Nature News highlights: 17 February 2015

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17 February 2015       nature news alert • Read Nature's news online • Subscribe to Nature Your weekly update from Nature's global news team.             • Featured               Light fantastic ▶       From rainbows to the mechanics of the human eye, light has fascinated scientists for millennia. To put light itself in the spotlight, the United Nations designated 2015 the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies. Our special issue explores how scientists are pushing light to new extremes, from twisting and squeezing it to finding ways to see through opaque materials, and how near-speed-of-light communications are set to transform financial trading. Read More ▶                 • Latest News               Martian mystery cloud defies explanation ▶ 16 February 2015     New hypotheses about unusual plumes seen in 2012 raise more questions than they answer. Read More ▶             Exposing Sahara science in the shadow of terrorism ▶ 16 February 2015     Geologist Stefan Kröpelin's expedition to the Sahara desert will skirt areas of political instability and rumoured ISIS training camps. Read More ▶             Jupiter glimpsed as aliens would see it ▶ 13 February 2015     Viewing gas giant as if it were an exoplanet cross-checks method for studying worlds outside our Solar System. Read More ▶               • More Stories               Clinical-trial specialist could be next FDA chief ▶ 12 February 2015     Cardiologist Robert Califf has championed making clinical research more efficient. Read More ▶             Future US megadroughts set to be the worst in 1,000 years ▶ 12 February 2015     Southwest and Great Plains expected to see to significantly drier conditions by end of century. Read More ▶             Forensics specialist discusses a discipline in crisis ▶ 12 February 2015     Lawyers and scientists need to talk, says Niamh Nic Daéid. Read More ▶             European languages linked to migration from the east ▶ 12 February 2015     Large ancient-DNA study uncovers population that moved westwards 4,500 years ago. Read More ▶             Questions emerge over top Chinese science prize ▶ 12 February 2015     Award-winning computer-science project is under fire, rekindling criticism of China's research system. Read More ▶             Stem-cell star lands in same venture as disgraced cloner ▶ 11 February 2015     Shoukhrat Mitalipov and Woo Suk Hwang are both involved in the deal but Mitalipov says the pair will not collaborate on research. Read More ▶             Light fantastic ▶ 11 February 2015     Scientists are pushing the properties of light to new extremes. A special issue explores these frontiers. Read More ▶             Optics: Leading lights ▶ 11 February 2015     Shape it, squeeze it, energize it or tie it into knots. Scientists are taking light to new extremes. Read More ▶             Optics: Super vision ▶ 11 February 2015     Using techniques adapted from astronomy, physicists are finding ways to see through opaque materials such as living tissue. Read More ▶             Darwin's iconic finches join genome club ▶ 11 February 2015     Scientists pinpoint genes behind famous beak variations. Read More ▶             Measles by the numbers: A race to eradication ▶ 11 February 2015     The US media are abuzz after an outbreak of measles in Disneyland but the disease will keep on popping up until it is wiped out worldwide. Read More ▶             Seven days: 6–12 February 2015 ▶ 11 February 2015     The week in science: UK's science academies call for more science spending; US FDA chief resigns; and Japan probe to try for Venus orbit again. Read More ▶               • Newsblog               Read up to the minute coverage of research and science policy. Contamination created controversial 'acid-induced' stem cells US to lift ban on blood donations from gay men 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...                   Don't let your data go to waste... Scientific Data helps researchers make the most of their data, offering publication in a peer reviewed open access journal. We welcome data of all sizes, from all areas of science. What's unique? A new type of article providing detailed descriptions of scientifically valuable datasets, maximising data discoverability and reuse.   Discover what we can do for your data           Nature Reviews Microbiology CRISPR CALENDAR 2015   One of the most exciting recent developments in microbiology has been the discovery and characterization of the CRISPR—Cas adaptive immune system in bacteria and archaea. This special Calendar brings together CRISPR related images from a range of Nature Publishing Group journals.   Produced with support from OriGene, Your Gene Company         • Jobs           naturejobs.com Science jobs of the week       Professor – Director Of Cancer Diagnostics     Children's Hospital of Philadelphia            Professor and Chair     City of Hope            Professor, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor     The Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota            Senior Epigeneticist - Associate / Professor     University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences c/o Witt/Kieffer            Director of Research     Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research          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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