Volume 485 Issue 7397, 10 May 2012

Rothamsted's genetically engineered wheat should be allowed to grow.

The latest mission to Jupiter highlights the benefits and pitfalls of collaboration.

Evidence is mounting that research is riddled with systematic errors. Left unchecked, this could erode public trust, warns Daniel Sarewitz.

The week in science: Japan switches off its last nuclear power reactor; South Korea passes carbon-trading laws; and French-Algerian physicist Adlène Hicheur is sentenced to prison for plotting terror attacks.

Debate highlights pitfalls in studying minority languages.

Physicists scramble to see through fog of collisions.

Theorists claim they can prove that wavefunctions are real states.

But critics question data and cost estimates from the Millennium Villages Project.

Approval of a ‘biologic’ manufactured in plant cells may pave the way for similar products.

Old collections of irradiated tissues could answer modern-day questions about the dangers of radiation. Now, researchers are making a concerted effort to save the stores.

Clouds and aerosol particles have bedevilled climate modellers for decades. Now researchers are starting to gain the upper hand.

Recycling plutonium is dangerous and costly. Britain should take the lead on direct disposal, say Frank von Hippel, Rodney Ewing, Richard Garwin and Allison Macfarlane.

The US Food and Drug Administration needs to be more independent, says Daniel Carpenter.

Andrew Berry enjoys a biographical feast that turns the spotlight onto Darwin's forerunners.

Media designer Scott Snibbe creates software apps and interactive science-museum installations, and was executive producer of the 2011 Biophilia project by singer–songwriter Björk. As he prepares to lecture at the Sónar International Festival of Advanced Music and New Media Art in São Paulo, Brazil — where his visuals will accompany Björk's performance of Biophilia — he talks about provoking wonder.

A meta-analysis of agricultural systems shows that organic yields are mostly lower than those from conventional farming, but that organic crops perform well in some contexts. Agricultural scientists discuss whether the conclusions of the study should change farming practices and management. See Letter p.229

Crack propagation in materials is rarely welcome. But carefully engineered cracks produced during the deposition of a film on silicon can be used to efficiently create pre-designed patterns of nanometre-scale channels. See Letter p.221

High blood pressure can damage heart muscle cells and their mitochondrial organelles. DNA from degraded mitochondria has been shown to trigger inflammation leading to heart failure. See Letter p.251

Climate simulations based on an ocean model may hold the key to understanding why existing climate models have failed to deliver a clear picture of ocean circulation during the last ice age.

The use of adult-tissue stem cells to treat gastrointestinal diseases holds much promise. A method for in vitro growth of gut stem cells and their use in repairing damaged intestines in mice has been described.

When a star wanders too close to a giant black hole, it can be pulled apart by the black hole's tidal force. One such event offers insight into the properties of both the black hole and the star.

Over the past ten years, protein engineering has established biocatalysis as a practical and environmentally friendly alternative to traditional forms of catalysis both in the laboratory and in industry.

ZNRF3 and RNF43 are identified as negative feedback regulators of Wnt signalling; the stem-cell growth factor R-spondin is shown to potentiate Wnt signalling by inhibiting ZNRF3.

N⁶-methyladenosine (m⁶A) is the most prevalent internal modification in messenger RNA; here the human and mouse m⁶A modification landscape is presented in a transcriptome-wide manner, providing insights into this epigenetic modification.

The X-ray crystal structure of the zebrafish P2X₄ receptor in the presence and absence of ATP is determined, revealing an ATP-binding site and an open ion channel pore.

Observations at submillimetre and X-ray wavelengths show that rapid star formation was common in the host galaxies of active galactic nuclei when the Universe was 2–6 Gyr old, but that the most vigorous star formation is not observed around powerful black holes, thereby confirming a key prediction of models in which an active galactic nucleus expels the interstellar medium of its host galaxy.

The observation of a flare of radiation from the centre of an inactive galaxy fits a model of the tidal disruption of a helium-rich stellar core and its accretion onto a black hole of about three million solar masses.

Propagating cracks—normally associated with material failure and viewed as undesirable—can be controlled in a film/substrate system, opening up new possibilities for nanofabrication and atomic-scale patterning.

The redirection of warm water under the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf during the second half of this century could cause the ice-shelf base to melt at a rate 20 times higher than at present.

A meta-analysis assessing the relative yields of organic and conventional agriculture shows that organic yields are on average lower, but that the magnitude of the difference is dependent on context.

The neural correlates of how attended speech is internally represented are described, shedding light on the ‘cocktail party problem’.

Rare de novo single nucleotide variants in brain-expressed genes are found to be associated with autism spectrum disorders and to carry large effects.

Exome sequencing of 175 autism spectrum disorder parent–child trios reveals that few de novo point mutations have a role in autism spectrum disorder and those that do are distributed across many genes and are incompletely penetrant, further supporting extreme genetic heterogeneity of this spectrum disorder.

Exome sequencing on a large cohort of parent–child trios with sporadic autism spectrum disorders shows that de novo point mutations are mainly paternal in origin and positively correlate with paternal age, and identifies a highly interconnected network formed from the products of the most severe mutations.

Mitochondrial DNA escaping from the autophagy pathway can trigger inflammation through Toll-like receptor (TLR) 9, leading to abnormalities in cardiac structure and function, and increased mortality.

This crystallographic study shows the attachment of human rotavirus VP8* to histo blood group A antigen, and suggests how changes within the structure of VP8* could allow switching from sialylated to non-sialylated glycan receptor.

Internal tandem duplication mutations in FLT3, known to be associated with a poor prognosis in acute myeloid leukaemia, are now shown to be a valid therapeutic target for the disease.

Secondary structures, or pairing of complementary sequences within RNA, can regulate the binding of proteins that affect transcript stability, splicing, localization, and translation; a computational approach has now been used to discover secondary structures that affect global RNA stability through the binding of specific RNA binding proteins.

Graduate students and postdocs are often best placed to turn basic research into entrepreneurial gold, argues Peter Fiske.

European student group calls for funding to support mobility.

Agreement to improve UK research careers yields some positives.

Technology-transfer model best for inventors who need commercialization support.

Class war.