Nature News highlights: 09 December 2014

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09 December 2014       nature news alert • Read Nature's news online • Subscribe to Nature Your weekly update from Nature's global news team.               • Featured               Ebola outbreak ▶       Ebola is ravaging West Africa in the most severe outbreak since the virus was discovered in 1976. Nature reporter Erika Check Hayden is in Sierra Leone tracking the epidemic, and sharing what she's seeing in regular diary entries. As researchers and health workers battle to contain the epidemic and treat those exposed, Nature brings you ongoing coverage of the crisis and the latest research on Ebola. Read More ▶                   • Latest News               Microsoft billionaire takes on cell biology ▶ 08 December 2014     New Allen institute will create simulations of cell behaviour. Read More ▶             Titan's giant dunes track ancient climate ▶ 08 December 2014     Long-term orbital wobbles drive changes in sand patterns on Saturnian moon. Read More ▶             Launch of Orion a step to NASA's return to human spaceflight ▶ 05 December 2014     The first human-rated US spacecraft since the space shuttle took an unmanned trial run. Read More ▶                 • More Stories               Images of the month: November 2014 ▶ 05 December 2014     Pictures from the world of science, selected by Nature's art team. Read More ▶             Compromise blooms in European GM crop debate ▶ 05 December 2014     Agreement to permit country-level bans of genetically modified plants should ease deadlocks in EU approval process. Read More ▶             Watson's Nobel medal sells for US$4.1 million ▶ 04 December 2014     DNA scientist says that he will donate some proceeds from auction to support research. Read More ▶             'Bat-nav' system enables three-dimensional manoeuvres ▶ 04 December 2014     Study reveals surprising neural code based on bagel-shaped coordinate system. Read More ▶             Critics allege misuse of funds by US ecology project ▶ 03 December 2014     Republicans say that the National Science Foundation allowed improper spending by contractor. Read More ▶             Homo erectus made world's oldest doodle 500,000 years ago ▶ 03 December 2014     Shell markings are the oldest abstract signs ever discovered. Read More ▶             Natural gas: The fracking fallacy ▶ 03 December 2014     The United States is banking on decades of abundant natural gas to power its economic resurgence. That may be wishful thinking. Read More ▶             Seven days: 28 November–4 December 2014 ▶ 03 December 2014     The week in science: Amazon deforestation dips; Polio vaccinators killed in Pakistan; and Iran gets new science minister. Read More ▶             NASA's deep-space crew capsule faces first big test ▶ 03 December 2014     Orion will fly without astronauts for now, but may eventually ferry them to Mars. Read More ▶             Rival species recast significance of 'first bird' ▶ 03 December 2014     Archaeopteryx's status is changing, but the animal is still key to the dinosaur–bird transition. Read More ▶             Physics: Quantum computer quest ▶ 03 December 2014     After a 30-year struggle to harness quantum weirdness for computing, physicists finally have their goal in reach. Read More ▶             Four UK hubs to make 'spooky' quantum physics useful ▶ 02 December 2014     Universities of Birmingham, Glasgow, Oxford and York will lead efforts to develop  applications from environmental sensing to secure communications. Read More ▶               • Newsblog               Read up to the minute coverage of research and science policy. Gates Foundation announces world's strongest policy on open access research Energy outlook sees continuing dominance of fossil fuels Private rocket explodes on launch to space station WHO plans for millions of doses of Ebola vaccine by 2015 US research ethics agency upholds decision on informed consent Western Australia abandons shark cull Fundamental overhaul of China's competitive funding AstraZeneca neither confirms nor denies that it will ditch antibiotics research More than half of 2007-2012 research articles now free to read Outbreak of great quakes underscores Cascadia risk more...                     Nature Reviews Microbiology FREE POSTER CRISPR-Cas: extraordinary editing This Poster presents the molecular mechanism of CRISPR-Cas interference and highlights the use of specifically engineered guide RNAs and the Cas9 nuclease for the editing of virtually any desired genome, in addition to other applications such as imaging in live cells and the regulation of gene expression. 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