This press release contains:
Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Astrophysics: Shedding light on neutron star mergers
Neuroscience: Quick-thinking neurons control limb movement
Comment: Fund people not projects
Climate science: El Niño drives atmospheric CO2 variation
Comment: Legislating for the good life
Neuroscience: The changing landscape of human brain development
And finally... Food helps flies get fruity
Mention of papers to be published at the same time
Geographical listing of authors
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[1] Astrophysics: Shedding light on neutron star mergers (AOP)
DOI: 10.1038/nature10365
*** This paper will be published electronically on Nature's website on 28 September 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 29 September, but at a later date. ***
The remnants of mergers between binary neutron stars can be detected from their radio emission according to a paper in this week’s Nature. Interpretation of such emissions could provide information about the nature and environment of their source.
Mergers of neutron star–neutron star binaries release sub-relativistic and mildly relativistic outflows, which can generate radio emission and be used to confirm the presence of gravitational waves. Ehud Nakar and Tsvi Piran find that the interaction of mildly relativistic outflows with the surrounding medium produces radio flares that persist at detectable levels for weeks. They use information gathered from these findings to assess a transient radio signal known as RT 1987042211. This radio transient burst has the properties predicted by their model, suggesting that the most probable origin is a compact binary merger.
Detection of such electromagnetic signals should complement ongoing efforts to detect gravitational waves from binary neutron star collapses by providing an independent confirmation of the discovery.
CONTACT
Tsvi Piran (The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel)
Tel: +972 2 658 4233; E-mail: [email protected]
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[2] Neuroscience: Quick-thinking neurons control limb movement (AOP)
DOI: 10.1038/nature10436
*** This paper will be published electronically on Nature's website on 28 September 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 29 September, but at a later date. ***
The source of neural commands that respond to and control limb movements is identified in research in monkeys and humans, published in Nature this week. These commands can prevent joint displacements.
In animals with multi-joint limbs, a difficult problem that the nervous system has to solve is how to interpret and respond correctly to sensory input induced by complex combinations of limb movements. Stephen Scott and colleagues demonstrate that the nervous system reacts to elbow and shoulder movements by generating reflexive motor commands that appropriately counter the underlying force. The authors find that these commands, which produce responses within around 50 milliseconds, are represented in neurons in the primary motor cortex (M1) of monkeys. Moreover, they use transcranial magnetic stimulation to establish a causal role for M1 in fast multi-joint integration during reflex generation in humans.
CONTACT
Stephen Scott (Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada)
Tel: +1 613 533 2855; E-mail: [email protected]
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Comment: Fund people not projects (pp 529-531)
Scientists are spending too much time writing grants, says John Ioannidis in a Comment piece in this week’s Nature.
The research funding system is broken and “it is a scandal that billions of dollars is spent on research without knowing the best way to distribute that money”, says Ioannidis. He argues that scientists should explore new ways to allocate money, such as handing out equal funds to all applicants, using lottery systems, basing payments on a scientist’s merit and slimming down paperwork. Such systems, either on their own or in combination, may work toward the long-term goal of science: to build up our knowledge base so that applications can emerge. The current emphasis on short-term results means that funders often back the wrong research horse, and that is not maximizing the science base.
CONTACT
John Ioannidis (Stanford University, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 650 725 5465; E-mail: [email protected]
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[3] Climate science: El Niño drives atmospheric CO2 variation (pp 579-582; N&V)
Observations of fluctuations of CO2 associated with El Niño indicate that the turnover time of CO2 may be more rapid than is generally assumed. An analysis of these data reported in this week’s Nature suggests that current estimates of global gross primary production (GPP, carbon assimilation by plants through photosynthesis) are too low and may need to be revised.
Lisa Welp and colleagues present 30 years’ worth of data on the oxygen isotopic composition of CO2 around the globe and reveal regular interannual variations linked to El Niño. An increase in the amount of rainfall causes the heavier 18O isotope to become depleted, and in the tropics — where El Niño effects are strongest — oxygen isotopes in CO2 are correlated with those in precipitation. The researchers observe a rapid recovery from El Niño events, implying a shorter cycling time of CO2 in the terrestrial biosphere than previously thought. From these data, the authors calculate global GPP. They suggest that current global GPP estimates of 120 billion tonnes of carbon per year should be revised to 150–175 billion tonnes of carbon per year.
Revising the estimates of global GPP has implications for the coupled climate–carbon models being used to predict future climate change associated with increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.
CONTACT
Lisa Welp (University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 858 822 1642; E-mail: [email protected]
Matthias Cuntz (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany) N&V author
Tel: +49 341 235 1071; E-mail: [email protected]
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Comment: Legislating for the good life (pp 532-533)
Governments worldwide, from the UK to France, the US, China and Ecuador, are seeking ways to measure the quality of life of their citizens. What is needed is an agreed measure of well-being with which to chart their progress, says Charles Seaford in a Comment piece in this week’s Nature.
The recent riots in the UK — an expression of social dissatisfaction that wasn’t simply a response to economic conditions — highlight the importance of this approach. Seaford, Head of the Centre for Well-being at the New Economics Foundation in London is working with the UK government and the European Commission to find such a bell-weather. He argues that governments should formulate a happiness index ― like GDP ― that is based on subjective questions in national surveys about how people feel.
The measure of well-being should be widely publicized, so that public pressure will then force politicians to focus on well-being over economic growth. Equality and sustainability will benefit as a result.
CONTACT
Charles Seaford (The New Economics Foundation, London, UK)
Tel: +44 20 7820 6336 or tel: +44 7803 086 546; E-mail: [email protected]
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[4] Neuroscience: The changing landscape of human brain development (AOP)
DOI: 10.1038/nature10487
*** This paper will be published electronically on Nature's website on 28 September 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 29 September, but at a later date. ***
Streams of neurogenic precursor cells that can migrate into the human brain are highly active until the age of 18 months, a study in this week’s Nature reports. These pathways may represent potential targets of neurological injuries affecting newborns, but not adults.
The subventricular zone (SVZ) is one of the few sources of new neurons in the brain of adult mammals and these cells are delivered via a rostral migratory stream (RMS). Whether the human brain retains such migrating progenitors in this area remains controversial. David Rowitch and colleagues perform a detailed developmental study of the human SVZ using brain samples from individuals ranging from infants to adults. They find that the infant human SVZ and RMS contain an extensive corridor of migrating immature neurons before 18 months of age. However, this activity is markedly reduced in older children and adults.
In addition to rostral migration during this limited time of neurogenesis, the researchers observe a novel stream of cells destined for the prefrontal cortex. The detection of a new migratory route for immature neurons and the revelation that a major period of neuronal migration is limited to early childhood provide insights into human brain development.
CONTACT
David Rowitch (University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 415 476 7242; E-mail: [email protected]
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[5] And finally... Food helps flies get fruity (AOP)
DOI: 10.1038/nature10428
*** This paper will be published electronically on Nature's website on 28 September 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 29 September, but at a later date. ***
Food is said to be the way to a man’s heart, and for male fruitflies at least, this seems to be the case. In this week’s Nature, scientists show that courtship in male fruitflies is driven not only by pheromone signals from prospective partners, but also by food-derived odours.
Fruitflies, like many animals, use a complex chemical language of volatile sex pheromones to communicate information about gender and receptivity to potential mating partners. However, it seems that male fruitflies also need the proximity of food to promote courtship, Richard Benton and colleagues discover. They identify a novel role of an olfactory receptor activated by fruit-derived aromatics in courtship activity. In the presence of food, this receptor activates the pheromone courtship circuitry.
The authors suggest that the crosstalk between olfactory and pheromonal circuits observed in this study seems to be an evolutionary mechanism that couples courtship to favourable egg-laying sites, such as places offering plenty of food.
CONTACT
Richard Benton (University of Lausanne, Switzerland)
Tel: +41 21 692 3932; E-mail: [email protected]
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ALSO IN THIS ISSUE…
[6] Gravitational redshift of galaxies in clusters as predicted by general relativity (pp 567-569; N&V)
[7] Crystal structure of the beta-2 adrenergic receptor–Gs protein complex (pp 549-555; N&V)
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ADVANCE ONLINE PUBLICATION
*** This paper will be published electronically on Nature's website on 28 September 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 29 September, but at a later date. ***
[8] Theta-paced flickering between place-cell maps in the hippocampus
DOI: 10.1038/nature10439
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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. 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.
AUSTRALIA
Aspendale: 3
CANADA
Kingston: 2
CZECH REPUBLIC
Prague: 8
DENMARK
Copenhagen: 6, 7
FRANCE
Dijon: 5
ISRAEL
Jerusalem: 1
Tel Aviv: 1
ITALY
Trieste: 8
JAPAN
Tokyo: 3
KOREA
Ansan: 7
NETHERLANDS
Groningen: 3
NORWAY
Trondheim: 8
SWEDEN
Umea: 2
SWITZERLAND
Lausanne: 5
UNITED KINGDOM
Cambridge: 5
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Arizona
Phoenix: 4
California
La Jolla: 3, 7
San Francisco: 4
Stanford: 7
Michigan
Ann Arbor: 7
New York
Old Westbury: 2
Wisconsin
Madison: 7
PRESS CONTACTS…
From North America and Canada
Neda Afsarmanesh, Nature New York
Tel: +1 212 726 9231; E-mail: [email protected]
From Japan, Korea, China, Singapore and Taiwan
Mika Nakano, Nature Tokyo
Tel: +81 3 3267 8751; E-mail: [email protected]
From the UK
Rebecca Walton, Nature, London
Tel: +44 20 7843 4502; E-mail: [email protected]
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