Editorials
Time for the social sciences
Governments that want the natural sciences to deliver more for society need to show greater commitment towards the social sciences and humanities.
World View
The rising pressure of global water shortages
Water is becoming more scarce as populations increase, potentially leading to conflict. The age of hydro-diplomacy is upon us, says Jan Eliasson.
Nicaragua defies canal protests
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Scientists call for independent environmental assessment.
Lucas Laursen
Planet hunters plot course for habitable worlds
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Researchers aim to set aside differences in search for life on distant spheres.
Alexandra Witze
Ebola raises profile of blood-based therapy
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Convalescent plasma therapy is trialled to fight Ebola, but could also be used for new and emerging pathogens.
Declan Butler
What to expect in 2015
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Nature looks at what the New Year holds for science.
Elizabeth Gibney
Science in 2015
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From Gradzilla to coffee consumption: the research enterprise quantified for the year to come.
Mark Zastrow
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Leadership: New year's resolutions
Nine scientific leaders share their goals for 2015, professional and personal.
Books and Arts
Top
Listings: Science in culture 2015
Explore the gory glories of forensic science, grapple with Tom Stoppard's take on consciousness, learn what it takes to live on Mars, re-enter Jurassic Park, dive into a coral reef and dally with Robert Oppenheimer. Daniel Cressey reports.
Review of Oppenheimer, Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, Imagine Science Films, Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime, Emerge, Arsenic and New Medicine: Paul Ehrlich's Pioneering Research, EXPO 2015, Jurassic World, Coral Reefs: Secret Cities of the Sea, A Brief History of the Future, The Martian, The Hard Problem, Designers in Residence 2015: Migration, It's Alive! — Frankenstein on Film, Marvellous Creatures, Frida Kahlo’s Garden, Lava & The Francis Crick Institute
Correspondence
Top
European Union: New law risks release of invasive species
Philip E. Hulme
Air pollution: Harmful soot spurs climate-policy action
David G. Victor,
V. Ramanathan &
Durwood Zaelke
Emissions limits: Green heating plan threatens air quality
Gordon McFiggans
Publishing: Criteria for Nature Index questioned
Robin Haunschild &
Lutz Bornmann
Obituary
Top
Paul von Ragué Schleyer (1930–2014)
Chemist who launched the study of caged hydrocarbons.
Henry F. Schaefer
Careers
Feature
Top
Hopes for the year ahead
To kick off 2015, Nature's Careers section asked several young scientists — all 40 or under — about their plans for the year ahead and their wishes for the future of science.
Monya Baker
research
News & Views
Top
Molecular biology: Entry signals control development
Jonathan D. Dinman
See also
Article by Xue et al.
Materials science: Like cartilage, but simpler
Anne Ladegaard Skov
See also
Letter by Liu et al.
Structural biology: Photosynthetic complex in close-up
Ilme Schlichting
See also
Letter by Suga et al.
50 & 100 Years Ago
Microbiology: Diverted on the way to memory
Gordon Y. C. Cheung &
Michael Otto
Cell cycle: It takes three to find the exit
Mathieu Bollen
See also
Letter by Grallert et al.
Earth science: Ocean circulation and rapid climate change
Ellen E. Martin
See also
Letter by Böhm et al.
Articles
Top
RNA regulons in Hox 5′ UTRs confer ribosome specificity to gene regulation
Shifeng Xue,
Siqi Tian,
Kotaro Fujii,
Wipapat Kladwang,
Rhiju Das
+ et al.
Specialized ribosomes (with a particular protein composition) carry out translation of specific transcripts; analysis of Hox mRNA translation in mice reveals that unique RNA structural elements within their 5′ UTRs, including internal ribosome entry sites and translation inhibitory elements, are responsible for this specialized mode of translation.
See also
News & Views by Dinman
Architecture and conformational switch mechanism of the ryanodine receptor
Rouslan G. Efremov,
Alexander Leitner,
Ruedi Aebersold &
Stefan Raunser
Using electron cryomicroscopy, the structure of the rabbit RyR1 calcium channel is determined at 6.1 Å resolution in the closed state and 8.5 Å in the open state, revealing how calcium binding to the EF-hand of RyR1 regulates channel opening and facilitates calcium-induced calcium release.
Structure of a mammalian ryanodine receptor
Ran Zalk,
Oliver B. Clarke,
Amédée des Georges,
Robert A. Grassucci,
Steven Reiken
+ et al.
Using electron cryomicroscopy, the closed-state structure of rabbit RyR1 is determined at 4.8 Å resolution; analysis confirms that the RyR1 architecture consists of a six-transmembrane ion channel with a cytosolic α-solenoid scaffold, and suggests a mechanism for Ca2+-induced channel opening.
Structure of the rabbit ryanodine receptor RyR1 at near-atomic resolution
Zhen Yan,
Xiao-chen Bai,
Chuangye Yan,
Jianping Wu,
Zhangqiang Li
+ et al.
Using electron cryomicroscopy, the structure of the closed-state rabbit ryanodine receptor RyR1 in complex with its modulator FKBP12 is solved at 3.8 Å; in addition to determining structural details of the ion-conducting channel domain, three previously uncharacterized domains help to reveal a molecular scaffold that allows long-range allosteric regulation of channel activities.
Letters
Top
A higher-than-predicted measurement of iron opacity at solar interior temperatures
J. E. Bailey,
T. Nagayama,
G. P. Loisel,
G. A. Rochau,
C. Blancard
+ et al.
Laboratory measurements of iron opacity made under conditions similar to those inside the Sun reveal much higher opacity than predicted, helping to resolve inconsistencies within stellar models of the internal temperatures of stars.
Higher-than-predicted saltation threshold wind speeds on Titan
Devon M. Burr,
Nathan T. Bridges,
John R. Marshall,
James K. Smith,
Bruce R. White
+ et al.
Wind tunnel experiments designed to simulate the conditions on Saturn’s moon Titan yield threshold wind speeds for particle saltation higher than those predicted by models derived from simulations of terrestrial-planet conditions; the results can be reconciled by modifying the models to take into account the low ratio of particle density to fluid density on Titan.
Observation of quantized conductance in neutral matter
Sebastian Krinner,
David Stadler,
Dominik Husmann,
Jean-Philippe Brantut &
Tilman Esslinger
Quantized conductance in the transport of neutral atoms is observed in an optically produced channel — either a quantum point contact or a quantum wire — between two atom reservoirs; the lowest non-zero conductance value is the universal conductance quantum, the reciprocal of Planck’s constant.
An anisotropic hydrogel with electrostatic repulsion between cofacially aligned nanosheets
Mingjie Liu,
Yasuhiro Ishida,
Yasuo Ebina,
Takayoshi Sasaki,
Takaaki Hikima
+ et al.
Usually materials design focuses on attractive interactions, but here a hydrogel is described whose properties are dominated by electrostatic repulsion between negatively charged titanate nanosheets embedded within it; the material, inspired by articular cartilage, deforms easily when sheared parallel to the sheets but resists compressive forces applied orthogonally.
See also
News & Views by Ladegaard Skov
Strong and deep Atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the last glacial cycle
E. Böhm,
J. Lippold,
M. Gutjahr,
M. Frank,
P. Blaser
+ et al.
Reconstruction of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation from a highly resolved marine sedimentary record shows that a deep, vigorous overturning circulation mode has persisted for most of the last glacial cycle, dominating ocean circulation in the Atlantic, but that a shallower glacial mode prevailed during glacial maxima.
See also
News & Views by Martin
Origins of major archaeal clades correspond to gene acquisitions from bacteria
Shijulal Nelson-Sathi,
Filipa L. Sousa,
Mayo Roettger,
Nabor Lozada-Chávez,
Thorsten Thiergart
+ et al.
A comparison of protein-coding genes from 134 archaeal genomes with their homologues in 1,847 bacterial genomes reveals that, during evolution, genes are transferred more often from bacteria to archaea than vice versa, and that gene influxes from bacteria can bring about the origin of major archaeal groups.
Identification of multipotent mammary stem cells by protein C receptor expression
Daisong Wang,
Cheguo Cai,
Xiaobing Dong,
Qing Cissy Yu,
Xiao-Ou Zhang
+ et al.
Using transplantation and lineage-tracing strategies, protein C receptor is identified as a marker of mammary stem cells in mice, with potential implications for understanding the initiation of breast cancer.
Hepatitis A virus and the origins of picornaviruses
Xiangxi Wang,
Jingshan Ren,
Qiang Gao,
Zhongyu Hu,
Yao Sun
+ et al.
Hepatitis A virus is a picornavirus that causes significant morbidity but remains poorly understood; this paper now provides high-resolution crystal structures of both the mature and the empty hepatitis A virus particle, which show that the three-dimensional structure resembles insect picorna-like viruses.
Human intracellular ISG15 prevents interferon-α/β over-amplification and auto-inflammation
Xianqin Zhang,
Dusan Bogunovic,
Béatrice Payelle-Brogard,
Véronique Francois-Newton,
Scott D. Speer
+ et al.
ISG15 deficiency in humans leads to a failure to maintain adequate levels of USP18, triggering an increase in type I interferon production and signalling, and promoting auto-inflammatory disease.
A PP1–PP2A phosphatase relay controls mitotic progression
Agnes Grallert,
Elvan Boke,
Anja Hagting,
Ben Hodgson,
Yvonne Connolly
+ et al.
The activation and coordination of phosphatase activity is important during mitotic exit; here, a mitotic phosphatase relay is described in fission yeast between the two major phosphatases, PP1 and PP2A, a mode of regulation that may be a feature of signalling networks across eukaryotes.
See also
News & Views by Bollen
Native structure of photosystem II at 1.95 Å resolution viewed by femtosecond X-ray pulses
Michihiro Suga,
Fusamichi Akita,
Kunio Hirata,
Go Ueno,
Hironori Murakami
+ et al.
The radiation-damage-free structure of the photosystem II membrane protein complex, which oxidizes water into dioxygen in an oxygen evolving complex, has been determined by an X-ray free electron laser at a resolution of 1.95 Å; one of the substrate oxygen atoms in this reaction is now identified.
See also
News & Views by Schlichting
Structure of an integral membrane sterol reductase from Methylomicrobium alcaliphilum
Xiaochun Li,
Rita Roberti &
Günter Blobel
Solving the X-ray crystal structure of a Δ14-sterol reductase and homologue of human C14SR and DHCR7, two enzymes that reduce specific carbon–carbon double bonds in the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway, may provide insight into how specific mutations in DHCR7 and lamin B receptor lead to human diseases.
