WEB FOCUSES
- Latest biological sciences
- Latest earth and environment
- Latest physical sciences
- Latest science and politics
- Latest science, art and culture
Latest biological sciences
Voltage sensing by membrane proteins
The electrical potential across cellular membranes is sensed by specialized proteins — typically, voltage-gated ion channels. Until recently, the mechanism by which 'voltage sensors' respond to potential changes was unclear. But since the first, and very surprising, structure of a voltage-sensing domain 5 years ago, much progress has been made. This focus celebrates the twists and turns of that progress in an archive of Nature papers from the past 5 years.
Personal genomes
As the number of human beings with their genomes fully sequenced ticks higher and direct-to-consumer gene profiling companies push the limits of what medical genetics can do, the once fantastical notion that any given human can walk into a doctor's office with her genome on a hard drive looks more and more like a reality. Still the question remains to be answered: how do we use this wealth information? In this Nature web focus we proudly present the challenges this approaching reality poses for technology, the legal and ethical confines of research, and the ability of genomics to translate into clinical utility. Here you'll also find the latest additions to the human genome menagerie, males from Africa and Asia.
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Latest earth and environment
EPICA Dome C: Greenhouse gases over eight glacial cycles -
Ice cores are invaluable archives of past environmental conditions on Earth. In 1996, the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) set out to provide the longest ice-core climate record yet, by drilling a core from 3,270 m thick ice at a site known as Dome C in East Antarctica. The team's findings to date, including a complete Antarctic climate record over the past 800,000 years and atmospheric methane and carbon dioxide records from 650,000 years ago to the present, have significantly advanced our understanding of the Earth's climate over the past eight glacial cycles. Here Nature presents the latest results, the complete records of atmospheric methane and carbon dioxide over the past 800,000 years, along with some of the previous Dome C ice-core papers and a collection of related articles.
Energy for a cool planet
The world, especially the developing world, needs new sources of energy. What it doesn′t need is any more carbon dioxide, the principal cause of man-made climate change. Reconciling those two requirements is the great technological challenge of our time. In this web focus, Nature has collected a suite of feature articles and associated material focused on new ‘clean energy’ technologies that seek to address this challenge. From mainstream possibilities like the expansion of nuclear power, to more offbeat subjects such as microbial fuel cells, this Nature web focus provides a compelling overview of the energy landscape.
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Latest physical sciences
Venus Express -
Venus Express is the first mission to Venus in 15 years. It was built by the European Space Agency, launched from Baikonur on a Soyuz-Fregat launcher on 9 November 2005. It arrived at Venus on 11 April 2006 and is in a polar orbit, with a period of ~24 hours. Since arrival its suite of instruments have been collecting data on the atmosphere and magnetosphere. Eight Letters describe the results obtained so far, while a Progress paper by Svedhem et al. gives an overview of the mission.
Future of Computing -
In the last two decades advances in computing technology, from processing speed to network capacity and the internet, have revolutionized the way scientists work and many recent scientific advances would not have been possible without a parallel increase in computing power – but with revolutionary technologies such as the quantum computer edging towards reality, how long will the current synergy between computing and science last?
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Latest science and politics
Meetings That Changed The World
This series covers six scientific meetings that had such a great impact, they can be said to have changed the world. Each piece is written by an expert who attended the conference in question. The authors recall what it was like to live through these momentous occasions, and reflect upon the events' broad and lasting legacies.
Innovation
What's both radical and incremental? Aimless and goal-oriented? Process and product? Innovation — now the subject of a monthly series of Nature Commentaries. Expert authors from business, economics, law, policy and research look to define innovation and explore how it arises and how it can be managed, encouraged and facilitated. The commentaries reveal that the idea of a single innovator or inventor is fading, and probe how innovation is increasingly the product of an entire ecology which includes both basic and applied research but also the venture capital system and external motivating forces coming together in the right mix.
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Latest science, art and culture
Being human
Why do we behave in the way that we do? This series of Essays reveals how the latest research is altering our understanding of what it is to be human. Whether in relation to religion or to our collective behaviour in cities, experts explore the potential impact on society, now and in the future, of discoveries in psychology, anthropology, genetics, neuroscience, game theory and network engineering.
Hidden treasures series
Every month throughout 2008 Alison Abbott looks into the holdings and history of one of Europe's unique small collections or scientific monuments off the well-beaten museum track. The series will, we hope, inspire a greater interest in where scientists have come from, and encourage those on the conference circuit with a few hours to spare to visit these 'hidden treasures'. Delight is guaranteed.