Nature (Vol. 437, No. 7058, 22 September 2005)

143 Pages·2005·11.444 MB·English

Volume 437 Number 7058 ppxi-594
In this issue (22 September 2005) • Commentary
• Books and Arts
• News and Views
• Authors
• News and Views Feature
• Editorials • Brief Communications
• Research Highlights • Brief Communications Arising
(this content only available online)
• News
• Review
• News Features • Articles
• Business • Letters
• Naturejobs
• Correspondence
• Futures

Authors
Making the paper pxi
On the trail of nitrification among marine microorganisms.
David Stahl

Abstractions pxi

Quantified: Japan pxi

Editorials
Don't keep your distance p451
Investigations that involve human subjects always require a close relationship between the researchers
and those being studied.

Value-free nanotech? p451
Efforts to gauge public attitudes to nanotechnology reveal concerns that can be readily addressed.

Science after Katrina p452
The hurricane disaster on the Gulf coast will change the federal government's research priorities.

Research Highlights
Research highlights p454

News
Astronomers reject the term 'planet' p456
Controversial plan would end debate over number of planets in Solar System.
Jim Giles

Brain imaging ready to detect terrorists, say neuroscientists p457
MRI scans can pick up lies, but raise ethical issues.
Jennifer Wild

Flu researchers slam US agency for hoarding data p458
Better sharing of information would help vaccine design.
Declan Butler

Industry money skews drug overviews p458
Meta-analyses gain a positive spin if funded by drug firms.
Jim Giles

Hurricane link to climate change is hazy p461
Research may show why storms in different regions respond differently to global warming.
Quirin Schiermeier

Lack of lab notes casts doubt on RNA researcher's results p461
Japanese university has been unable to confirm its professor's results.
Ichiko Fuyuno

After Katrina: tracking the toxic flood p462
Gulf mission assesses state of wildlife and fish stocks.
Adrianne Appel

Race claims spark fury over Croatia's school curriculum p463
Minister claims DNA shows Croats are only distantly related to other Slavs.
Alison Abbott

Sidelines p463

I
News in brief p465

News Features
Hurricane Katrina: Left behind p467
Two researchers survived the worst of Hurricane Katrina, caring for sick patients in a flooded hospital.
Erika Check hears of their harrowing experience.

Atmospheric science: Inside information p468
Earth's climate depends strongly on clouds. But what really goes on within these layered structures? Heike
Langenberg reports on two satellites that aim to find out.

Back to school p470
This month, as most researchers gear up to teach, two scientists are heading into the classroom to learn.
Geoff Brumfiel asks why a physicist would want to enrol in biology lessons.

Conservation policy: Fishy futures p473
George Sugihara has gone from an academic career in biological oceanography to the world of high finance,
and back again. Now he is applying the lessons he learned in business to the conservation of fish stocks.
Rex Dalton reports.

Business
Swooping for biotech p475
Big pharmaceutical companies are moving swiftly to acquire biotechnology companies — especially if they
can snap them up on the cheap. Meredith Wadman reports.
Meredith Wadman

Correspondence
Re-wilding: no need for exotics as natives return p476
Eric Dinerstein and W. Robert Irvin

Re-wilding: don't overlook humans living on the plains p476
Steven Shay

How synthetic biology can avoid GMO-style conflicts p476
Mark Tepfer

Chiropractors start major study of spinal outcomes p476
Barry Lewis

Commentary
A universal register for animal names p477
Andrew Polaszek and colleagues propose an open-access web-register for animal names, which they believe
is vital to move taxonomy into the twenty-first century.

Books and Arts
Coping with interesting times p479
Unless we take action urgently, climate change could spell disaster for a wide range of living species.
Paul Colinvaux reviews Climate Change and Biodiversity

A path through the forest p480
Jeffry S. Isaacson reviews Nerve Endings: The Discovery of the Synapse by Richard Rapport

New in paperback p480

An ill-defined idea? p481
Andrew Scull reviews Lovers and Livers: Disease Concepts in History by Jacalyn Duffin

Science in culture p482
William Hunter at the Royal Academy of Arts.
Martin Kemp

News and Views
Environmental science: The carbon cycle under stress p483
In the summer of 2003, Europe experienced an exceptionally hot and dry spell. That 'natural experiment'
prompted a continental-scale analysis of how terrestrial ecosystems respond to such climatic extremes.
Dennis Baldocchi

Structural biology: Origins of chemical biodefence p484
The idea that complex biological systems can evolve through a series of simple, random events is not
universally accepted. The structure of a vital immune protein shows how such evolution can occur at a
molecular level.
Robert Liddington and Laurie Bankston

Earth science: Unleaded high-performance p485
Previous measurements of uranium-series isotopes have implied uncomfortably fast speeds of melt movement
through the mantle. Yet the latest results suggest such velocities were serious underestimates.
Tim Elliott
II
Structural biology: Form and function instructions p486
How much and what kind of information is required to fold a chain of amino acids into a functioning protein?
It seems the problem may not be as daunting as once thought — the solution is in the coevolution data.
Jeffery W. Kelly

Synthetic chemistry: Recipes for excess p487
The selective production of a particular mirror-image form of a molecule is immensely important to organic
synthesis. But techniques to find the right catalysts have traditionally been protracted and fiddly. Help
is at hand.
John Hartwig

Techniques: Imaging at a distance p488
Magnetic resonance imaging is often limited by the need to encode information and acquire the resonance
signals in less-than-ideal locations. Performing these two steps at different places provides a solution.
Siegfried Stapf

News and Views Feature
Pharmaceuticals: A new grammar for drug discovery p491
To realize the potential of the genome for identifying candidate drugs we must move beyond individual
genes and proteins. The signalling pathways in cells provide the right level for such analyses.
Mark C. Fishman and Jeffery A. Porter

Brief Communications
Ecology: 'Devil's gardens' bedevilled by ants p495
An ant species uses herbicidal weaponry to secure its own niche in the Amazonian rainforest.
Megan E. Frederickson, Michael J. Greene and Deborah M. Gordon

Climate modelling: Northern Hemisphere circulation p496
Nathan P. Gillett

Brief Communications Arising
Human cooperation: Second-order free-riding problem solved? pE8
James H. Fowler

Human cooperation: Second-order free-riding problem solved? (reply) pE8
Karthik Panchanathan and Rob Boyd

Review
Pathophysiological consequences of VEGF-induced vascular permeability p497
Sara M. Weis and David A. Cheresh

Articles
Structures of complement component C3 provide insights into the function and evolution
of immunity p505
Bert J. C. Janssen, Eric G. Huizinga, Hans C. A. Raaijmakers, Anja Roos, Mohamed R. Daha, Kristina
Nilsson-Ekdahl, Bo Nilsson and Piet Gros

Evolutionary information for specifying a protein fold p512
Michael Socolich, Steve W. Lockless, William P. Russ, Heather Lee, Kevin H. Gardner and Rama Ranganathan

Letters
A large population of galaxies 9 to 12 billion years back in the history of the Universe p519
O. Le Fèvre, S. Paltani, S. Arnouts, S. Charlot, S. Foucaud, O. Ilbert, H. J. McCracken, G. Zamorani,
D. Bottini, B. Garilli, V. Le Brun, D. Maccagni, J. P. Picat, R. Scaramella, M. Scodeggio, L. Tresse,
G. Vettolani, A. Zanichelli, C. Adami, S. Bardelli, M. Bolzonella, A. Cappi, P. Ciliegi, T. Contini, P.
Franzetti, I. Gavignaud, L. Guzzo, A. Iovino, B. Marano, C. Marinoni, A. Mazure, B. Meneux, R. Merighi,
R. Pellò, A. Pollo, L. Pozzetti, M. Radovich, E. Zucca, M. Arnaboldi, M. Bondi, A. Bongiorno, G. Busarello,
L. Gregorini, F. Lamareille, G. Mathez, Y. Mellier, P. Merluzzi, V. Ripepi and D. Rizzo

An organic thyristor p522
F. Sawano, I. Terasaki, H. Mori, T. Mori, M. Watanabe, N. Ikeda, Y. Nogami and Y. Noda

Optical isotropy and iridescence in a smectic 'blue phase' p525
Jun Yamamoto, Isa Nishiyama, Miyoshi Inoue and Hiroshi Yokoyama

Europe-wide reduction in primary productivity caused by the heat and drought in 2003
p529
Ph. Ciais, M. Reichstein, N. Viovy, A. Granier, J. Ogée, V. Allard, M. Aubinet, N. Buchmann, Chr. Bernhofer,
A. Carrara, F. Chevallier, N. De Noblet, A. D. Friend, P. Friedlingstein, T. Grünwald, B. Heinesch, P.
Keronen, A. Knohl, G. Krinner, D. Loustau, G. Manca, G. Matteucci, F. Miglietta, J. M. Ourcival, D. Papale,
K. Pilegaard, S. Rambal, G. Seufert, J. F. Soussana, M. J. Sanz, E. D. Schulze, T. Vesala and R. Valentini

Minimum speed limit for ocean ridge magmatism from 210Pb−226Ra−230Th disequilibria
p534
K. H. Rubin, I. van der Zander, M. C. Smith and E. C. Bergmanis

III
Variations in earthquake-size distribution across different stress regimes p539
Danijel Schorlemmer, Stefan Wiemer and Max Wyss

Isolation of an autotrophic ammonia-oxidizing marine archaeon p543
Martin Könneke, Anne E. Bernhard, José R. de la Torre, Christopher B. Walker, John B. Waterbury and David
A. Stahl

Endangered plants persist under phosphorus limitation p547
Martin J. Wassen, Harry Olde Venterink, Elena D. Lapshina and Franziska Tanneberger

DNA sequence and analysis of human chromosome 18 p551
Chad Nusbaum, Michael C. Zody, Mark L. Borowsky, Michael Kamal, Chinnappa D. Kodira, Todd D. Taylor, Charles
A. Whittaker, Jean L. Chang, Christina A. Cuomo, Ken Dewar, Michael G. FitzGerald, Xiaoping Yang, Amr
Abouelleil, Nicole R. Allen, Scott Anderson, Toby Bloom, Boris Bugalter, Jonathan Butler, April Cook,
David DeCaprio, Reinhard Engels, Manuel Garber, Andreas Gnirke, Nabil Hafez, Jennifer L. Hall, Catherine
Hosage Norman, Takehiko Itoh, David B. Jaffe, Yoko Kuroki, Jessica Lehoczky, Annie Lui, Pendexter Macdonald,
Evan Mauceli, Tarjei S. Mikkelsen, Jerome W. Naylor, Robert Nicol, Cindy Nguyen, Hideki Noguchi, Sinéad
B. O'Leary, Bruno Piqani, Cherylyn L Smith, Jessica A. Talamas, Kerri Topham, Yasushi Totoki, Atsushi
Toyoda, Hester M. Wain, Sarah K. Young, Qiandong Zeng, Andrew R. Zimmer, Asao Fujiyama, Masahira Hattori,
Bruce W. Birren, Yoshiyuki Sakaki and Eric S. Lander

A role for lateral hypothalamic orexin neurons in reward seeking p556
Glenda C. Harris, Mathieu Wimmer and Gary Aston-Jones

Dependence of Drosophila wing imaginal disc cytonemes on Decapentaplegic p560
Frank Hsiung, Felipe-Andrès Ramirez-Weber, D. David Iwaki and Thomas B. Kornberg

Accelerated ageing in mice deficient in Zmpste24 protease is linked to p53 signalling
activation p564
Ignacio Varela, Juan Cadiñanos, Alberto M. Pendás, Ana Gutiérrez-Fernández, Alicia R. Folgueras, Luis
M. Sánchez, Zhongjun Zhou, Francisco J. Rodríguez, Colin L. Stewart, José A Vega, Karl Tryggvason, José
M. P. Freije and Carlos López-Otín

Insulin disrupts -adrenergic signalling to protein kinase A in adipocytes p569
Jin Zhang, Christopher J. Hupfeld, Susan S. Taylor, Jerrold M. Olefsky and Roger Y. Tsien

The protein kinase A anchoring protein mAKAP coordinates two integrated cAMP effector
pathways p574
Kimberly L. Dodge-Kafka, Joseph Soughayer, Genevieve C. Pare, Jennifer J. Carlisle Michel, Lorene K.
Langeberg, Michael S. Kapiloff and John D. Scott

Natural-like function in artificial WW domains p579
William P. Russ, Drew M. Lowery, Prashant Mishra, Michael B. Yaffe and Rama Ranganathan

Crystal structure of the RNA component of bacterial ribonuclease P p584
Alfredo Torres-Larios, Kerren K. Swinger, Andrey S. Krasilnikov, Tao Pan and Alfonso Mondragón

Naturejobs
Prospect
An infinite learning curve p589
More scientists seek formal training beyond the PhD — for both on- and off-the bench skills.
Paul Smaglik

Postdocs and Students
Tag teams p590
A collaboration can produce powerful results when everyone pulls together, but if you go about it the
wrong way, or with the wrong people, it may all fall down around you. Kendall Powell finds out how to
choose the right partners.
Kendall Powell

Career Views
Stanley Plotkin, board of directors, Dynavax, Berkeley, California p592
Academic Epidemiologist moves into industrial vaccinology.
Virginia Gewin

Scientists & Societies p592
Training series for women scientists expands.
Geraldine Richmond, Richard M. and Patricia H. Noyes

Graduate journal: Back-up plans p592
Graduate student learns the importance of back-ups — the hard way.
Jason Underwood

Futures
Falling p594
The view from here.
Benjamin Rosenbaum
IV
22.9 Editorial 451-452 MH 20/9/05 2:53 PM Page 451
www.nature.com/nature Vol 437 |Issue no. 7058 |22 September 2005
Don’t keep your distance
Investigations that involve human subjects always require a close relationship
between the researchers and those being studied.
T
he US Institute of Medicine (IOM) has, in effect, directed signing of a consent form wasn’t sufficient to ensure that the parents
researchers who work with human subjects to come down out understood the study.
of their ivory towers. The call is made in a report, issued on Researchers working with disadvantaged populations should
19 September, that addresses the procedures that scientists should become much more involved with the communities they study, the
follow when they are investigating the health of underprivileged IOM report says — the time and effort that it takes to do this will
children. But the principles that it espouses apply to a great many of be rewarded by more convincing study outcomes. Partners in the
those involved in publicly funded research. community can help researchers, it points out, by highlighting flaws
The IOM study was triggered by a court case involving the in study design, recruiting participants, and strengthening the
Kennedy Krieger Institute, a health research centre affiliated with informed-consent process.
Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. The institute ran The report also suggests that poor people in the United States are
into trouble during a study on the efficacy of various techniques for becoming more wary of partici-
“Poor people are wary of
removing toxic lead paint from low-cost housing. Two mothers of pating in research, after years
participating in research
children in the study sued the institute, claiming that the researchers of involvement in studies and
never told them that their children’s high levels of lead in the blood scant indication that the find- after years of involvement
posed dangerous health risks. ings have any real impact on and scant indication that
In 2001, a Maryland appeals court ruled in favour of the mothers. their lives. the findings have any real
The court criticized ethical lapses in the study, which it compared to The devastation wrought by
impact on their lives.”
the infamous Tuskegee experiments on black men with syphilis. It Hurricane Katrina provided a
said researchers owed a “duty of care” to the children in the study — dramatic illustration of the grounds for this mistrust. Researchers
and that the parents did not have the right to consent for children to knew before the hurricane that 120,000 people in New Orleans lived
participate, as the study was not going to benefit the children directly in households without cars (see Nature437,174–176; 2005). Yet the
and could even cause some harm, through procedures such as blood city’s evacuation plans made no provisions for these residents.
testing. The institute subsequently reached an undisclosed financial The IOM’s recommendation that scientists work with communi-
settlement with the children’s families. ties to promote the translation of their findings into action applies in
The IOM report, Ethical Considerations for Research on Housing- many different fields of study. Those who do basic research on rare
Related Health Hazards Involving Children, makes no judgement on diseases now realize, for example, that they must find unconven-
the Kennedy Krieger episode. But it offers some useful guidelines for tional ways to translate it into treatments, as drug companies have
managing the delicate relationship between researchers and their little interest in developing products for small numbers of patients.
subjects. The Kennedy Krieger study was aimed at helping disad- Engaging communities is more difficult than simply publishing
vantaged people, but made the subjects’ families — who lived in sub- work and hoping that it will be noticed. But it is necessary, because
standard housing and had little chance of relocating — feel exploited science depends on public support, which in turn depends on the
instead. The mothers who sued the researchers claimed they were public’s belief that research benefits them. If society comes to believe
never told that their children might ingest lead, or that high blood that researchers are operating in another world, divorced from real
lead levels could harm their children. The IOM points out that the life, support for science can only be eroded. ■
Value-free nanotech? 2005), an overview of how the United States, Britain, Germany and
the European Union have sought to deal with the issues brought up
by biotechnology. Magisterial in its scope, the book takes for granted
Efforts to gauge public attitudes to nanotechnology the idea, alien to many of Nature’s readers, that science is not value-
reveal concerns that can be readily addressed. free, and that some members of the public have cultural outlooks
that are simply unreceptive to accounts of what science tells us.
A
profound question underlying many debates involving A corollary of this is the idea, also shared by many science-studies
science and its publics is “how knowledge comes to be specialists, that attempts by scientists to communicate their disci-
perceived as reliable in political settings, and how scientific pline to the public are likely to miss the point. Only by fully engag-
claims, more specifically, pattern as authoritative”. ing at the outset with the cultural preconceptions of those audiences
That quote comes from Designs on Nature by Sheila Jasanoff — by being what sociologists call ‘reflexive’ — can science’s
(Princeton University Press, 2005; reviewed in Nature437,193–194; institutions do justice to their goal of engaging with citizens. At its
451
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22.9 Editorial 451-452 MH 20/9/05 2:53 PM Page 452
EDITORIALS NATURE|Vol 437|22 September 2005
worst, this agenda descends into relativism — the idea that some- conventional approach. Sponsored by Greenpeace, The Guardian
one’s beliefs have as much weight as the so-called facts — or even newspaper and centres connected to the universities of Cambridge
Lysenkoism, in which the requirements of the state or of powerful and Newcastle, it represents the outcome of a UK citizens’ jury,
groups take precedence over the facts. At its best, however, it can in which 20 members of the public met repeatedly to hear from a
help scientists recognize how public hostility can be mobilized and variety of witnesses (see www.nanojury.org). The jury was asked
consolidated despite the weight of peer-reviewed scientific evidence. about nanotechnology’s benefits for the poor and disadvantaged
This may happen because a culture of disrespect for science helps (weak jury concerns), whether the public should determine when
to reinforce cherished beliefs, or because experience has left indi- nanoparticles can be used in particular technologies (weak support),
viduals feeling betrayed by science or its application. and whether it needs to yield more “quality leisure time” to deserve
A major concern, especially in Europe, is to try to prevent such a public funds (stronger support). As in the US study, the jury sup-
climate enveloping nanotechnology. Experiences with genetically ported labelling, mandatory safety testing and better access to infor-
modified crops have led some governments to move towards being mation about which nanotechnologies are being publicly funded.
reflexive. At the same time, non-governmental organizations and These two studies reinforce the impression that the public has
other citizens’ groups, more concerned about an emerging technol- strong concerns about regula-
“The results of the
ogy’s potential disadvantages to their own interests, have welcomed tion and a lack of information
citizens’ jury suggest
the opportunity to tackle them as far upstream as possible. about nanotechnology, and that
It is in this context that two reports of citizens’ participation are nanotechnology is welcomed that nanotechnology
published this month. One, Informed Public Perceptions of Nano- for its potential benefits. The is not perceived as a
technology and Trust in Government by Jane Macoubrie of the results of the citizens’ jury sug- serious threat.”
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, gest that nanotechnology is not
is a study in which 177 members of the US public were briefed on perceived as a serious threat to the values of anyone but die-hard
nanotechnology and given a chance to explore its opportunities and anti-technologists. But this was a small study, and one that the jurors
their concerns. It documents weak public trust in regulatory agen- themselves said is provisional.
cies as a result of previous experiences with asbestos, dioxins, Agent Supporters of full-blown reflexiveness should welcome a trans-
Orange and nuclear power — exactly the type of cultural resistance parent citizens’ jury that has probed society’s assumptions about the
to which Jasanoff and others would point. It also highlights a need to need for a technology, and should also acknowledge these appeals
breed trust through better product labelling and compulsory regu- for communication and regulation. Meanwhile, governments have
lation, and indicates a desire for information about the technology. received some direct public guidance on citizens’ interests that must
Another report, published in Britain this week, takes a less be protected if nanotechnology is to flourish. ■
Science after Katrina science or for national security. After that precedent, some would
argue that the government should avoid overreacting to Katrina.
Yet Katrina has brought to the surface some critical issues that
The hurricane disaster on the Gulf coast will change have been wantonly ignored in Washington in recent years and now
the federal government’s research priorities. deserve some attention. The most significant of these relate to
poverty, as Bush has now acknowledged, and racial division. Policy-
T
he clean-up operations in the wake of Katrina are a nightmare makers need good information
“Policy-makers need good
for all concerned, including scientists at Tulane University and if they are to tackle these issues,
other research institutions on the Gulf coast (see Nature437, and in many instances research information if they are
177; 2005). They need all the help they can get, and other institutions can provide it. The aftermath to tackle poverty and
must endeavour to provide it and get them back on their feet. of Katrina will push poverty, at racial division, and in
The ramifications of this tragedy will run deep. There are already least, up the agendas of agencies
many instances research
signs that national priorities are changing: President George W. such as the National Science
can provide it.”
Bush, speaking in New Orleans on 16 September, broached some Foundation and the National
themes that he had previously avoided. “We have a duty to confront Institutes of Health that support research in the social sciences and
poverty with bold action,” he said. If that pledge is to be followed environmental health.
through, it will involve changes in research priorities. At the same time, the disaster raises the profile of two very differ-
For better or for worse, the US federal government — particularly ent spheres of environmental research — water management and cli-
Congress — has a propensity to adjust the government’s spending mate change. The former is quite well understood, although a great
portfolio quickly in response to particular events. After the attacks deal of existing knowledge about rivers and wetlands, for example,
of 11 September 2001, for example, the government created the is frequently ignored by policy-makers. Despite the Bush adminis-
Department of Homeland Security, with a large and ill-defined tration’s scepticism about the latter, it has maintained a powerful
research programme, and diverted resources at the National Insti- climate-change science programme, which in time may shed valuable
tutes of Health towards activities related to bioterrorism. Four years light on the complex relationship between global warming and
later, there is scant evidence that either shift has achieved much for extreme weather events, including hurricanes. ■
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VVooll 443377||2222 SSeepptteemmbbeerr 22000055
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
CANCER BIOLOGY
Queen’s move G
Persistent problem NI
Ö
K
C.
Cancer Cell8,197–209 (2005) Proc. R. Soc. Lond. Bdoi:10.1098/
The recurrence of a tumour after what rspb.2005.3234 (2005)
intitially seemed successful treatment is the When a colony of social insects
leading cause of death from breast cancer. A reproduces, queens are expected to
gene that plays a causal role in tumour want an equal number of sons and
recurrence has now been identified by Lewis daughters — to maximize their genetic
Chodosh of the University of Pennsylvania contribution to the next generation. But
sterile female workers, being more
School of Medicine and colleagues.
closely related to the queen’s
Working in mice, the team found that a
daughters, want more females.
gene called Snail, which normally helps cells
A mathematical model from Ido Pen
change shape and migrate in embryos, was
of the University of Groningen, the
abnormally active in recurring breast
Netherlands, and Peter Taylor of
tumours. Engineering tumours to express
Queen’s University in Ontario considers
Snailstrongly promoted their ability to recur. the outcome if queens and workers
Studying primary breast tumours in execute their sex-control strategies
women, the team found that high levels of simultaneously and independently. In
Snailexpression were associated with an such a case, the ratio of males is midway
increased risk of a patient having a tumour between the 50% favoured by queens
reappear within five years. As well as being and the 25% favoured by workers.
important for prognosis, Snail could be a But the ratio in real colonies can be
useful target for cancer-fighting drugs. nearer the queen’s ideal. This is
explained by a second model in which
the queen acts first and the workers
GEOLOGY
observe her decision. The queen places
Basalts flow slow
the workers in a bind by announcing her
intent — once she declares that she will
Geology33,745–748 (2005)
produce mostly males, the workers
Some 180 million years ago, the southern
must simply favour females as much as
continent of Gondwana ruptured and the
they can. This means the queen can
Indian Ocean began to form. Into this mighty
declare an initial position that ends up The queen ant must outwit her diminutive workers to
rift flowed the massive Karoo–Ferrar flood
with her preferred ratio. produce enough sons.
basalts, which are preserved today in southern
Africa, Antarctica, Australia and New
Zealand. in the star-forming region known as the BIOCHEMISTRY
Such flood basalts have been linked to Orion nebula (pictured). By fixing a Predictable proteins
mass extinction events. Earlier studies have background frame of reference for the nebula,
proposed that the Karoo rocks flowed on to Gómez and her team find that three radio Science309,1868–1871 (2005)
the Earth’s surface in less than a million years sources in the Trapezium seem to be moving Predicting a protein’s structure from its
— a short enough time to have constituted a away from the spot where they were all amino-acid sequence is not an easy task. Still,
massive environmental disruption. located about 500 years ago. These objects scientists can now calculate the structure of
But Fred Jourdan of the Berkeley may be young stars emerging from a multiple- small proteins accurately enough to get all
Geochronology Center in California and star system that tore itself apart. atoms — including amino-acid side chains
colleagues think it took much longer. Using — in the right places.
argon isotopes to date 38 rock samples taken The predicted structures are less than TY)
from southern Africa, they have established 2 angstroms off the native protein structure. VERSI
that the basalts were put in place over eight This is a marked improvement on previous NI
U
million years — which might explain why attempts. CE
RI
there seems to be no associated mass To get this close to the real structure, G (
N
extinction during this period. researchers led by David Baker of the WO
University of Washington, Seattle, calculated K.
APSaTrRtOiPnHgYS sICtSars awphpircohx tihmeayt we setrreu icnttuerreess tfeodr tahned p froort reeinla tiend DELL & S.
O'
proteins. The team then had enough R.
C.
Astrophys. J.(in the press); preprint at candidate structures to start detailed atomic A,
xxx.arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0509201 (2005) modelling. NAS
Stars that are born together may not stay So far, their method only works for
together, say Laura Gómez of the Centre for proteins smaller than 100 amino acids. But
Radioastronomy and Astrophysics in with more computer power, the researchers
Morelia, Mexico, and her co-workers. hope to accurately predict the structures of
The Trapezium is a star cluster embedded entire protein domains.
454
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22.9 Research highlights MH 16/9/05 5:21 PM Page 455
NATURE|Vol 437|22 September 2005 RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
CELL BIOLOGY may have found a way to put a stop to that. JOURNAL CLUB
Freeing steroids Their computer simulations show that,
by passing a shock wave through a Sandra Knapp
Cell122,751–762 (2005) nanocrystalline metal, they can suppress Natural History Museum,
Steroid sex hormones were once assumed to grain sliding and introduce defects into the London, UK
enter all cells by diffusing freely through cell crystal lattice that cause the grains to lock
Take a leaf out of a taxonomist’s
membranes, modifying gene transcription together. This should make the shocked
book and read about
only in those cells geared up to respond to metal harder and stronger. Preliminary
development pathways in plants.
them. But, puzzlingly, nearly all oestrogens experiments on nanocrystalline nickel
and androgens circulating in the blood are seem to bear out the idea. Taxonomists in general are
bound to large proteins, and so apparently obsessed with the diversity of
not free to diffuse. VIROLOGY living things. The organisms we
Anders Nykjaer of the University of Crowning achievement work with, be they tomatoes,
Aarhus, Denmark, and Thomas Willnow dinosaurs or tiny parasitic wasps,
from the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular PLoS Biol.3,e324 (2005) have such a range of shape and
Medicine in Berlin and their colleagues now Drugs to tackle coronaviruses (pictured), form that they keep us endlessly
demonstrate the presence of a receptor which include the severe acute respiratory fascinated.
called megalin on the surface of cells of syndrome (SARS) virus, could be on the cards Plants, for example, are
reproductive tissues. This receptor causes the thanks to an international team led by incredible creatures. We tend to
protein–steroid complexes to be engulfed Chinese scientists. think of them in terms of flowers or
into the cell, where the binding protein is Coronaviruses cause a number of severe fruits; those are, after all, the bits
recycled and the steroids released to do their infections in humans and animals, notably in we most obviously use. But it is
jobs. Mice whose megalingene is knocked the respiratory tract. Developing effective leaves that really drive life on Earth.
out have impaired sexual development. And from the underwater threads
of a bladderwort to the giant
IMAGING TECHNIQUES umbrellas of the titan arum, their
A good tip diversity boggles the mind.
Finding some order in this
Appl. Phys. Lett.87,111901 (2005) abundance, Paolo Piazza, Sophie
Extremely small, short-range forces can be Jasinski and Miltos Tsiantis of the
detected using only the thermal oscillations University of Oxford have reviewed
of a minuscule cantilever tip, say Murti the evolution of leaves in the New
Salapaka of Iowa State University, Ames, and Phytologist (167,693–710; 2005).
his colleagues. The finding is useful for They pull together the many
frequency-modulation atomic-force studies on developmental
microscopy, which uses variations in pathways in model organisms
interaction strength between a probe and a such as thale cress, snapdragons,
surface to non-invasively image materials at tomato and maize.
the atomic scale. Thinking about how leaf
It is difficult to produce and maintain forced form is regulated through
vibrations of the subnanometre amplitudes wildly complex networks of
necessary for accurate imaging at such a scale. transcription factors, proteins
The thermal oscillation amplitude of the and plant hormones can be
authors’ probe was 0.06nm, and they report daunting. But the conceptual
that it could be held less than 2nm from a framework into which the work is
suasmefpulle f ofor rd uopc utom 3e0nmtiningu fotersc.e Ts,h sius ccho uasld t hboese drugs and vaccines is difficult as the viruses T/SPL stoe tt hmoaskee lsik teh mis ep,a wphero saec cgersassipb loef
C
on cell membranes, that evolve over time. change rapidly and species differ markedly in D/U the mechanistic details is a little
their protein structures. Dawei Ma of the AR bit fuzzy.
N
MATERIALS SCIENCE Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Zihe AN This paper gives new perspectives
T
Shocking strength Rao of Tsinghua University in Beijing, and L. S on my own taxonomic work on
colleagues studied the structure of a key viral Solanum— with its leaves that are
Science309,1838–1841 (2005) enzyme, called Mpro, in different coronaviruses. sometimes spiny, sometimes
Ductile metals can be made harder by The researchers identified a common element dissected (as in tomatoes and
making their crystalline grains smaller, in this enzyme whose structure was conserved potatoes) and sometimes different
because the defects that move while a metal across the different viruses, then identified in juveniles and adults. That does
is deforming get stuck at the grain compounds that block it. not mean I am now tempted to
boundaries. But this works only up to a One compound was particularly effective become a developmental biologist
point. Eventually, nanometre-scale grains at protecting cells; the team suggests that though. The mechanisms they
start to slide over one another. Eduardo drugs developed from this compound could review have generated much
Bringa of Lawrence Livermore National form a first line of defence against emerging variation, which means there is a
Laboratory in California and his colleagues coronavirus diseases. lot of taxonomy to do.
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Vol 437|22 September 2005
NEWS
Astronomers reject the term ‘planet’
An expert panel charged with ending the
debate over what is and isn’t a planet has
come up with a radical solution: end use of
the term altogether, unless it is accompanied
by a qualifier.
Debates on nomenclature are common in
science, but the planet question is one of the
few to have spilled into the public arena.
Researchers have argued over the status of Pluto
for decades, for example, with some claiming
that it is not a fully fledged planet. Similar rows
have raged in recent years over how to describe
new additions to the Solar System. The panel
could now be close to settling such matters. If it
succeeds, works ranging from encyclopedias to
children’s books will have to be updated.
The panel’s proposal, a copy of which has
been seen by Nature, contends that the collec-
tion of objects currently dubbed planets, from
rocky worlds on the outer shores of our Solar
System to free-roaming objects in deep space,
is too diverse to justify a single moniker.
Instead, the researchers want to define differ-
ent types of ‘planetary object’, such as terres-
trial planets, including Earth, and extrasolar
planets, which orbit stars other than the Sun.
“If we’re going to use the word planet we
A
should put an adjective in front of it,” says Brian the California Institute of Technology in on 12 September, would end such arguments. AS
N
Marsden, a panel member and an astronomer Pasadena, who has recently been courting UB313 and Pluto would be known as Trans-
at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astro- controversy regarding another discovery (see Neptunian planets, a class roughly defined
physics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ‘Planet spotters compete’), says it should count as large objects that orbit the Sun beyond
The 19-strong group was convened last year as a tenth planet, in part because it is larger Neptune. Other members of the Solar System
by the International Astronomical Union than Pluto. But other astronomers say both would fall into the categories of terrestrial plan-
(IAU), but speeded up its work this July when UB313 and Pluto are simply large members of ets or gas giants, although Iwan Williams, the
a media debate broke out over the status of the Kuiper belt, a jumble of rocky and icy group’s chair and an astronomer at Queen
another addition to the Solar System. The objects that orbits some 10 billion kilometres Mary, University of London, says that his team
object, known as 2003 UB313, orbits near from the Sun. plans only to define the Trans-Neptunian class,
Pluto. One of its discoverers, Mike Brown of The proposal, e-mailed to group members and will leave other definitions to the IAU.
Planet spotters compete
How to define newly discovered kilometres from Earth. The 26July 2005, someone accessed a oversees the Minor Planet Center,
mini-worlds is not the only Smithsonian Astrophysical public telescope database where to condemn Ortiz for stealing
question currently dividing planet Observatory’s Minor Planet Center information about his object was the discovery.
hunters. Try this: is it proper for in Cambridge, Massachusetts, stored. A conference abstract Ortiz has offered no public
one scientist to Google another’s which fields such claims from written by Brown’s team and posted explanation for how he used
research? A dispute over who is astronomers, temporarily on the Internet a week earlier Brown’s information. But he says
the true discoverer of a Pluto-sized designated the object 2003 EL61, contained a number that anyone his group first noticed 2003 EL61 in
object at the edge of the Solar based on the Ortiz group’s first with a web browser could use to its own two-year-old data on 25
System has raised questions about observation of it in March 2003. access the record (Nature436, July, a day before the US group’s
the ethical use of astronomical But astronomers led by Mike 764; 2005). records were accessed. In a written
data posted on an open website. Brown of the California Institute of Brown has now worked out that statement to Nature, Ortiz defends
On 29 July, a group led by Jose Technology, Pasadena, say they the person who accessed the his actions: “If in a revision process
Luis Ortiz of the Institute of have been studying the object since database was a member of the somebody uses Google to find
Astrophysics in Andalusia, Spain, December 2004, although they Spanish group, and is crying foul. publicly available information on
reported sighting an object in the never announced it publicly. Brown He has asked the International the Internet...that is perfectly
Kuiper belt, about 8 billion says computer logs show that on Astronomical Union, which legitimate.” Tony Reichhardt
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NATURE|Vol 437|22 September 2005 NEWS
REBUILDING NEW
ORLEANS’ DEFENCES
The Dutch offer good
advice on keeping
future floods out.
A
www.nature.com/news AS
N
Brain imaging ready to detect
terrorists, say neuroscientists
Brain-imaging techniques that reveal when a cards and to lie about having the other.
person is lying are now reliable enough to Langleben has previously warned that fMRI
identify criminals, claim researchers. is a research tool, not a way to spot liars. But the
Critics maintain that the technique will latest research has changed his tune. “We can’t
never be useful for such investigations, arguing say whether this person will one day use a
that, as with traditional polygraph detectors, bomb,” he says. “But we can use fMRI to find
liars could learn to fool the tests. And concealed information. We can ask: is X
researchers in the field have previously admit- involved in terrorist organization Y?”
ted that the approach needs more work. But The main advance is being able to distinguish
neuroscientists from the University of Penn- lies from truthful statements in a given individ-
sylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia ual. Although previously scientists could see
have now told Nature thatthey believe their test how the brain lit up when people lied, results
is ready for real-life scenarios. were based on the averaged brain activity of a
Daniel Langleben and his colleagues use group of people and did not look at individual
functional magnetic resonance imaging fibs for each person. “Now we can tell when an
(fMRI) to track people’s brains when they lie individual lies on a specific question,” says Gur.
and tell the truth. By analysing brain activity “This is a major step forward.”
during both scenarios, they have developed an Critics argue that lab experiments do not
algorithm that can detect lies from truth with equate to real-life situations. Getting a reward
99% accuracy. for concealing a lie is not the same thing as
Name game: some say the word
‘planet’ is used too widely for it Team member Rugen Gur points out that, losing your job or getting a criminal convic-
to be a useful definition. unlike the polygraph, fMRI does not rely on tion for being found out, which is a far more
controllable symptoms such as sweating or a likely consequence, says Jennifer Vendemia,
fast heartbeat. Instead it monitors the central an expert in lie-detection research at the
Williams hopes to send a final version of the nervous system. When someone lies, their University of South Carolina, Columbia.
proposal to the IAU within two weeks, after brain inhibits them from telling the truth, and “There is nothing you can do in the lab that
the team has reviewed it. But whereas the this makes the frontal lobes more active. “A lie would mimic job loss, the death penalty, or
broad definition of planetary objects is uncon- is always more complicated than the truth,” public humiliation.”
troversial, at least one member plans to dispute says Gur. “You think a bit more and fMRI But the biggest concerns about using fMRI
the names for subtypes. “I don’t believe we picks that up.” to detect lies, says Vendemia, are over ethical
should classify planetary types by location,” In the latest study (C. Davatzikos et al. issues, such as whether individuals have the
says Alan Stern of the Southwest Research Neuroimage, in the press) the team gave vol- right to keep their thoughts private.
Institute in Boulder, Colorado. “We should use unteers an envelope with two cards and $20; Critics and researchers agree that more
properties of the objects as a guide.” subjects could keep the cash if they lied con- funding is needed to standardize the method
UB313 and Pluto would be better known as vincingly in the tests. Once they were inside and iron out ethical concerns before the
“ice dwarfs”, Stern suggests, because such a the fMRI scanner, each person had to press a approach is used routinely. The team’s next step
definition “tells us more about the objects”. He button to indicate whether a card flashed on is to expand its studies to include women, peo-
points out that stars are classified by their the screen matched one of theirs. They were ple of different cultures, and psychopaths. ■
physical properties, not their location. asked to be honest about having one of the Jennifer Wild
If the group can reach a consensus, it will be
up to the IAU’s executive committee to decide Under fire: used TY
T
whether to accept the proposal. But will the properly, new GE
public and scientists then change the names brain-imaging
they use for Mercury and Mars? “Old habits techniques
die hard,” says Jacqueline Mitton, an author of might assist in
popular astronomy books based in Cam- investigations
bridge, UK. She points out that some astro- of suspects.
physicists still describe stars as either ‘early’ or
‘late’ types, terminology that was officially
abandoned around 50 years ago. “Committees
can make pronouncements, but they can’t
always change things,” she adds. “It will take a
very long time.” ■
Jim Giles
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