Volume 485 Issue 7399, 24 May 2012

Research into the Fukushima meltdowns has given a new lease of life to a valuable group.

A previously unknown sensory organ provides a lesson in coordination.

The concept of environmental thresholds is compelling, but it has the potential to shift political focus to the wrong areas, says Simon L. Lewis.

The week in science: Canada shuts down influential lakes research site; France’s science minister appointed; and commercial spaceflight firm SpaceX launches its Dragon capsule to the International Space Station.

Studies indicate minimal health risks from radiation in the aftermath of Japan’s nuclear disaster.

As report reveals lax standards in Asia-Pacific, researchers debate how to enforce rules.

Health-agency budget windfall includes funding for two promising clinical trials.

Research-agency heads from around the world agree to formulate shared principles to aid collaborations.

Team aims to settle running dispute over mysterious object.

SPICE research consortium decides not to field-test its technology to reflect the Sun’s rays.

The rise of herbicide-resistant varieties drives a search for fresh methods of control.

The fight over mutant flu has thrown the spotlight on a little-known government body that oversees dual-use research. Some are asking if it was up to the task.

The world's largest underground laboratory has been a success story for Italian science. But 30 years after construction began, its future is uncertain.

Bacterial evolution is overwhelming our antibiotic defences, says Kim Lewis. Using modern technology to replicate past success might tip the balance in our favour.

Urgent public debate is needed over a European proposal to regulate environmental levels of the active ingredient in birth-control pills, say Richard Owen and Susan Jobling.

Wendy Wolford hails a perceptive take on the people and organizations behind modern big land acquisitions.

Manfred Milinski hails the long-awaited update of a classic on the optimal design of behaviour.

New York-based author and illustrator Jonathan Fetter-Vorm makes hand-printed books on Darwin and other historical scientific subjects — including a hand-stitched treatise on surgical suturing. As he releases Trinity, a graphic history of the atomic bomb, Fetter-Vorm talks about crafting science chronicles.

Predicting plant responses to increasing temperatures is integral to assessing the global impact of climate change. But the authors of a comparative study assert that warming experiments may not accurately reflect observational data. Climate and ecosystem scientists discuss how impact prediction should proceed. See Letter p.494

An inorganic semiconductor can take the place of the liquid electrolyte typically used in dye-sensitized solar cells. This achievement points the way to making these devices more easily manufactured and more stable. See Letter p.486

Alterations in brain blood vessels in mice precede the neural dysfunction associated with Alzheimer's disease. The finding highlights potential targets for drug development. See Letter p.512

An analysis of geochemical data reveals a substantial change in the composition of Earth's magmas about 2.5 billion years ago, just as Earth's atmosphere and climate were also changing drastically. See Letter p.490

An ingenious technique allows the monitoring of brain-wide patterns of neuronal activity in a vertebrate at the cellular level, while the animal interacts with a virtual environment. See Article p.471

The latest measurements of the mass of the W boson, one of two elementary particles that mediate the weak nuclear force, are a powerful reminder of the profound beauty in the standard model of particle physics.

Stars that are just like our Sun have flares more than a million times more energetic than the biggest flare ever seen on the Sun. The Kepler satellite has allowed these superflares to be studied in detail for the first time. See Letter p.478

Daily oxidation–reduction cycles of peroxiredoxin proteins are shown to be conserved in all domains of life, including Bacteria, Archaea and Eukaryota.

The small GTPase Rab5 has been proposed to be a master regulator of endosome biogenesis; using in vivo RNA interference and mathematical modelling it is shown here that the endolysosomal system is resilient to loss of Rab5 until its concentration drops below a critical level, at which point endosomes are lost, leading to increased serum low-density lipoprotein levels, alterations in metabolism and hepatocellular polarity.

Neural activity is recorded at the cellular level, throughout the brain of larval zebrafish, while the animals interact with a virtual environment and adapt their motor output to changes in visual feedback; this is used to derive candidates of functional elements driving motor learning.

Observations of superflares on solar-type stars indicate that they are associated with much larger starspots than appear on the Sun, occur more frequently on rapidly rotating stars and, contrary to a previous proposal, are not frequently associated with hot Jupiters.

A method for achieving fully tunable entanglement between a single ⁴⁰Ca⁺ ion and the polarization state of a single photon within an optical resonator is reported, providing a promising means of distributing information within quantum networks.

A solution-processable inorganic semiconductor is reported that can replace the liquid electrolyte of dye-sensitized solar cells, yielding all-solid-state solar cells with impressive energy conversion efficiencies.

Statistical sampling of a large geochemical database reveals a pervasive discontinuity about 2.5 billion years ago, indicating marked changes in mantle and deep-crustal melting, and providing a link between deep Earth processes and the rise of atmospheric oxygen on the Earth.

Advances in plant flowering and leafing times in response to warming are underpredicted by experimental warming studies.

A newly discovered sensory organ in the jaws of rorqual whales is shown to have a crucial role during lunge feeding.

Whole-genome sequencing of 25 metastatic melanomas and matched germline DNA in humans reveals that the highest mutation load is associated with chronic sun exposure, and that the PREX2 gene is mutated in approximately 14 per cent of cases

Accumulation of prion protein during prion replication causes persistent translational repression of global protein synthesis, which is mediated by eIF2α-P and is associated with synaptic failure and neuronal loss in prion-diseased mice; promoting translational recovery in hippocampi of prion-infected mice is neuroprotective.

The APOE4-mediated proinflammatory pathway is shown to initiate blood–brain barrier breakdown and resulting neurodegeneration in transgenic mice.

After myelination, oligodendrocytes are able to survive without mitochondrial respiration, suggesting that they can switch to aerobic glycolysis and release lactate.

Translocation of glycolytic enzymes to peroxisomes in fungi suggests broader metabolic role for this organelle.

Stalled bacterial ribosomes can be rescued by interaction with SmpB protein and a highly structured transfer-messenger RNA, and a cryo-electron microscopy map of this complex now shows how EF-G-dependent translocation of this non-canonical ligand is facilitated by conformational changes in the ribosome and the transfer-messenger RNA.

The diffusion limited stereospecific enzyme chalcone isomerase represents the adaptive evolution of a catalytically perfected enzyme from non-catalytic, fatty-acid-binding proteins (FAPs) with contemporary roles in plant fatty-acid metabolism as evidenced by altered fatty acid content and marked reproductive defects in Arabidopsis thaliana plants bearing FAP knockouts.

Careers advice offered at US institutes is lacking for doctoral students disillusioned with the prospect of an academic career.

Neurobiologist’s shift in career focus leads to a brain-research post.

Female faculty members at Canadian universities earn less than males.

US higher education system tops a list of 48 nations, according to rankings.

Canada contributes funds to early-career neuroscience training programmes.

It's in the blood.