Volume 488 Issue 7412, 23 August 2012

Nomenclature rules can disrupt planetary scientists' fun, but they serve a purpose.

The Higgs boson, and its role in providing a rational explanation for the Universe, is only part of the story, says Daniel Sarewitz.

The week in science: Gene patents upheld again; NASA picks next Mars mission; and Australia’s plans to control tobacco survive legal challenge.

Slashed funding threatens Canada’s unique freshwater study site.

Genome study may explain links between paternal age and conditions such as autism. 

Six observatories run by the National Science Foundation should be jettisoned in favour of new facilities, says panel.

Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan, wants to curb expenditure on non-defence research.

Planetary explorers rebel against nomenclature protocols.

California’s Proposition 37 would add labels to all foods made from genetically modified crops.

With his knack for knowing what stem cells want, Yoshiki Sasai has grown an eye and parts of a brain in a dish.

From e-mails to social networks, the digital traces left by life in the modern world are transforming social science.

David Southwood draws lessons from a crisis-ridden year for European cooperation in space.

The intergovernmental body for biodiversity must draw on a much broader range of knowledge and stakeholders than the IPCC, say Esther Turnhout and colleagues.

Ewen Callaway discovers compelling cross-currents in two very different displays of dead animals exhibited just a few kilometres apart.

Jennifer Rohn enjoys an epic novel about scientists, the media, ethics and society.

Philip Ball listens in on an album of evolved music composed by the Darwinian computer program Iamus.

Physicist, education advocate and first US woman in space.

New research backs the contentious idea that solid tumours are not masses of equivalent cells, but instead contain cancer stem cells that support tumour maintenance. Here, two experts provide complementary views on the findings and on the implications for potential therapies. See Letters p.522 & p.527

A neat experiment shows that if a current is sent through one of two adjacent conducting layers placed in a strong magnetic field, a quantum effect generates an exactly equal but opposite current in the other layer. See Letter p.481

To understand how blood vessels form and function, scientists require reproducible systems that mimic living tissues. An innovative approach based on microfabricated vessels provides a key step towards this goal.

The identification of an enzyme in rice that confers improved plant yields on phosphorus-deficient soils could open up new avenues for generating nutrient-efficient crops that can thrive on marginally fertile soils. See Letter p.535

A comprehensive analysis of human spontaneous mutation has revealed a strong influence of paternal age, suggesting a link between an increasing number of older fathers and the rise in disorders such as autism. See Article p.471

A measurement by satellite altimetry shows the Himalayan glaciers to be losing mass at only moderate rates, but raises broader questions about other methods for estimating mass balance. See Letter p.495

Whole-genome sequencing of 78 Icelandic parent–offspring trios is used to study the de novo mutation rate at the genome-wide level; the rate is shown to increase by about two mutations a year as a function of the increasing age of the father at conception, highlighting the importance of father’s age on the risk of diseases such as autism and schizophrenia.

The effect of quantum radiation-pressure fluctuations on the collective motion of ultracold atoms is observed in a cavity-optomechanical system, and the back-action of this motion on the cavity light field is shown to produce sub-shot-noise optical squeezing.

An electronic current flowing in one conductor can induce a drag current in another spatially separated conductor by means of Coulomb interactions; when these interactions are sufficiently strong the currents become equal and the drag therefore ‘perfect’, as shown here for a bilayer two-dimensional electron system.

Organic ferroelectrics with switchable electrical polarization would be an attractive prospect for applications if their Curie temperature—below which these materials display ferroelectric behaviour—could be raised to room temperature or above; this goal has now been achieved with a family of organic materials characterized by a supramolecular structural motif.

The longest continuous record of global atmospheric ethane levels is presented, showing that global ethane emission rates decreased by 21 per cent from 1984 to 2010, probably owing to decreased venting and flaring of natural gas in oil fields; decreased venting and flaring also account for at least 30 to 70 per cent of the decrease in methane emissions over the same period.

Data for the Hindu Kush–Karakoram–Himalaya region from satellite laser altimetry and a global elevation model shows that glacier thinning varied by an order of magnitude across the region, with surface debris not seeming to provide effective insulation, and that the melting ice added several per cent to the annual discharge of the mountain rivers.

Mutations in the profilin 1 (PFN1) gene, which is crucial for the conversion of monomeric to filamentous actin, can cause familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, suggesting that alterations in cytoskeletal pathways contribute to disease pathogenesis.

Mutation rates in cancer genomes are closely related to chromatin organization, indicating that the arrangement of the genome into heterochromatin- and euchromatin-like domains may be a dominant influence on variation in regional mutation rate in human somatic cells.

Genome-wide association studies in combination with functional analyses identify a genetic variant that explains why anti-tumour necrosis factor therapy, used in several autoimmune diseases, exacerbates multiple sclerosis.

A group of dopamine neurons that are distinct from those mediating aversive reinforcement is found to signal sugar reward in the fly brain, highlighting the evolutionarily conserved function of dopamine neurons in reward processing.

Protocadherins are found to potentially provide the molecular diversity and complexity required to promote dendritic self-avoidance in mouse retina and cerebellum.

By using a GFP reporter protein expressed selectively in neural stem cells in a mouse model of glioblastoma, a small subset of GFP-positive glioma cells is shown to be responsible for re-growth of tumours after chemotherapy.

Using genetic lineage tracing, tumour cells are traced in vivo in an unperturbed solid tumour; in a carcinogen-induced papilloma mouse model, cells in these benign lesions are found to mirror the clonal hierarchy organization of normal tissue.

Two high-affinity proton-dependent transporters of glucosinolates have been identified in Arabidopsis and termed GTR1 and GTR2; these transporters are essential for transporting glucosinolates to seeds, offering a means to control the allocation of defence compounds in a tissue-specific manner, which may have agricultural biotechnology implications.

A gene that is present in phosphate-deficiency-tolerant rice but absent from modern rice varieties is characterized and named phosphorus-starvation tolerance 1 (PSTOL1); overexpression of PSTOL1 in rice species that naturally lack this gene confers tolerance to low phosphorus conditions, a finding that may have implications for agricultural productivity in rice-growing countries.

The human CST complex is shown to interact with the telomeric primer and the POT1–TPP1 complex to inhibit telomerase activity in late S phase, thereby keeping unrestrained telomere lengthening in check.

Personality and vocation tests can help researchers to improve their 'soft skills' and find careers that suit them.

Two funding awards help population geneticist to stay competitive.

Character development.