Nature contents: 29 September 2011

Can't view this email? Click here to view in your browser.     Volume 477 Number 7366      nature •Visit Nature homepage •Subscribe to Nature •View Table of Contents The science that matters. Every week.                       Call for entries! Eppendorf Young Investigator Award 2012 Prize money: 15,000 Euro Apply now online Entry deadline: 15 January 2012             Jump to the content that matters to you View Table of Contents ▶ ▼ News & Comment   ▼ Biological Sciences   ▼ Chemical Sciences   ▼ Physical Sciences   ▼ Earth & Environmental Sciences   ▼ Careers & Jobs       This week's highlights     Biological Sciences More Biological sciences ▼   Crystal structure of the β2 adrenergic receptor–Gs protein complex   The G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are potentially the most important group of drug targets in the human body. The long-awaited X-ray crystal structure of a GPCR transmembrane signalling complex has now been determined, providing plenty of data for drug designers and researchers alike.       Physical Sciences More Physical sciences ▼   Gravitational redshift of galaxies in clusters as predicted by general relativity   A classic test of general relativity - gravitational redshift of photons propagating from a gravitational potential well - provides a direct test of gravity on scales of several megaparsecs, independent of cosmology. The results are in line with the predictions of general relativity, and inconsistent with alternative models that exclude dark matter.       Biological Sciences More Biological sciences ▼   Transcriptomic analysis of avian digits reveals conserved and derived digit identities in birds   There is a problem with the idea that birds are modern-day descendants of the dinosaurs: the three digits of dinosaur limbs are thought to correspond with digits 1, 2 and 3 of the ancestral tetrapod pattern, whereas the those of bird limbs seem to correspond with digits 2, 3 and 4. This is resolved - at least for one digit - with the demonstration that wing digit 1 underwent a homeotic shift in evolution.                   Eppendorf Award Winner 2011 In 2011 the prize was awarded to Assistant Professor Suzan Rooijakkers, PhD, (University Medical Center Utrecht, Department of Medical Microbiology, Utrecht, The Netherlands). Find out more about her research here. If you want to apply for the Eppendorf Award 2012, click here.                 Podcast & Video     In this week's podcast: How to measure happiness, how food puts flies in the mood for love, and how to improve clinical trials and get more drugs to market. Plus, do scientists really think the speed of light has been broken?         News & Comment Read daily news coverage▶ ▲top             THIS WEEK           Editorials                   One up, one down ▶     Sending satellites to monitor the atmosphere is fundamental to weather and climate research. So why is the United States making such a meal of it?             Blackened names ▶     Canada should make public the identities of researchers who commit misconduct.             Heritage threats ▶     Research that underpins the preservation of cultural treasures should be championed.             World View                   Why animal research needs to improve ▶     Many of the studies that use animals to model human diseases are too small and too prone to bias to be trusted, says Malcolm Macleod.             Seven Days                   Seven days: 23–29 September 2011 ▶     The week in science: sequencing market sags; link between chronic fatigue and XMRV retracted; and the NSF encourages flexible working.           NEWS IN FOCUS           Clean-energy credits tarnished ▶     WikiLeaks reveals that most Indian claims are ineligible.             Europe to map the human epigenome ▶     DNA-modification studies get a multi-million euro boost.             Vaccine campaign to target deadly childhood diarrhoea ▶     Programme to guard against second-biggest killer of under-fives rolls out across Africa.             Speedy neutrinos challenge physicists ▶     Experiment under scrutiny as teams prepare to test claim that particles can beat light speed.             'Patent trolls' target biotechnology firms ▶     Opportunistic patent litigation threatens the life sciences.             Aboriginal genome analysis comes to grips with ethics ▶     Sequencing effort provides a model for future studies of museum samples.             Features                   America recovers: Stimulus—response ▶     The United States' 2009 financial stimulus bill has provided research with breathing space, rather than the sharp shot in the arm that many anticipated.             Translational research: 4 ways to fix the clinical trial ▶     Clinical trials are crumbling under modern economic and scientific pressures. Nature looks at ways they might be saved.           COMMENT           More time for research: Fund people not projects ▶     John P. A. Ioannidis proposes ways to save scientists from spending all their time writing grants.             Policy: Time to legislate for the good life ▶     Charles Seaford argues that a clear measure of well-being should be devised to help people judge how government policies affect their quality of life.             Books and Arts                   Epigenetics: Beyond face value ▶     Jonathan Weitzman relishes two accounts of how environment can influence the script of our genome.             Books in brief ▶             Linguistics: Tuning into translation ▶     Ellen Bialystok relishes a journey across the porous borders between languages.             Q&A: Digital diva ▶     The Icelandic singer Björk's album Biophilia, set for release on 10 October, features songs on DNA, crystals, viruses and electricity — each accompanied by an iPad app that doubles as a music lesson. She explains how her upbringing and environmental activism has inspired her, and how touch-screen technology has changed the way she composes.             Correspondence                   Administrative burdens: Bureaucracy savings should go to research Nicholas Graves & Adrian G. Barnett | Ireland: a strong knowledge economy Graham Love | Ireland: global links pay off Conor O'Carroll | Academic autonomy: More freedom for Turkish science Caghan Kizil                       JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY - ONLINE INFORMATION SESSIONS Earn your MASTER'S degree FULLY ONLINE with JHU's Advanced Biotechnology Studies programs. Attend an ONLINE Info Session for - Biotechnology Enterprise & Entrepreneurship (10/12), Biotechnology (10/13), Bioscience Regulatory Affairs & Enterprise (10/18), Bioinformatics (10/20). Learn more and RSVP online at biotechnology.jhu.edu.               Biological Sciences ▲top             RESEARCH           Latest Online                   An olfactory receptor for food-derived odours promotes male courtship in Drosophila ▶     Yael Grosjean, Raphael Rytz, Jean-Pierre Farine, Liliane Abuin, Jérôme Cortot et al.     Many animals attract mating partners through the release of volatile sex pheromo...             Primary motor cortex underlies multi-joint integration for fast feedback control ▶     J. Andrew Pruszynski, Isaac Kurtzer, Joseph Y. Nashed, Mohsen Omrani, Brenda Brouwer et al.     A basic difficulty for the nervous system is integrating locally ambiguous senso...             Theta-paced flickering between place-cell maps in the hippocampus ▶     Karel Jezek, Espen J. Henriksen, Alessandro Treves, Edvard I. Moser & May-Britt Moser     The ability to recall discrete memories is thought to depend on the formation of...             Corridors of migrating neurons in the human brain and their decline during infancy ▶     Nader Sanai, Thuhien Nguyen, Rebecca A. Ihrie, Zaman Mirzadeh, Hui-Hsin Tsai et al.     The subventricular zone of many adult non-human mammals generates large numbers ...             Dynamics of human adipose lipid turnover in health and metabolic disease ▶     Peter Arner, Samuel Bernard, Mehran Salehpour, Göran Possnert, Jakob Liebl et al.     Adipose tissue mass is determined by the storage and removal of triglycerides in...             STING is a direct innate immune sensor of cyclic di-GMP ▶     Dara L. Burdette, Kathryn M. Monroe, Katia Sotelo-Troha, Jeff S. Iwig, Barbara Eckert et al.     The innate immune system detects infection by using germline-encoded receptors t...             Control of flowering and storage organ formation in potato by FLOWERING LOCUS T ▶     Cristina Navarro, José A. Abelenda, Eduard Cruz-Oró, Carlos A. Cuéllar, Shojiro Tamaki et al.     Seasonal fluctuations in day length regulate important aspects of plant developm...             Structure of human mitochondrial RNA polymerase ▶     Rieke Ringel, Marina Sologub, Yaroslav I. Morozov, Dmitry Litonin, Patrick Cramer et al.     Transcription of the mitochondrial genome is performed by a single-subunit RNA p...             Structural basis of RNA recognition and activation by innate immune receptor RIG-I ▶     Fuguo Jiang, Anand Ramanathan, Matthew T. Miller, Guo-Qing Tang, Michael Gale et al.     Retinoic-acid-inducible gene-I (RIG-I; also known as DDX58) is a cytoplasmic pat...             Articles and Letters                   Crystal structure of the β2 adrenergic receptor–Gs protein complex ▶     Søren G. F. Rasmussen, Brian T. DeVree, Yaozhong Zou, Andrew C. Kruse, Ka Young Chung et al.     G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are responsible for the majority of cellular...             Crystal structure of nucleotide-free dynamin ▶     Katja Faelber, York Posor, Song Gao, Martin Held, Yvette Roske et al.     Dynamin is a mechanochemical GTPase that oligomerizes around the neck of clathri...             The crystal structure of dynamin ▶     Marijn G. J. Ford, Simon Jenni & Jodi Nunnari     Dynamin-related proteins (DRPs) are multi-domain GTPases that function via oligo...             Transcriptomic analysis of avian digits reveals conserved and derived digit identities in birds ▶     Zhe Wang, Rebecca L. Young, Huiling Xue & Günter P. Wagner     Morphological characters are the result of developmental gene expression. The id...             The genome of the green anole lizard and a comparative analysis with birds and mammals ▶     Jessica Alföldi, Federica Di Palma, Manfred Grabherr, Christina Williams, Lesheng Kong et al.     The evolution of the amniotic egg was one of the great evolutionary innovations ...             Innate immune recognition of bacterial ligands by NAIPs determines inflammasome specificity ▶     Eric M. Kofoed & Russell E. Vance     Inflammasomes are a family of cytosolic multiprotein complexes that initiate inn...             The NLRC4 inflammasome receptors for bacterial flagellin and type III secretion apparatus ▶     Yue Zhao, Jieling Yang, Jianjin Shi, Yi-Nan Gong, Qiuhe Lu et al.     Inflammasomes are large cytoplasmic complexes that sense microbial infections/da...             SUMO1-dependent modulation of SERCA2a in heart failure ▶     Changwon Kho, Ahyoung Lee, Dongtak Jeong, Jae Gyun Oh, Antoine H. Chaanine et al.     The calcium-transporting ATPase ATP2A2, also known as SERCA2a, is a critical ATP...             The role of Tet3 DNA dioxygenase in epigenetic reprogramming by oocytes ▶     Tian-Peng Gu, Fan Guo, Hui Yang, Hai-Ping Wu, Gui-Fang Xu et al.     Sperm and eggs carry distinctive epigenetic modifications that are adjusted by r...             Conformational changes in the G protein Gs induced by the β2 adrenergic receptor ▶     Ka Young Chung, Søren G. F. Rasmussen, Tong Liu, Sheng Li, Brian T. DeVree et al.     G protein-coupled receptors represent the largest family of membrane receptors t...             The structure and catalytic mechanism of a poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase ▶     Dea Slade, Mark S. Dunstan, Eva Barkauskaite, Ria Weston, Pierre Lafite et al.     Post-translational modification of proteins by poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation regulates ...             News & Views                   Structural biology: Snapshot of a signalling complex ▶     Thue W. Schwartz & Thomas P. Sakmar             Immunology: Recognition of a unique partner ▶     Denise M. Monack             Cardiovascular biology: Heart fails without pump partner ▶     Sudha K. Shenoy & Howard A. Rockman             Brief Communications Arising                   Can algal uptake stop NO3− pollution? ▶     Helen M. Baulch, Emily H. Stanley & Emily S. Bernhardt             Cardinale reply ▶     Bradley J. Cardinale             Corrigenda                   Ephrin Bs are essential components of the Reelin pathway to regulate neuronal migration ▶     Aycan Sentürk, Sylvia Pfennig, Alexander Weiss, Katja Burk & Amparo Acker-Palmer             A plastidial sodium-dependent pyruvate transporter ▶     Tsuyoshi Furumoto, Teppei Yamaguchi, Yumiko Ohshima-Ichie, Masayoshi Nakamura et al.             Research Highlights                   Ecology: Bowheads mingle in Northwest Passage | Cancer: How stem cells fight chemo | Anthropology: Denisovan dispersal details | Cell biology: DNA replication catastrophe | Ecology methods: Dirt sequence for animal survey | Genomics: Sequencing a family affair | Animal behaviour: Woodlice and humidity, 74 years on         NEWS & COMMENT           Heritage threats | Policy: Time to legislate for the good life | Epigenetics: Beyond face value | Books in brief | Linguistics: Tuning into translation           CAREERS           Turning point: Rossa Chiu             More Biological Sciences ▶                         Visit Illumina at ASHG/ICHG - Booth #708 Stop by our booth for a demonstration of the new MiSeq™ personal sequencing system, and learn how our comprehensive portfolio of sequencing- and array-based solutions can help power your research. For a complete list of Illumina workshops, presentations, and events at the show, click here.               Chemical Sciences ▲top             RESEARCH           Latest Online                   Structural basis of RNA recognition and activation by innate immune receptor RIG-I ▶     Fuguo Jiang, Anand Ramanathan, Matthew T. Miller, Guo-Qing Tang, Michael Gale et al.     Retinoic-acid-inducible gene-I (RIG-I; also known as DDX58) is a cytoplasmic pat...             Articles and Letters                   Crystal structure of the β2 adrenergic receptor–Gs protein complex ▶     Søren G. F. Rasmussen, Brian T. DeVree, Yaozhong Zou, Andrew C. Kruse, Ka Young Chung et al.     G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are responsible for the majority of cellular...             Crystal structure of nucleotide-free dynamin ▶     Katja Faelber, York Posor, Song Gao, Martin Held, Yvette Roske et al.     Dynamin is a mechanochemical GTPase that oligomerizes around the neck of clathri...             The crystal structure of dynamin ▶     Marijn G. J. Ford, Simon Jenni & Jodi Nunnari     Dynamin-related proteins (DRPs) are multi-domain GTPases that function via oligo...             The NLRC4 inflammasome receptors for bacterial flagellin and type III secretion apparatus ▶     Yue Zhao, Jieling Yang, Jianjin Shi, Yi-Nan Gong, Qiuhe Lu et al.     Inflammasomes are large cytoplasmic complexes that sense microbial infections/da...             The role of Tet3 DNA dioxygenase in epigenetic reprogramming by oocytes ▶     Tian-Peng Gu, Fan Guo, Hui Yang, Hai-Ping Wu, Gui-Fang Xu et al.     Sperm and eggs carry distinctive epigenetic modifications that are adjusted by r...             Conformational changes in the G protein Gs induced by the β2 adrenergic receptor ▶     Ka Young Chung, Søren G. F. Rasmussen, Tong Liu, Sheng Li, Brian T. DeVree et al.     G protein-coupled receptors represent the largest family of membrane receptors t...             The structure and catalytic mechanism of a poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase ▶     Dea Slade, Mark S. Dunstan, Eva Barkauskaite, Ria Weston, Pierre Lafite et al.     Post-translational modification of proteins by poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation regulates ...             News & Views                   Structural biology: Snapshot of a signalling complex ▶     Thue W. Schwartz & Thomas P. Sakmar             Immunology: Recognition of a unique partner ▶     Denise M. Monack             Corrigendum                   A plastidial sodium-dependent pyruvate transporter ▶     Tsuyoshi Furumoto, Teppei Yamaguchi, Yumiko Ohshima-Ichie, Masayoshi Nakamura et al.             Research Highlights                   Ecology methods: Dirt sequence for animal survey         CAREERS           Turning point: Rossa Chiu             More Chemical Sciences ▶               Physical Sciences ▲top             RESEARCH           Latest Online                   Extrasolar planets: Homing in on another Earth ▶     Jacob Bean             Detectable radio flares following gravitational waves from mergers of binary neutron stars ▶     Ehud Nakar & Tsvi Piran     Mergers of neutron-star/neutron-star binaries are strong sources of gravitationa...             Theta-paced flickering between place-cell maps in the hippocampus ▶     Karel Jezek, Espen J. Henriksen, Alessandro Treves, Edvard I. Moser & May-Britt Moser     The ability to recall discrete memories is thought to depend on the formation of...             The excitation of solar-like oscillations in a δ Sct star by efficient envelope convection ▶     V. Antoci, G. Handler, T. L. Campante, A. O. Thygesen, A. Moya et al.     Delta Scuti (δ Sct) stars are opacity-driven pulsators with masse...             Articles and Letters                   Gravitational redshift of galaxies in clusters as predicted by general relativity ▶     Radosław Wojtak, Steen H. Hansen & Jens Hjorth     The theoretical framework of cosmology is mainly defined by gravity, of which ge...             High-fidelity projective read-out of a solid-state spin quantum register ▶     Lucio Robledo, Lilian Childress, Hannes Bernien, Bas Hensen, Paul F. A. Alkemade et al.     Initialization and read-out of coupled quantum systems are essential ingredients...             Interannual variability in the oxygen isotopes of atmospheric CO2 driven by El Niño ▶     Lisa R. Welp, Ralph F. Keeling, Harro A. J. Meijer, Alane F. Bollenbacher, Stephen C. Piper et al.     The stable isotope ratios of atmospheric CO2 (18O/16O and 13C/12C) have been mon...             News & Views                   Cosmology: Gravity tested on large scales ▶     Gary Wegner             Climate science: Ocean dynamics not required? ▶     Jing-Jia Luo             50 & 100 years ago ▶             Carbon cycle: A dent in carbon's gold standard ▶     Matthias Cuntz             Extrasolar planets: Homing in on another Earth ▶     Jacob Bean             Research Highlights                   Ecology: Bowheads mingle in Northwest Passage | Metrology: Redefining the kilogram | Materials Chemistry: How soft is your nanomaterial? | Climate: Ocean depths store heat         NEWS & COMMENT           One up, one down | Q&A: Digital diva           CAREERS           Energy institute at Yale             More Physical Sciences ▶               Earth & Environmental Sciences ▲top             RESEARCH           Latest Online                   Extrasolar planets: Homing in on another Earth ▶     Jacob Bean             Articles and Letters                   Interannual variability in the oxygen isotopes of atmospheric CO2 driven by El Niño ▶     Lisa R. Welp, Ralph F. Keeling, Harro A. J. Meijer, Alane F. Bollenbacher, Stephen C. Piper et al.     The stable isotope ratios of atmospheric CO2 (18O/16O and 13C/12C) have been mon...             News & Views                   Climate science: Ocean dynamics not required? ▶     Jing-Jia Luo             Carbon cycle: A dent in carbon's gold standard ▶     Matthias Cuntz             Extrasolar planets: Homing in on another Earth ▶     Jacob Bean             Brief Communications Arising                   Can algal uptake stop NO3− pollution? ▶     Helen M. Baulch, Emily H. Stanley & Emily S. Bernhardt             Cardinale reply ▶     Bradley J. Cardinale             Research Highlights                   Ecology: Bowheads mingle in Northwest Passage | Climate: Ocean depths store heat           More Earth & Environmental Sciences ▶                         Strands of life - 5 short films on physiology and medicine Recorded at the 2011 Meeting of Nobel Laureates, the films capture conversations between young researchers and Nobel prizewinning scientists. Watch this week's release "Bench or bedside?" featuring Ferid Murad. Supported by Mars, Incorporated and published weekly from Sept 15th-Oct 13th               Careers & Jobs ▲top               Learning tools: Visual aids ▶     Internet-based tools and videos are making it easier to perfect lab techniques and tasks. But they augment, rather than replace, conventional guidance in person.                   Turning point: Rossa Chiu ▶     Chemical pathologist makes breakthroughs in fetal-disease diagnostics.                   Recession hits industry ▶     Governments strive to maintain research funding.                   Energy institute at Yale ▶     Gift establishes energy-research centre on new campus.                   PhD film launches ▶     Movie depicting PhD plight draws global attention.                   Careers related news & comment                   Blackened names | 'Patent trolls' target biotechnology firms | Linguistics: Tuning into translation | Administrative burdens: Bureaucracy savings should go to research Nicholas Graves & Adrian G. Barnett | Ireland: a strong knowledge economy Graham Love | Ireland: global links pay off Conor O'Carroll             naturejobs.com Science jobs of the week       Financial Manager – Customer Marketing     Syngenta Seeds, Inc. Greensboro, US           Phd Position on Material Science and Engineering, Biomedical science     Department of Material Science and Engineering, Lobat Tayebi Tulsa, US           Research technician     Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA) Vienna, AT         No matter what your career stage, student, postdoc or senior scientist, you will find articles on naturejobs.com to help guide you in your science career. 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