Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
The computer industry is about to formally announce that the era of Moores law � the expectation that the number of transistors on a microprocessor chip and hence its performance will double every two years � is at an end. Industry insiders agree though that this does not mean the end of progress. Improvements could come through better materials or even new types of computing. Plus the new era of mobile devices has changed the game in terms of the microprocessor chips of the future. Mitch Waldrop takes a look at some of the exciting new ideas that could help keep the information technology revolution on track.
A swift and effective response to emerging infectious diseases demands that researchers have ready access to the latest data on the pathogens responsible. There is still a long way to go to ensure this.
The viability and environmental risks of removing carbon dioxide from the air must be assessed if we are to achieve the Paris goals, writes Phil Williamson.
The identification of a set of genetic variations that are strongly associated with the risk of developing schizophrenia provides insights into the neurobiology of this destructive disease. See Article p.177
Newly mapped features on the floor of the Arctic Ocean suggest that the Arctic basin was once covered by a one-kilometre-thick, flowing ice shelf derived from large ice sheets in eastern Siberia, Arctic Canada and the Barents Sea.
The selective elimination of cells that have adopted an irreversible, senescent state has now been shown to extend the lifespan of mice and to ameliorate some age-related disease processes. See Article p.184
Injecting electrons that have been accelerated by a laser-powered plasma wave into a second plasma wave represents a two-step electron accelerator. With 100 such steps, collider applications become possible. See Letter p.190
The part that the mouse gene Prdm9 plays in generating double-strand breaks in DNA has now been linked to its putative role in speciation, thanks to experiments that use a 'humanized' version of the gene. See Article p.171
A method has been devised that extends the resolution of X-ray crystal structures beyond the diffraction limit. This might help to improve the visualization of structures of proteins that form 'poorly diffracting' crystals. See Letter p.202
Planets develop from the disk of dust and gas that surrounds a newly formed star. Observations of gaps in the disks of four such systems have allowed us to start unravelling the processes by which planets form.
PRDM9 is a DNA-binding protein that controls the position of double-strand breaks in meiosis, and the gene that encodes it is responsible for hybrid infertility between closely related mouse species; this hybrid infertility is eliminated by introducing the zinc-finger domain sequence from the human version of the PRDM9 gene, a change which alters both the position of double-strand breaks and the symmetry of PRDM9 binding and suggests that PRDM9 may have a more general but transient role in the early stages of speciation.
WebSchizophrenia is associated with genetic variation at the major histocompatibility complex locus; this study reveals that alleles at this locus associate with schizophrenia in proportion to their tendency to generate greater expression of complement component 4 (C4A) genes and that C4 promotes the elimination of synpases.
When senescent cells accumulate during adulthood they negatively influence lifespan and promote age-dependent changes in several organs; clearance of these cells delayed tumorigenesis in mice and attenuated age-related deterioration of several organs without overt side effects, suggesting that the therapeutic removal of senescent cells may be able to extend healthy lifespan.
Laser-plasma particle accelerators offer much higher acceleration than conventional methods, which could enable high-energy applications; here two separate accelerator stages, driven by two independent lasers, are coupled using plasma-based optics.
WebSpontaneous translational symmetry breaking is experimentally observed in a dipolar Bose–Einstein condensate of dysprosium atoms, whereby an instability causes a spontaneous transition from an unstructured superfluid to an ordered arrangement of droplet crystals, which is surprisingly long-lived.
In material systems with several interacting degrees of freedom, the complex interplay between these factors can give rise to exotic phases; now superlattices consisting of alternating layers of PbTiO3 and SrTiO3 are found to exhibit an unusual form of ferroelectric ordering in the PbTiO3 layers, in which the electric dipoles arrange themselves into regular, ordered arrays of vortex–antivortex structures.
Crystal lattice disorder, which gives rise to a continuous diffraction pattern, is exploited to determine the structure of the integral membrane protein complex photosystem II to a higher resolution than could be achieved using Bragg diffraction alone.
A reconstruction of changes in ocean oxygenation throughout the last glacial cycle shows that respired carbon was removed from the deep Southern Ocean during deglaciation and Antarctic warm events, consistent with a prominent role of reduced iron fertilization and enhanced ocean ventilation, modifying atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations over the past 80,000 years.
An analysis of above-ground biomass recovery during secondary succession in forest sites and plots, covering the major environmental gradients in the Neotropics.
A substantial revision to the age of the Chorora Formation, Ethiopia, constraining the deposits to around 8 million years old and forming a revised age constraint for the human–gorilla lineage split.
Until recently, complex multi-parameters were required for the isolation and identification of haematopoietic stem cells, complicating study of their biology in situ; here the authors have found that expression of a single gene, Hoxb5, defines haematopoietic stem cells with long-term reconstitution capacity, and that these cells are mainly found in direct contact with endothelial cells.
A nanopore DNA sequencer is used for real-time genomic surveillance of the Ebola virus epidemic in the field in Guinea; the authors demonstrate that it is possible to pack a genomic surveillance laboratory in a suitcase and transport it to the field for on-site virus sequencing, generating results within 24 hours of sample collection.
Structural and functional characterizations show that the specificity of the Plasmodium falciparum proteasome is sufficiently unique from that of the human proteasome to allow selective targeting with inhibitors.
Although several X-ray crystal structures of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) have been reported, relatively little is known about the conformational dynamics of these important membrane proteins; here, the authors used NMR spectroscopy to monitor the conformational changes that occur in the turkey β1-adrenergic receptor in the presence of antagonists, partial agonists, and full agonists.