NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 03 June 2007
This press release is copyrighted to the Nature journals mentioned below.
This press release contains:
· Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Neuroscience: Probabilistic reasoning in monkeys – Nature
Quantum communication over 144 km – Nature Physics
In praise of forgetting – Nature Neuroscience
· Mention of papers to be published at the same time with the same embargo
· Geographical listing of authors
PDFs of all the papers mentioned on this release can be found in the relevant journal’s section of http://press.nature.com. Press contacts for the Nature journals are listed at the end of this release.
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NOTE: Once a paper is published, the digital object identifier (DOI) number can be used to retrieve the abstract and full text from the journal web site (abstracts are available to everyone, full text is available only to subscribers). To do this, add the DOI to the following URL: http://dx.doi.org/ (For example, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng730). For more information about DOIs and Advance Online Publication, see http://www.nature.com/ng/aop/.
PLEASE CITE THE SPECIFIC NATURE JOURNAL AND WEBSITE AS THE SOURCE OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS. IF PUBLISHING ONLINE, PLEASE CARRY A HYPERLINK TO THE APPROPRIATE JOURNAL’S WEBSITE.
***********************************NATURE************************************************
(http://www.nature.com/nature)
[1] Neuroscience: Probabilistic reasoning in monkeys
DOI: 10.1038/nature05852
Monkeys can make decisions based on whether they are likely to be rewarded, according to a paper online this week in Nature. The study demonstrates that neurons in the parietal lobe of their brains track the processes underlying these decisions.
Tianming Yang and Michael Shadlen trained two rhesus monkeys to choose between a pair of coloured targets, after viewing four shapes that were shown sequentially and governed the probability that one of the targets would result in reward. The monkeys learned to use probabilistic information from different shape combinations to reason which would signal a reward. By recording from an area of the parietal cortex in the monkeys’ brains, the authors were able to show that neurons in this region reveal the addition and subtraction of probabilistic quantities underlying these decisions.
The authors suggest they have demonstrated a crude capacity for probabilistic inference in monkeys — a capacity that might underlie cognitive reasoning in humans. Humans frequently make judgements in a variety of settings in which information can affect — but does not guarantee — an outcome; our brains allow us to reason about alternatives and make choices that are likely to pay off.
Author contact:
Tianming Yang (University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA)
Tel: +1 206 685 8477; E-mail: [email protected]
Michael Shadlen (University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA)
Tel: +1 206 616 4630; E-mail: [email protected]
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(http://www.nature.com/naturephysics)
[2] Quantum communication over 144 km
DOI: 10.1038/nphys629
Online this week in Nature Physics, Rupert Ursin and colleagues report quantum communication between the Canary Islands of La Palma and Tenerife, extending the record distance through free space from 23 kilometres to 144 kilometres. This could be an important step towards future satellite-based quantum-communication networks.
Quantum communication exploits the quantum properties of particles such as photons or atoms, and can, in theory, be used to transmit secret messages between two parties with absolute security. In this experiment, in which a telescope at the optical ground station of the European Space Agency on Tenerife was used as one of the two bases, the signal was transmitted directly between the two islands. However, the authors also explore the possibility of operating future large-scale quantum-communication networks involving satellites, which holds the promise of achieving larger distances than networks based on optical fibres.
Author contact:
Rupert Ursin (University of Vienna, Austria)
Tel: +43 650 9414 567; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Physics to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[3] Imaging magnetic focusing of coherent electron waves
DOI: 10.1038/nphys628
[4] Controlled dephasing of electrons by non-gaussian shot noise
DOI: 10.1038/nphys627
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(http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience)
[5] In praise of forgetting
DOI: 10.1038/nn1918
The ability to forget irrelevant information reduces demands on mechanisms that detect and resolve conflict between competing memories, finds a study in the July issue of Nature Neuroscience. Thus, some kinds of forgetting allow later memory retrieval to use less of the brain’s resources, making it easier to retrieve the correct memory.
Retrieving a particular memory often requires the inhibition of other memories that are not relevant to the task. Previous work has found that a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex is important for such inhibition. However, this process comes with a cost: the suppressed competing memories are often forgotten, with people unable to recall them when they later become relevant. Brice Kuhl and colleagues now find that the prefrontal cortex is less activated when subjects have forgotten other memories that are competitive with the memory they are trying to recall, suggesting that less cognitive control is required during memory retrieval.
The authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to look at brain activity as subjects tried to remember previously learned word associations. Some words had multiple associated words, and subjects were cued to recall only a specific one. Prefrontal cortex activation was reduced in proportion to how much the competing word associations had been forgotten. Forgetting something can be a frustrating experience, but this work suggests that forgetting can also have benefits for the efficiency of neural processing.
Author contact:
Brice Kuhl (Stanford University, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 650 796 6405; E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Neuroscience to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
[6] A central role for Necl4 (SynCAM4) in Schwann cell–axon interaction and myelination
DOI: 10.1038/nn1915
[7] Suppression of conditioning to ambiguous cues by pharmacogenetic inhibition of the dentate gyrus
DOI: 10.1038/nn1919
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Items from other Nature journals to be published online at the same time and with the same embargo:
NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nchembio)
[8] Extension of Drosophila melanogaster life span with a GPCR peptide inhibitor
DOI: 10.1038/NChemBio.2007.2
NATURE MATERIALS (http://www.nature.com/naturematerials)
[9] The self-organizing properties of squid reflectin protein
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1930
[10] Magnetic effects at the interface between non-magnetic oxides
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1931
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/nnano)
[11] Fabrication of fully transparent nanowire transistors for transparent and flexible electronics
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2007.151
[12] Biomimetics of photonic nanostructures
DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2007.152
Nature MEDICINE (http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine)
[13] Mast cells promote atherosclerosis by releasing proinflammatory cytokines
DOI: 10.1038/nm1601
Nature BIOTECHNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnology)
[14] RNase H–mediated retrovirus destruction in vivo triggered by oligodeoxynucleotides
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1311
NATURE GENETICS (http://www.nature.com/naturegenetics)
[15] Deficiency of PORCN, a regulator of Wnt signaling, is associated with focal dermal hypoplasia
DOI: 10.1038/ng2052
[16] Mutations in X-linked PORCN, a putative regulator of Wnt signaling, cause focal dermal hypoplasia
DOI: 10.1038/ng2057
[17] Mutations in LCA5, encoding the ciliary protein lebercilin, cause Leber congenital amaurosis
DOI: 10.1038/ng2066
Nature IMMUNOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/natureimmunology)
[18] Dynamic changes in histone-methylation ‘marks’ across the locus encoding interferon-gamma during the differentiation of T helper type 2 cells
DOI: 10.1038/ni1473
[19] Comprehensive epigenetic profiling identifies multiple distal regulatory elements directing transcription of the gene encoding interferon-gamma
DOI: 10.1038/ni1474
[20] Allelic ‘choice’ governs somatic hypermutation in vivo at the immunoglobulin kappa-chain locus
DOI: 10.1038/ni1476
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY (http://www.nature.com/naturecellbiology)
[21] Molecular basis for the functional interaction of dynein light chain with the nuclear-pore complex
DOI: 10.1038/ncb1604
NATURE METHODS (http://www.nature.com/naturemethods)
[22] Nucleic acid and protein mass mapping and live-cell deep-ultraviolet microscopy
DOI: 10.1038/nmeth1053
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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.
ARGENTINA
San Miguel de Tucuman: 15
AUSTRALIA
Sydney: 12
AUSTRIA
Vienna: 2
CANADA:
Montreal: 17
CHINA
Guangzhou: 13
FRANCE
Dijon: 17
GERMANY
Bonn: 15
Cologne: 20
Garching: 2
Heidelberg: 21
Lubeck: 14
Marburg: 15
Munich: 2, 4, 14, 17
Munster: 15
Tubingen: 15
HUNGARY
Budapast: 15
ISRAEL
Jerusalem: 20
Rehovot: 4, 6, 20
ITALY
Milan: 15
Monterotondo: 7
Padua: 2
Rome: 15
MEXICO
Merida: 16
NETHERLANDS
Enschede: 10
Nijmegen: 10, 17
Noordwijk: 2
Utrecht: 17
PAKISTAN
Lahore: 17
SWITZERLAND
Basel: 21
Zurich: 14
UNITED KINGDOM
Bristol: 2
Leeds: 17
London: 12, 17
Oxford: 12
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
California
Berkeley: 10
Irvine: 8
Los Angeles: 8, 11
Pasedena: 8
San Francisco: 13
Santa Barbara: 3
Stanford: 5
Colorado
Denver: 20
Fort Collins: 19
Connecticut
Farmington: 6
Illinois
Evanston: 11
Indiana
West Lafayette: 11
Maryland
Baltimore: 17
Massachusetts
Boston: 13, 20
Cambridge: 3, 20, 22
South Hadley: 3
New York
New York: 20
Ohio
Dayton: 9
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia: 6, 7
Tennessee
Nashville: 18
Texas
Houston: 16
Washington
Seattle: 1, 19
PRESS CONTACTS…
For media inquiries relating to embargo policy for all the Nature Research Journals:
Katherine Anderson (Nature, London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4502; E-mail: [email protected]
Ruth Francis (Senior Press Officer, Nature, London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4562; E-mail: [email protected]
For media inquiries relating to editorial content/policy for the Nature Research Journals, please contact the journals individually:
Nature Biotechnology (New York)
Peter Hare
Tel: +1 212 726 9284; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Cell Biology (London)
Bernd Pulverer
Tel: +44 20 7843 4892; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Chemical Biology (Boston)
Andrea Garvey
Tel: +1 617 475 9241, E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Genetics (New York)
Orli Bahcall
Tel: +1 212 726 9311; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Immunology (New York)
Laurie Dempsey
Tel: +1 212 726 9372; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Materials (London)
Maria Bellantone
Tel: +44 20 7843 4556; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Medicine (New York)
Juan Carlos Lopez
Tel: +1 212 726 9325; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Methods (New York)
Allison Doerr
Tel: +1 212 726 9393; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Nanotechnology (London)
Peter Rodgers
Tel: +44 20 7014 4019; Email: [email protected]
Nature Neuroscience (New York)
Sandra Aamodt (based in California)
Tel: +1 530 795 3256; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Physics (London)
Alison Wright
Tel: +44 20 7843 4555; E-mail: [email protected]
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