NATURE AND THE NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE
For papers that will be published online on 29 January 2006
This press release is copyrighted to the Nature journals mentioned below.
This press release contains:
* Summaries of newsworthy papers:
* Materials: How clean is too clean? - Nature
* Neutron star two-step - Nature Physics
* Stopping the spiral - Nature Chemical Biology
* Fighting Legionnaires' disease - Nature Immunology
* 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.
Warning: This document, and the Nature journal papers to which it refers,
may contain information that is price sensitive (as legally defined, for
example, in the UK Criminal Justice Act 1993 Part V) with respect to
publicly quoted companies. Anyone dealing in securities using information
contained in this document, or in advance copies of a Nature journal's
content, may be guilty of insider trading under the US Securities Exchange
Act of 1934.
PICTURES: To obtain artwork from any of the journals, you must first obtain
permission from the copyright holder (if named) or author of the research
paper in question (if not).
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] Materials: How clean is too clean?
DOI: 10.1038/nature04574
Silicon nanowires just billionths of a metre across hold great promise as
components of tiny electronic devices, but the usual method of growing them
is poorly understood. According to research on the process published online
this week by Nature, excessive cleanliness can actually stunt a nanowire's
growth.
These nanowires are made by the so-called vapour-liquid-solid method, in
which a tiny liquid droplet of a metal such as gold absorbs silicon atoms
from a gaseous precursor molecule. As the gold droplet becomes saturated
with silicon, it grows a solid, cylindrical silicon crystal whose diameter
is determined by the size of the droplet sitting on top.
But when J. B. Hannon and colleagues watched the process in extremely clean
conditions, they found that atoms of gold from the droplet can migrate over
the surface of the growing nanowire, resulting in misshapen structures. They
suggest that the presence of oxygen or perhaps contaminants found under
normal manufacturing conditions might actually be necessary for good
nanowire growth.
Author contact:
James Hannon (TJ Watson Research Center, NY, USA)
Tel: + 1 914 945 2274, E-mail: [email protected]
****************************NATURE PHYSICS****************************
(http://www.nature.com/naturephysics
<http://www.nature.com/naturematerials>)
[2] Neutron star two-step
DOI: 10.1038/nphys214
The collapse of binary systems of neutron stars could produce a significant
proportion of the short gamma-ray bursts that blast through our Galaxy,
according to a report in the February issue of Nature Physics.
The brightest of cosmic light shows, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), occur roughly
once each day, from any direction in space. Long GRBs (lasting more than 2
seconds) are associated with distant supernovae, in active star-forming
galaxies. But it is only in the last year that data from the Swift and HETE
space missions have revealed clues to the origins of the more energetic
short GRBs.
The short bursts come from local elliptical galaxies containing star systems
known as globular clusters. Jonathan Grindlay and co-authors look to these
dense crowds of ancient stars as natural environments for the dynamical
evolution of compact binary systems (in which two stars are bound in tight
orbit about each other). They calculate that up to 30% of short GRBs could
originate from the merger of double-neutron-star binaries, which coalesce
gravitationally on the timescale of a few hundred million years or more.
Author contact:
Jonathan Grindlay (Harvard College Observatory, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 495 7204, Email: [email protected]
Additional contact for comment on paper:
Steinn Sigurdsson (Penn State University, PA, USA)
Tel: +1 814 863 6038, E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Physics to be published online at the same time and
with the same embargo:
[3] Possible evidence for electromagnons in multiferroic manganites
DOI: 10.1038/nphys212
[4] How light emerges from an illuminated array of subwavelength holes
DOI: 10.1038/nphys213
[5] Conformal invariance in two-dimensional turbulence
DOI: 10.1038/nphys217
[6] Diffractive imaging of highly focused X-ray fields
DOI: 10.1038/nphys218
****************NATURE CHEMICAL BIOLOGY*************************
(http://www.nature.com/nchembio
<http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience>)
[7] Stopping the spiral
DOI: 10.1038/nchembio766
Glycine stops the end of a protein spiral, providing a 'helix cap', because
it can adopt a left-handed conformation, reveals a paper in the March issue
of Nature Chemical Biology. A major structural feature of proteins, spirals
called alpha-helices, often end in the smallest amino acid, glycine. It was
not known if glycine was preferred because it is the only amino acid that
can adopt a left-handed conformation or because it lets more water through
since it is the smallest amino acid.
Stephen Kent, George Makhatadze, and colleagues made proteins in
which the end of an alpha-helix contained either a natural amino acid or a
non-natural 'left-handed' amino acid. By comparing the stabilities of
proteins with a natural or the corresponding left-handed amino acid at the
end of a spiral, the authors found that adopting a left-handed conformation
was critical for stopping further spiraling of the alpha-helix.
This increased understanding of protein structure could have
important implications for designing new proteins with improved properties,
perhaps using left-handed amino acids.
Author contacts:
Stephen Kent (University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA)
Tel: +1 773 702 4912, E-mail: [email protected]
George Makhatadze (Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, PA, USA)
Tel: +1 717 531 0712, E-mail: [email protected]
********************NATURE IMMUNOLOGY****************************
(<http://www.nature.com/natureimmunology>)
[12] Fighting Legionnaires' disease
DOI: 10.1038/ni1305
New research indicating how the immune system fights bacteria causing the
severe pneumonia Legionnaires' disease is reported in the March issue of
Nature Immunology. After infecting cells, the bacteria (Legionella
pneumophila) that causes Legionnaires' disease, can hide from the body's
immune defenses by living and multiplying in sealed vacuoles inside cells.
The immune system detects bacteria that leave the vacuole and activates
'suicide machinery' to eliminate the infected cell. However, exactly how the
immune system detects these bacteria is not understood.
Craig Roy and colleagues now demonstrate that the protein Birc1e is
important for the detection of Legionella infection. They have pinpointed
regions of Birc1e that are needed to 'sound the alarm' and show Birc1e
activates components of the 'suicide machinery' after Legionella infection.
This information enhances our understanding of how the body fights
off infection by a potentially lethal microbe.
Author contact:
Craig R. Roy (Yale University School of Medicine, Connecticut, USA)
Tel: +1 203 737 2408, E-mail: [email protected]
Other papers from Nature Immunology to be published online at the same time
and with the same embargo:
[13] T cells use two directionally distinct pathways for cytokine secretion
DOI: 10.1038/ni1304
[14] Vascular characteristics can promote the organ specificity of
autoimmune attack
DOI: 10.1038/ni1306
[15] Langerhans cells arise from monocytes in vivo
DOI: 10.1038/ni1307
**************************************************************
Items from other Nature journals to be published online at the same time and
with the same embargo:
NATURE MATERIALS (<http://www.nature.com/naturematerials>)
[16] Hierarchically structured transparent hybrid membranes by in situ
growth of mesostructured organosilica in host polymer
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1570
[17] An X-ray computed tomography imaging agent based on long-circulating
bismuth sulphide nanoparticles
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1571
[18] Tuning the erosion rate of artificial protein hydrogels through control
of network topology
DOI: 10.1038/nmat1573
Nature MEDICINE (<http://www.nature.com/naturemedicine>)
[19] Systemic delivery of morpholino oligonucleotide restores dystrophin
expression bodywide and improves dystrophic pathology
DOI: 10.1038/nm1345
[20] Autoimmunity and tumor immunity induced by immune responses to
mutations in self
DOI: 10.1038/nm1363
[21] Interferon-producing killer dendritic cells provide a link between
innate and adaptive immunity
DOI: 10.1038/nm1352
[22] A novel dendritic cell subset involved in tumor immunosurveillance
DOI: 10.1038/nm1356
Nature BIOTECHNOLOGY (<http://www.nature.com/naturebiotechnolgy>)
[23] Neurotrophins mediate human embryonic stem cell survival
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1189
[24] Identification and immunotherapeutic targeting of antigens induced by
chemotherapy
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1185
Nature NEUROSCIENCE (<http://www.nature.com/natureneuroscience>)
[25] Variable channel expression in identified single and electrically
coupled neurons in different animals
DOI: 10.1038/nn1639
*********************************************************************
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.
AUSTRALIA
Nedlands: 19
Victoria: 6
CHINA
Changsha: 8
Shanghai: 10
FRANCE
Antipolis: 5
Cedex: 16
Dijon: 22, 10
Marseille: 22
Monts: 16
Orleans: 22
Paris: 10, 22
Strasbourg: 4
Villejuif: 22
GERMANY
Augsburg: 3
IRELAND
Dublin: 9
ISRAEL
Rehovot: 5
ITALY
Torino: 5
JAPAN
Aoba-ku: 11
Ikoma: 11
Ishikari-Tobetsu: 8
Kagoshima: 8
Kawaguchi: 8
Mishima: 8
Morioka: 11
Nagasaki: 8
Nagoya: 8
Odawara: 8
Okinawa: 8
Tokyo: 8, 22
Yokohoma: 8
KOREA
Taegu: 8
RUSSIA
Moscow: 3
SPAIN
Madrid: 2
Zaragoza: 4
SWEDEN
Stockholm: 8
THE NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam: 2
UNITED KINGDOM
Dundee: 9
Glasgow: 9
Hatfield: 19
London: 19
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
California
Concord: 21
Irvine: 8, 23
La Jolla: 11
Pasadena: 18
San Francisco: 12, 21, 24
Stanford: 13
Connecticut
New Haven: 12
Florida
Orlando: 17
Illinois
Argonne: 6
Chicago: 7
Iowa
Iowa City: 8
Louisiana
New Orleans: 10
Maryland
Bethesda: 9
Baltimore: 21, 23
Gaithersburg: 9
Massachusetts
Boston: 12, 14
Cambridge: 2, 12, 14
Charlestown: 14, 17
Waltham: 25
Missouri
Columbia: 25
New York
Bronx: 15
Yorktown Heights: 1
New York: 15, 20
North Carolina
Charlotte: 19
Ohio
Columbus:
Pennsylvania
Hershey: 7
Philadelphia: 2
Rhode Island
Providence: 9
Washington
Seattle: 9
PRESS CONTACTS...
For media inquiries relating to embargo policy for all the Nature Research
Journals:
Victoria Picknell (Nature London)
Tel: +44 20 7843 4502; 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)
Kathy Aschheim
Tel: +1 212 726 9346; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Cell Biology (London)
Bernd Pulverer
Tel: +44 20 7843 4892; E-mail: [email protected]
Nature Chemical Biology (Boston)
Beatrice Chrystall
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 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]
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology (New York)
Ed Feng
Tel: +1 212 726 9351; E-mail: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd,
dedicated to serving the academic and professional scientific community.
NPG's flagship title, Nature, is the world's most highly-cited weekly
multidisciplinary journal and was first published in 1869. Other
publications include Nature research journals, Nature Reviews, Nature
Clinical Practice, and a range of prestigious academic journals, including
society-owned publications.
NPG is a global company, with headquarters in London and offices in New
York, San Francisco, Washington DC, Boston, Tokyo, Paris, Munich and
Basingstoke. For more information, please go to www.nature.com
