stem-cell trial stirs envy | Cross-bred crops get fit faster | Medical research: Missing patients | Mental health: Tailor informed-consent processes | Invasive-species control: Bounty hunters             More Biological Sciences ▶                 nature.com webcasts Macmillan Science Communication presents a custom webcast on: Understanding bacterial diversity through metagenomics 16S sequencing Wednesday September 24th, 2014  Time: 8AM PDT, 10AM CDT 11AM EDT, 4PM BST, 5PM CEST Register for the webcast and live Q and A session Sponsored by:         Health Sciences ▲top             RESEARCH           Latest Online                   Disease models: Statins give bone growth a boost ▶     Bjorn R. Olsen             Statin treatment rescues FGFR3 skeletal dysplasia phenotypes ▶     Akihiro Yamashita, Miho Morioka, Hiromi Kishi et al.     This study reprograms fibroblasts from thanatophoric dysplasia type I (TD1) and achondroplasia (ACH) patients into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), finding that chondrogenic differentiation results in the formation of degraded cartilage; statin treatment led to significant recovery of bone growth in a mouse model of ACH.             Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota ▶     Jotham Suez, Tal Korem, David Zeevi et al.     Non-caloric artificial sweeteners (NAS), widely used food additives considered to be safe and beneficial alternatives to sugars, are shown here to lead to the development of glucose intolerance through compositional and functional changes in the gut microbiota of mice, and the deleterious metabolic effects are transferred to germ-free mice by faecal transplant; NAS-induced dysbiosis and glucose intolerance are also demonstrated in healthy human subjects.             Discovery and characterization of small molecules that target the GTPase Ral ▶     Chao Yan, Degang Liu, Liwei Li et al.     Using a structure-based approach, small molecule inhibitors that selectively target the GTPase Ral are identified and characterized; these first-generation inhibitors will be valuable tools for elucidating the Ral signalling pathway and constitute a step towards developing Ral-specific agents for cancer therapy.             Articles and Letters                   Proteogenomic characterization of human colon and rectal cancer ▶     Bing Zhang, Jing Wang, Xiaojing Wang et al.     Proteome analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) colorectal cancer specimens reveals that DNA- or RNA-level measurements cannot reliably predict protein abundance, colorectal tumours can be separated into distinct proteotypes, and that copy number alterations drive mRNA abundance changes but few extend to protein-level changes.             Endocrinization of FGF1 produces a neomorphic and potent insulin sensitizer ▶     Jae Myoung Suh, Johan W. Jonker, Maryam Ahmadian et al.     Pharmacological fibroblast growth factor 1 (FGF1) normalizes blood glucose in diabetic mice by means of an FGF receptor signalling pathway that is independent of its mitogenic activity.             News & Views                   50 & 100 Years Ago ▶             Disease models: Statins give bone growth a boost ▶     Bjorn R. Olsen             Brief Communications Arising                   GATM locus does not replicate in rhabdomyolysis study ▶     James S. Floyd, Joshua C. Bis, Jennifer A. Brody et al.             Research Highlights                   Virology: Wide area of Ebola risk in Africa | Infectious disease: Mosquitoes awaken malaria         NEWS & COMMENT           Sugar substitutes linked to obesity | Africa: Ebola virus control needs local buy-in | Japan stem-cell trial stirs envy | Medical research: Missing patients | Mental health: Tailor informed-consent processes             More Health Sciences ▶               Physical Sciences ▲top             RESEARCH           Latest Online                   Inorganic chemistry: How calcium affects oxygen formation ▶     Davide Lionetti, Theodor Agapie             Large, non-saturating magnetoresistance in WTe2 ▶     Mazhar N. Ali, Jun Xiong, Steven Flynn et al.     The magnetoresistance effect in WTe2, a layered semimetal, is extremely large: the electrical resistance can be changed by more than 13 million per cent at very high magnetic fields and low temperatures.             Structural and mechanistic insights into the bacterial amyloid secretion channel CsgG ▶     Parveen Goyal, Petya V. Krasteva, Nani Van Gerven et al.     CsgG and CgsE form an encaging translocon for selective, iterative diffusion of curli subunits across the non-energized bacterial outer membrane.             Articles and Letters                   Multifunctional organoboron compounds for scalable natural product synthesis ▶     Fanke Meng, Kevin P. McGrath, Amir H. Hoveyda     A catalytic process is reported that begins with a highly selective copper–boron addition to a monosubstituted allene, and in which the resulting boron-substituted organocopper intermediate then participates in a chemoselective, site-selective and enantioselective allylic substitution; this approach is used in the enantioselective synthesis of gram quantities of two natural products.             A massive galaxy in its core formation phase three billion years after the Big Bang ▶     Erica Nelson, Pieter van Dokkum, Marijn Franx et al.     Hubble Space Telescope, Keck telescope and Spitzer satellite data reveal the formation of the dense stellar core of a massive galaxy occurring three billion years after the Big Bang.             A supermassive black hole in an ultra-compact dwarf galaxy ▶     Anil C. Seth, Remco van den Bosch, Steffen Mieske et al.     Dynamical modelling of the ultra-compact dwarf galaxy M60-UCD1 reveals the presence of a supermassive black hole; this suggests the object is a stripped galaxy nucleus and implies the existence of supermassive black holes in many other ultra-compact dwarf galaxies.             News & Views                   Condensed-matter physics: Catching relativistic electrons ▶     Zhihuai Zhu, Jennifer E. Hoffman             Astrophysics: Giant black hole in a stripped galaxy ▶     Amy E. Reines             Organic chemistry: Reactivity tamed one bond at a time ▶     Matthew T. Villaume, Phil S. Baran             Inorganic chemistry: How calcium affects oxygen formation ▶     Davide Lionetti, Theodor Agapie             Research Highlights                   Particle physics: Better estimate of Higgs mass         NEWS & COMMENT           Indian Mars craft prepares for orbit | Physics: In thrall to uncertainty | New in paperback | Internet: Technology and its discontents | Lander to aim for comet’s ‘head’             More Physical Sciences ▶               Earth & Environmental Sciences ▲top             RESEARCH           Latest Online                   Asian monsoons in a late Eocene greenhouse world ▶     A. Licht, M. van Cappelle, H. A. Abels et al.     Asian monsoons were strongly active 40 million years ago and were enhanced by high atmospheric CO2 content. They were significantly weakened when CO2 levels decreased 34 million years ago and then reinitiated several million years later.             High secondary aerosol contribution to particulate pollution during haze events in China ▶     Ru-Jin Huang, Yanlin Zhang, Carlo Bozzetti et al.     Investigation of the chemical nature and sources of particulate matter at urban locations in four Chinese cities during a severe haze pollution event finds that the event was driven to a large extent by secondary aerosol formation.             Prevalence of viscoelastic relaxation after the 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake ▶     Tianhaozhe Sun, Kelin Wang, Takeshi Iinuma et al.     Seafloor Global Positioning System observations immediately after the great 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake provide unambiguous evidence for the dominant role of viscoelastic relaxation in short-term postseismic deformation, rather than just afterslip on the fault as is commonly assumed.             Articles and Letters                   Aridification of the Sahara desert caused by Tethys Sea shrinkage during the Late Miocene ▶     Zhongshi Zhang, Gilles Ramstein, Mathieu Schuster et al.     The drying of the Tethys Sea—the progenitor of the modern Mediterranean, Black and Caspian seas—weakened the northern extension of the African monsoon and led to the creation of the Sahara desert about 7 million years ago.             Spreading continents kick-started plate tectonics ▶     Patrice F. Rey, Nicolas Coltice, Nicolas Flament     The slow gravitational collapse of early continents could have kick-started transient episodes of plate tectonics until, as the Earth’s interior cooled and oceanic lithosphere became heavier, plate tectonics became self-sustaining.             Research Highlights                   Microbiology: Vaginal microbe makes drug | Glaciology: Surface heat led to ice-shelf demise         NEWS & COMMENT           Climate summit previews push for new global treaty | Indian Mars craft prepares for orbit | Climate policy: A societal sea change | Climate models: sunk by humans? | Climate models: use archaeology record | China: Shale gas is a fraught solution to emissions | Lander to aim for comet’s ‘head’ | Invasive-species control: Bounty hunters             More Earth & Environmental Sciences ▶               Special - Technology Feature ▲top               When disease strikes from nowhere ▶     When healthy parents have a child with a genetic disorder, the cause is sometimes a new mutation. Tools are emerging to meet the challenge of finding such changes.               Nature has once again been ranked the N0.1 weekly science journal with an Impact Factor of 42.351*. To celebrate we are offering you the opportunity to subscribe at an exclusive limited time offer of only $42, £42 or €42. This is a limited time offer - so don't miss out and subscribe today! *2013 Journal Citation Reports® (Thomson Reuters, 2014)          Careers & Jobs ▲top               Early-career funding: Big introductions ▶     Europe's Starting Grants are ideal for young researchers with big ideas and what it takes to bring them to life.                   Career progression: Europe on track ▶     Europe's universities are adopting tenure to draw recruits.                   Education: Degrees of difference ▶     Degree-level education is rare in many nations, says report.                   Research and development: Falls in funding ▶     US research and development still suffering from budget battles.             Careers related news & comment                   A worthy ambition | Seven days: 12–18 September 2014 | Physics: In thrall to uncertainty Jim Baggott | Diversity challenge | Diversity: Pride in science M Mitchell Waldrop | Developing world: Discuss inequality P. 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