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This press release is copyright Nature.
VOL.439 NO.7073 DATED 12 JANUARY 2006
This press release contains:
* Summaries of newsworthy papers:
* Biodiversity: Frogs croak due to climate change
* Quantum electronics: Two photons and chips
* Plant biology: Plants exhale methane and affect global warming
* Reproductive success: The ins and outs of breeding
* Planetary science: Hit-and-run planets
* Development: Neural tube defects untangled
* And finally... Ants teach each other a lesson
* Mention of papers to be published at the same time with the same embargo
* Geographical listing of authors
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[1] Biodiversity: Frogs croak due to climate change (pp161-167; N&V)
Global warming is promoting the growth of infectious diseases and thus
causing widespread extinctions of amphibian species, according to a study
published in Nature this week. The new research shows a strong correlation
between the disappearance of the Monteverde harlequin frog (Atelopus sp.) in
Costa Rica and changes in sea surface and air temperatures.
J. Alan Pounds and colleagues set out to determine the relationship between
epidemic disease and global warming. They demonstrate direct links between
outbreaks of a pathogenic chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis,
triggered by warming conditions, with the extinction of the frog. It is
estimated that 67% of the approximately 110 species of Atelopus have
suffered the same fate.
The authors propose that global warming accelerates cloud formation in the
American tropics, decreasing daytime temperatures but increasing nocturnal
temperatures. These are optimal growth conditions for the fungus, which
becomes more pathogenic in cooler temperatures and more lethal in moist
conditions. This study demonstrates that global warming is already causing
the extinction of species, and that climate-driven epidemics are an
immediate threat to biodiversity.
CONTACT
J. Alan Pounds (Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, Santa Elena, Costa Rica)
Tel: +506 645 5019; E-mail: [email protected]
Andrew R Blaustein (Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA)
Tel: +1 541 737 5356; E-mail: [email protected]
[2] Quantum electronics: Two photons and chips (pp179-182)
Scientists believe they are on to a way of producing entangled twins of
photons using a simple semiconductor electronic device. Such a chip-based
source of entangled photons - light particles - would be a tremendous boon
to quantum information technology.
Pairs of photons with properties that are mutually interdependent, owing to
a quantum-mechanical effect called entanglement, are the basic currency of
quantum-based information processing. Entangled pairs can be used, for
example, to implement quantum cryptography, an ultra-secure way of
transmitting information, and quantum computing, which in principle offers
much more computer power than today's conventional devices. But making
entangled photons on demand is not easy.
Andrew Shields and colleagues report in this week's Nature what appear to be
entangled photons being emitted from tiny blobs, called quantum dots, of the
semiconductor indium arsenide, a material commonly used in solid-state
light-emitting devices. The quantum dots emit pairs of photons when their
electrons are boosted to a higher energy by laser light and then release
this extra energy as light. By using a magnetic field to tweak the
conditions under which the photons are emitted, the researchers were able to
generate pairs that appear to be entangled in their polarization states -
that is, the plane of polarization of one of the pair depends on that of the
other, so that a measurement made on one of them determines the polarization
of the other. If this process can be more precisely controlled, a simple
semiconductor light-emitting diode might be used as a compact, robust and
reliable source of entangled pairs.
CONTACT
Andrew Shields (Toshiba Research Europe Limited, Cambridge, UK)
Tel: +44 7787 523183 E-mail: [email protected]
[3] Plant biology: Plants exhale methane and affect global warming
(pp187-191; N&V)
Plants account for a substantial amount of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere. According to research published in this week's Nature they may
release enough methane to account for 10-30% of the annual flow of this
greenhouse gas.
The finding is surprising because scientists had previously thought that
plants could generate methane only in the absence of oxygen. But Frank
Keppler and colleagues found that a wide range of plants released the gas
under normal, oxic conditions. Methane also seeps from dead plant material,
they add.
"The identification of a new source should prompt a re-examination of the
global methane budget," comments David Lowe in a related News and Views
article.
The findings may help to explain the large plumes of methane observed above
tropical forests. They also suggest that the rapid deforestation of the
Earth may be linked to a slow-down of methane accumulation in the
atmosphere. "We now have the spectre that new forests might increase
greenhouse warming through methane emissions rather than decrease it by
being sinks for CO2," comments Lowe.
CONTACT
Frank Keppler (Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics, Heidelberg,Germany)
Tel: +49 6221 516575; E-mail: [email protected]
David C. Lowe (National Inst of Water and Atmospheric Research, Wellington,
New Zealand)
Tel: +64 4386 0399; E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
[5] Reproductive success: The ins and outs of breeding (pp201-203)
Promiscuous females not only increase their reproductive success but also
raise their chance of carrying a brood to full-term, according to research
in this week's Nature. Jeanne A. Zeh and David W. Zeh report that multiple
paternity can be beneficial for live-bearing females who cannot avoid mating
with close relatives.
In live-bearing species, inbreeding not only increases the risk of
recessive diseases but also results in high rates of spontaneous abortion.
The authors show that mating with multiple males reduces these effects, but
not by biasing paternity in favour of non-relative males. Instead, when
females are mated to both a brother and a non-relative, the presence of
outbred embryos seems to 'rescue' inbred half-siblings and carries the
entire brood successfully to term.
CONTACT
Jeanne A. Zeh (University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA)
Tel: +1 775 784 1648; E-mail: [email protected]
[6] Planetary science: Hit-and-run planets (pp155-160)
The inner planets of the Solar System, including Earth, are thought to have
formed from mergers between smaller planetesimals. But computer simulations
presented in this week's Nature suggest that collisions between these
Moon-to-Mars-sized planetary embryos did not always result in mergers.
Erik Asphaug and colleagues found that in many cases the smaller
planetesimals in the collision can escape. However, it may be highly
deformed, spinning rapidly, stripped of its outer layers or even broken into
a chain of smaller fragments. The remnants of these collisions may make up
the asteroids and meteorites that populate the inner Solar System today, the
authors suggest.
CONTACT
Erik Asphaug (University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 831 459 2260; E-mail: [email protected]
[7] Development: Neural tube defects untangled (pp220-224)
In this week's Nature, researchers reveal how a major cellular signalling
pathway controls the formation of an embryo's neural tube - its future
spinal cord and brain. The finding may shed light on the underlying cause of
common neural tube closure defects, such as spina bifida, which afflict 1 in
1,000 newborn children.
Using developing zebrafish embryos, Brian Ciruna and his colleagues examined
neurulation - the process by which a flat sheet of neural progenitor cells
rolls up and fuses to form the neural tube. They showed that the planar cell
polarity (PCP) signalling pathway is vital for neurulation because it
distinguishes the top and bottom of neural progenitor cells. In embryos
genetically engineered to lack a PCP pathway protein called Van Gogh-like 2,
cells lose polarization and behave abnormally.
The team went on to show that the PCP signalling pathway couples the process
of cell division with that of tissue movement during neurulation. The
results suggest that the uncoupling of these two processes might underlie
many common neural tube closure defects in humans.
CONTACT
Brian Ciruna (NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA)
Tel: +1 212 263 0132; E-mail: [email protected]
[8] And finally... Ants teach each other a lesson (p153)
Possibly the first case of a two-way teacher-pupil relationship in a
non-human animal is reported in a Brief Communication in this week's Nature.
Tandem running is a behaviour seen in some ant species, where one ant leads
another from the nest to a food source by using signals that control the
speed and route of the journey. Nigel Franks and Tom Richardson analyse
these signals in Temnothorax albipennis ants and find that tandem running is
an example of teaching via bidirectional feedback between teacher and pupil,
showing that this social skill has evolved successfully without recourse to
a big brain.
The leader ant only continues the tandem run when frequently tapped
on its legs and abdomen by the following ant's antennae, changing its normal
behaviour for the benefit of its pupil. When the gap between the pair
becomes too large, each adjusts its speed to close the gap as a result of
bidirectional communication. The follower ants find food quicker when tandem
running than when going it alone, suggesting that the follower learns more
quickly as a result of the leader's help, say the authors. But this
assistance comes at a cost - the leader ant would normally have reached the
food around four times faster if not hampered by a follower.
CONTACT
Nigel R. Franks (University of Bristol, Bristol, UK)
Tel: +44 117 928 8443; E-mail: [email protected]
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE...
[9] A magnetic reconnection X-line extending more than 390 Earth radii
in the solar wind (pp175-178; N&V)
[10] Ultrafast superheating and melting of bulk ice (pp183-186)
[11] Stability of hydrous melt at the base of the Earth's upper mantle
(pp192-194)
[12] A single amino acid governs enhanced activity of DinB DNA
polymerases on damaged templates (pp225-228)
[13] Palindromic assembly of the giant muscle protein titin in the
sarcomeric Z-disk (pp229-233)
[14] Structure of the Sec13/31 COPII coat cage (pp234-238)
ADVANCE ONLINE PUBLICATION
***This paper will be published electronically on Nature's website on 11
January at 1800 London time / 1300 US Eastern time (which is also when the
embargo lifts) as part of our AOP (ahead of print) programme. Although we
have included it on this release to avoid multiple mailings it will not
appear in print on 12 January, but at a later date.***
[15] Bacterial RNA and small antiviral compounds activate caspase-1
through cryopyrin/Nalp3
(DOI: 10.1038/nature04517)
[16] Cryopyrin activates the inflammasome in response to toxins and ATP
(DOI: 10.1038/nature04515)
[17] Gout-associated uric acid crystals activate the NALP3 inflammasome
(DOI: 10.1038/nature04516)
GEOGRAPHICAL LISTING OF AUTHORS...
The following list of places refers to the whereabouts of authors on the
papers numbered in this release. For example, London: 4 - this means that
on paper number four, there will be at least one author affiliated to an
institute or company in London. 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.
BELGIUM
Gent: 15
CANADA
Alberta: 1
CHINA
Nanjing: 4
COSTA RICA
Monteverde: 1
San Pedro: 1
Santa Elena: 1
ECUADOR
Quito: 1
FRANCE
Toulouse: 9
GERMANY
Garching: 10
Hamburg: 13
Heidelberg: 3
GREECE
Athens: 13
JAPAN
Osaka: 15
Sendai: 11
Tokyo: 1
THE NETHERLANDS
Utrecht: 3
SWITZERLAND
Epalinges: 17
Basel: 13
UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast: 3
Bristol: 1, 8
Cambridge: 2
London: 9, 13
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
California
Berkeley: 9
La Jolla: 14
San Francisco: 16
Santa Barbara: 1
Stanford: 16
Colorado
Boulder: 9
Maryland
Gaithersberg: 15
Greenbelt: 9
Massachusetts
Cambridge: 12, 15
Michigan
Ann Arbor: 15
Missouri
St Louis: 15
Nevada
Reno: 5
New Hampshire
Durham: 9
New Mexico
Los Alamos: 9
New York
New York: 1, 7, 16
Pennsylvania
Pittsburg: 4
Texas
Austin: 1
San Antonio: 9
VENEZUELA
Merida: 1
PRESS CONTACTS...
For North America and Canada
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Tel: +1 202 737 2355; E-mail: [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
For Japan, Korea, China, Singapore and Taiwan
Rinoko Asami, Nature Tokyo
Tel: +81 3 3267 8751; E-mail: [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
For the UK/Europe/other countries not listed above
Ruth Francis, Nature London
Tel: +44 20 7843 4562; E-mail [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
Zoe Corbyn, Nature London
Tel: +44 20 7843 4658; E-mail: [email protected]
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