News & Views in 2008

Both astrophysicists and particle physicists are in on the hunt for the elusive dark matter that is thought to pervade the Universe. A high-altitude balloon-borne experiment offers the latest hints as to what it could be.

How cells build their internal structures remains one of the central mysteries in cell biology. If the cell nucleus is anything to go by, stochastic assembly and self-organization seem to be key.

Squares may be unfashionable, but for electronic circuitry no other shape will do. A method for making square arrays of polymeric nanoparticles could herald the next generation of miniature silicon chips.

Physiological studies in mice demonstrate a surprising role for a kidney protein related to the rhesus factor of red blood cells. Similar research would aid further annotation of mammalian genomes.

Protein-digesting enzymes are kept on a tight leash to stop them from wantonly attacking targets. Two crystal structures show how an inhibitory protein domain gags one such enzyme without being chewed up itself.

Reconstruction of most of the genome sequence of the woolly mammoth illustrates how such investigations will pave the way for a deeper understanding of the biology and evolution of extinct species.

Short episodes of warming and cooling occurred throughout the last glaciation. An innovative modelling study indicates that ocean-circulation changes produced much of the causative variation in greenhouse gases.

Fed up with sitting in the doctor's surgery among all those sneezy patients, waiting for the results of a health check? With the latest technology, you could one day perform bioassays on your home compact-disc player.

For now, quantum information processing systems remain a dream. Step by step, however, progress towards that goal is being made, with one promising route involving a novel means of manipulating electron spin.

Sequence data on a second species of diatom provide abundant insights into the evolution and metabolic capabilities of this group, as well as into mechanisms of gene acquisition and diversification.

Decoding the workings of voltage-gated sodium channels is crucial because their mutation leads to severe disease and their activity is modulated by toxins and drugs. An innovative approach now allows such investigations.

Solid catalysts speed up many industrial chemical reactions and steer them towards making desired products. A microscopy technique could reveal the changes in composition that catalysts undergo as they perform.

A jack of all trades is a master of none, as the saying goes. But a protein has been discovered that shuns specialism, and that multitasks to give flexibility to its biosynthetic repertoire.

Cooling a specific cluster of neurons in songbirds' brains slows song tempo without changing other acoustic features. This clever technique could be used for understanding neural control of other complex behaviours.

In tadpoles, the number of neurons expressing the neurotransmitter dopamine increases on exposure to light. Such plasticity might allow animals to match their brains' response to environmental stimuli.

The link between a person's genetic ancestry and the traits — including disease risk — that he or she exhibits remains elusive. Routine sequencing of the genomes of an African and an Asian individual offer a step forward.