Volume 535 Issue 7611, 14 July 2016

A US Senate decision on labelling genetically modified foods paves the way for a redirection of resources.

Happy music and sad sounds are not universal.

Measuring hurt is harder than inflicting it.

The focus on impact of published research has created new opportunities for misconduct and fraudsters, says Mario Biagioli.

Dwarf planet discovered beyond Neptune; unprecedented mangrove deaths linked to climate change; and French scientists protest against pick for top agriculture post.

Economic instability and campus violence have thrown labs into crisis.

The US government is considering a plan to allow wireless firms to share radio frequencies used in weather forecasts.

Allen Brain Observatory releases unprecedented survey of activity in the mouse visual cortex.

Senior staff at leading journals want to end inappropriate use of the measure.

Poster-child for renewables strives to make wind and solar power more grid-friendly.

The country has developed the biggest programme of antiretroviral therapy in the world. Now scientists are exploring the long-term consequences of the drugs.

Beate El-Chichakli and colleagues outline principles for coordinating bio-based industries to achieve many of the sustainable development goals.

To sustain the seas, advocates of marine protected areas and those in fisheries management must work together, not at cross purposes, urges Ray Hilborn.

As labs and lecture halls empty, go out of this world with our regular reviewers' recommendations for stellar holiday reading.

Psychologist who shaped ideas about perception, cognition and education.

The role of Ki-67 in mitotic cell division has been a mystery. Extensive imaging reveals that this highly positively charged protein coats chromosomes to prevent them from coalescing. See Letter p.308

Certain bacteria contain strings of magnetic nanoparticles and therefore align with magnetic fields. Inspired by these natural structures, researchers have now fabricated synthetic one-dimensional arrays of such particles.

At what times of year are phenological events across species sensitive to climatic variables, and how sensitive are they? Answers to these questions emerge from the analysis of a wealth of long-term data sets. See Article p.241

Observations of the disk of dust and gas around a nascent star reveal that the distance from the star at which water in the disk forms ice is variable. This variation might hinder the formation of planets. See Letter p.258

Quantum effects have been used in devices that measure various quantities, but not to measure electric fields. The sensitivity of an electrometer has now been boosted using the phenomenon of quantum superposition. See Letter p.262

An ambitious study has used more than 10,000 datasets to examine how the phenological characteristics—such as the timing of reproduction—of various taxa alter in response to climate change, and suggests that differing levels of climate sensitivity could lead to the desynchronization of seasonal events over time.

Disparate modes of suppression of the let-7 microRNA family are selectively and inversely related in neuroblastoma.

This paper reports the identification of a new cereblon-modulating agent, CC-885, which targets the translation termination factor GSPT1 and demonstrates anti-tumour activity in patient-derived tumour cells; the crystal structure of the cereblon–DDB1–GSPT1–CC-885 complex reveals a common motif for cereblon-substrate recruitment.

The snow-line is the distance from a protostar at which a particular volatile gas condenses; images of the protostar V883 Ori suggest that the water snow-line migrated outwards during a protostellar outburst, with implications for our understanding of the formation of planetary systems such as our own.

A highly sensitive electrometer is reported that is based on a Schrödinger-cat state in a Rydberg atom, that reaches a sensitivity beyond the standard quantum limit and can compete with state-of-the-art electric field measurements performed using electromechanical resonators and single-electron transistors.

Electronic transport measurements in a magnetic field on the topological Dirac semimetal Cd₃As₂ identify the predicted Weyl orbits that weave Fermi arcs and bulk states together; the Weyl orbits enable transfer of chirality from one node to another, and open up the possibility of controlling topological properties electronically.

The controllable self-assembly of graphene ribbons on a substrate is shown, demonstrating an effect which could be applied to patterning and actuating devices made from two-dimensional materials.

The structure and accretion modes of two end-member types of oceanic lithosphere are described using a detailed seismicity survey along 390 kilometres of an ultraslow ridge axis, indicating deeper seismicity in amagmatic regions and explaining the uneven crustal production at ultraslow-spreading ridges.

Butterflies diversify their retinal mosaics by producing three stochastic types of ommatidia instead of the two types found in Drosophila; this study shows that butterfly retinas use two R7-like photoreceptors per ommatidium that each make an independent stochastic decision to express the transcription factor Spineless, which controls photoreceptor and ommatidial fate.

Activity in regions of the brain have been correlated with decision making but determining whether such relationships are correlative or causative has been challenging; using a technique to reversibly inactivate brain areas in monkeys reveals that although there is decision-related activity in the lateral intraparietal (LIP) area, LIP is not critical for the perceptual decisions studied here.

Analysis of the transcriptome of more than 1,200 cells from gastrulating mouse embryos using single-cell sequencing, gathering unexpected insights into early mesoderm formation during gastrulation.

The zebrafish cloche gene is required for the formation of most endothelial and haematopoietic cells, however, it has been difficult to isolate; this study reveals that cloche encodes a PAS-domain-containing bHLH transcription factor, and a mammalian orthologue can partially rescue cloche mutants, indicating a possible conserved role in mammals.

Live imaging and single-cell analyses are used to show that decision-making by differentiating haematopoietic stem cells between the megakaryocytic–erythroid and granulocytic–monocytic lineages is not initiated by stochastic switching between the lineage-specific transcription factors PU.1 and GATA1, which challenges the previous model of early myeloid lineage choice.

In mice, deficiency in the high-density lipoprotein gene T39 stabilizes liver X receptor (LXR), reducing both atherosclerosis and steatohepatitis, suggesting that T39 inhibition could be an effective strategy for reducing these diseases.

During cell division, chromosomes are maintained as individual units; this process is shown to be mediated by the cell proliferation marker Ki-67, which has biophysical properties similar to those of surfactants.

Moves in science are common, exhilarating — and challenging. Read on for survival tips.

Of new US PhDs with definite plans, 42% are headed to postdocs.

US National Institutes of Health funding rates for younger researchers are similar to those for older ones.

A lesson learned.

We can't live without it, but many of us struggle to live with it. Pain has an essential biological function, but too much — or the wrong sort — ruins lives and puts a sizeable dent in economic productivity. By David Holmes, infographic by Mohamed Ashour.

The dearth of treatment options for chronic pain has led to widespread over-prescription of strong opioids. But some innovative thinking is building a promising pipeline.

Pain researchers' arguments for using only male rodents in preclinical pain research don't hold up to scrutiny, says Jeffrey S. Mogil.

Technology for peering into the brain is revealing a pattern of pain, and differences between the acute and chronic forms.

People with neuropathic pain have struggled to find relief with conventional drugs. Researchers are investigating whether more meaningful pain classifications could help.

Although genetics studies have so far failed to revolutionize pain treatments, some researchers think that a host of discoveries are just around the corner.

Armed with a clearer understanding of how placebos work, researchers are suggesting that inactive substances might be used to mitigate chronic pain.

The 'war on drugs' has left many in developing nations with no access to strong painkillers. But governments in these countries are learning to stop worrying and love the poppy.

For thousands of years people have sought explanations for pain and ways to ease it. Despite a better understanding of the mechanisms behind the sensation, much remains baffling, and the search for better treatments continues. By Stephanie Pain