Nature Press Release for 14 August Issue

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[1] Technology: Electronic Etch A Sketch (pp751-754; N&V)

Researchers have come up with a new way of designing and making quantum electronic devices. The system, reported in this week's Nature, is a bit like an electronic Etch A Sketch toy and could be used to help design the intricate circuits needed for quantum computers. Rolf Crook and colleagues have used a modified scanning tunnelling microscope to draw patterns of charge on a surface. The structure drawn in the buried layer can be tuned to have exactly the properties desired, such as size and shape. It can then be erased with red light. Named erasable electrostatic lithography (EEL), the technique makes it possible to measure and test a device in situ, as it is created — a much faster process than using conventional lithography.

"In its present form, EEL works only at very low temperatures. But at the moment this is not really a drawback, as the quantum components created by EEL currently function only at low temperatures," says Ray Ashoori in an accompanying News and Views article. "Physicists can now literally sketch quantum devices and circuits from imagination into reality," he adds.

[2], [3] and [4] Health and Medicine: Aspirin may be used to treat tumours (pp793-796, 797-801, 801-805; N&V)

Aspirin may prove a useful therapy against certain types of benign human cancers. A trio of papers in this week's Nature elucidate the cellular pathways involved in cylindromatosis — a condition that causes tumours to form in hair follicles and sweat gland cells.

Cylindromatosis occurs when both copies of the CYLD gene go wrong. René Bernards and colleagues decreased the levels of CYLD in cultured cells and found that the NF-kappaB signalling pathway — best known for its role in inflammation — is activated. Along with George Mosialos et al. and David Wallach et al., they also demonstrate that when CYLD activity is lost altogether, signalling through this pathway is increased.

Bernards' team show that aspirin and prostaglandin A1 — anti-inflammatory drugs with effects on the NF-kappaB pathway — can prevent the activation of NF-kappaB-responsive genes. They may, therefore, prove a useful treatment for the human tumour syndrome. "Much remains to be investigated, but this finding points to the possibility of a simple, yet potentially important, treatment for cylindromatosis," says Keith D. Wilkinson in an accompanying News and Views article.

Technology: Crystal clear information

Researchers have been exploiting the basic units of light — photons — to process and store information. An Insight in this week's Nature explores these new optical technologies.

Optical circuits can, in principle, be made from a new type of optical material, called photonic crystals. Here, photons can be manipulated in a manner similar to electrons in a semiconductor. But photons can travel much faster than electrons, making the prospect of processing information photonically tantalizing. New applications are also expected to result from studies where the flow of light is carefully controlled on small length scales or fast timescales. Nature's Insight highlights the bright promise of photonics research.

LIST OF CONTENTS:p810 A revolution in optical manipulation D. G. Grier

p817 Discretizing light behaviour in linear and nonlinear waveguide lattices D. M. Christodoulides, F. Lederer & Y. Silberberg

p824 Surface plasmon subwavelength optics W. L. Barnes, A. Dereux & T. W. Ebbesen

p831 Recent developments in compact ultrafast lasers U. Keller

p839 Optical microcavities K. Vahala

p846 Photonic crystal fibres J. C. Knight

p851 Photonics structures in biology P. Vukusic & J. R.Sambles

[5] Climate: Ocean's appetite for carbon dioxide weakens (pp754-757)

Changing rainfall and evaporation patterns have a strong influence on the ability of the oceans to take up and store CO2 from the atmosphere, research reveals in this week's Nature. This previously undescribed link between hydrological changes and the carbon cycle may cause a rethink in the way that oceanographers model the ocean carbon cycle.

The oceans act as vast storage vessels or 'sinks' of atmospheric CO2, soaking up large quantities of the greenhouse gas each year. But, during a 13-year study of the subtropical North Pacific Ocean near Hawaii, John E. Dore and colleagues found that the regional sink absorbed decreasing amounts of CO2. It seems that drought conditions and an associated salinity effect are to blame — 40% of the observed loss of strength of the sink can be explained by increased salt concentration alone, the team say.

On a broader scale, regional changes to the water cycle caused by climate variability may significantly alter the global oceanic CO2 sink.

[6] Health and Medicine: Pain overload (pp778-783; N&V)

The mere touch of cloth against skin can send people with neuropathic pain into agony. Sufferers may have high levels of a particular protein, research in this week's Nature suggests. New therapies could aim to block the receptor and stem the pain. Neuropathic pain often develops when nerves are damaged through surgery, bone compression, diabetes or infection. Innocuous stimuli become intensely painful, and common anti-pain medications seem to be useless. Kazuhide K. Inoue and colleagues report that a particular type of receptor — the P2X4 purinoceptor — may be involved. High levels of this protein are found in the spinal cord of rats with neuropathic pain. If the receptors are blocked, rats with this pain type seem to recover.

The receptors were found on microglia — immune-like cells found in the spinal cord. When energy-rich microglia were injected directly into the spinal cord of healthy rats, the animals developed pain hypersensitivity. "Some of the significance of this work lies in revealing a role for the P2X4 receptor in pain signalling," says Edwin W. McCleskey in an accompanying News and Views article. "But perhaps the broader importance is the clear demonstration of a function for microglial cells," he adds.

[7] Ecology: More marine research (p723)

Marine conservation science is under-reported, under-cited and lacks the impact of terrestrial ecological research. More resources should be directed towards ocean-based research, claims a Correspondence item in this week's Nature.

The world's oceans are in crisis. Coastal development, pollution, introduction of invasive species, overfishing and climate change seriously jeopardize marine ecosystems. But how much research is being done in these crucial areas? Beth F. Kochin and Phillip S. Levin report that in recent years, marine conservation issues have received little attention in the scientific press, even in conservation or marine ecological journals. Those papers that are published make less of a splash — terrestrial articles are cited more than twice as often as their marine counterparts.

"Humans might well focus first on the habitat they themselves inhabit, but it is clearly time for more attention and resources to be directed toward the oceans," they say. "Our ability to overcome the problems will surely depend on the contributions of science," they add.

Architecture: Designer labs may spark scientific creativity

Can a well-designed laboratory promote creative scientific thought? Can high ceilings and natural light elevate a duff idea to a concept of pure genius? Neuroscientists and architects are joining forces to see whether designer labs can spark scientific inspiration. A Feature in this week's Nature looks at the latest in laboratory layouts, and investigates scientific attempts to find out whether the physical environment really can boost the brain.

[8] Climate: Warmer water costs Lake Tanganyika productivity (pp766-768; N&V)

Climate warming over the past 80 years has reduced the productivity of Lake Tanganyika in East Africa, claims a report in this week's Nature. Given that the lake is an important source of food and revenue for four countries that border it, the human implications of this environmental change are grave.

Delving into the historical records of the lake, Catherine M. O'Reilly and colleagues identified a significant rise in water temperature due to regional warming, as well as reduced wind speeds. Together, these factors hamper the cycling of deep-water nutrients to the upper water layers, causing a reduction in primary productivity such as algal biomass, the team proposes. Data from carbon isotope records held in lake sediment cores support this theory, indicating that primary productivity may have decreased by 20% since the 1950s — translating to a roughly 30% decrease in fish yields further up the food chain.

The findings seem to explain the observed reduction in fish catches in the area, attributed to unknown environmental factors rather than to overfishing. The study provides strong evidence that "the effect of global climate change on regional temperature has had a greater impact on Lake Tanganyika than have local human activities," says Dirk Verschuren in an accompanying News and Views article.

[9] And Finally: Carry on photosynthesizing (p741)

Researchers have worked out how some viruses prompt marine bacteria to carry on photosynthesizing even when, left to their own devices, they would normally stop.

Cyanobacteria dwell in nutrient-poor waters where they use light to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. Too much sunlight can be harmful, so in bright light, the single-celled bacteria shut down photosynthesis. This can be bad news for any virus that has infected the cell, as their energy source disappears. Writing in a Brief Communication in this week's Nature, Nicholas H. Mann and colleagues examine the genome sequence of one such virus, S-PM2. The virus is able to produce two photosynthetic proteins that are very similar to those of the bacteria and which can effectively act as a back up to counteract any damage caused by too much sunlight. The result is that infected cyanobacteria keep on photosynthesizing in bright light, providing S-PM2 with a continuous supply of the oxygen it needs. The genes that encode the two proteins may have been handed over during evolution from the bacteria to the virus in a bid to sustain them both, the researchers speculate.

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE"¦

[10] A gamma-ray burst with a high-energy spectral component inconsistent with the synchrotron shock model (pp749-751)

[11] Stabilizing feedbacks in glacier-bed erosion (pp758-760)

[12] Intense equatorial flux spots on the surface of the Earth's core (pp760-763)

[13] In situ experimental evidence of the fate of a phytodetritus pulse at the abyssal sea floor (pp763-766)

[14] Action plans used in action observation (pp769-771)

[15] Prediction of auditory spatial acuity from neural images on the owl's auditory space map (pp771-774)

[16] Direct modulation of synaptic vesicle priming by GABAB receptor activationat a glutamatergic synapse (pp775-778)

[17] A camelid antibody fragment inhibits the formation of amyloid fibrils by human lysozyme (pp783-788)

[18] Comparative analyses of multi-species sequences from targeted genomic regions (pp788-793)

[19] Rationalization of the effects of mutations on peptide and protein aggregation rates (pp805-808)

GEOGRAPHICAL LISTING OF AUTHORS"¦

The following list of places refers to the whereabouts of authors on the papers numbered in this release. The listing may be for an author's main affiliation, or for a place where they are working temporarily. Please see the PDF of the paper for full details.

BELGIUMBrussels: 17Liege: 17Namur: 8

CANADAOntario Kingston: 14 Toronto: 6

DENMARKCopenhagen: 13

FRANCEMarseille: 17Paris: 4

GERMANYBraunschweig: 13Bremen: 13Bremerhaven: 13Goettingen: 16Kiel: 13Plon: 13Tuebingen: 13

GREECEVari: 3

ISRAELRehevot: 4

ITALYCatania: 4Florence: 19

JAPANFukuoka: 6Kodaira: 6Setagaya: 6Tokyo: 6

THE NETHERLANDSAmsterdam: 2

SWEDENUmea: 14

SWITZERLANDMeyrin: 17

UNITED ARAB EMIRATESDubai: 17

UNITED KINGDOMCambridge: 1, 17, 19Coventry: 9Leeds: 12London: 3Norwich: 17Nottingham: 17Oxford: 17

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA#Alabama Huntsville: 10Arizona Phoenix: 18 Tempe: 18Tucson: 8California Oakland: 18 Santa Cruz: 18District of Columbia Washington DC: 10Georgia Atlanta: 18Hawaii Honolulu: 5Louisiana New Orleans: 8Maryland Baltimore: 18Bethesda: 18Michigan East Lansing: 11Minnesota Duluth: 8New Hampshire Hanover: 11New Mexico Los Alamos: 10New York Albany: 18 Buffalo: 11 Poughkeepsie: 8Oregon Eugene: 15Pennsylvania Bethlehem: 11Washington Seattle: 18Wisconsin Madison: 10

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