This press release contains:
---Summaries of newsworthy papers:
Fossils: Complex diversity in the earliest forest
Neuroscience: A new approach to treating stroke
Comment: To save the planet, tax ‘societal ills’
Planetary science: Earthshine sheds light on surface characteristics
Immunology: Skin with memory to fight infection
Geoscience: When continents collide
Environment: Predicting ancient environmental changes
Organic chemistry: Activating the inactive
And finally... Giant bloodsuckers from the Jurassic
---Mention of papers to be published at the same time with the same embargo
---Geographical listing of authors
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[1] Fossils: Complex diversity in the earliest forest (pp 78-81; N&V)
New excavations at the site of the earliest known fossil trees uncover 1,200 square meters of ancient forest floor that is approximately 380 million years old. A surprisingly diverse community structure is revealed in a report in Nature this week. These discoveries may have important implications for interpreting other fossil evidence of early forests.
The earliest known fossil trees were found in a site at Riverside Quarry, Gilboa, New York, USA, in the 1920s; hundreds of Eospermatopteris trees were recovered from this site. Removal of backfill from the quarry in 2010 enabled William Stein and colleagues to reappraise the site and reconstruct the ancient ecosystem. They discover that at least three major groups of trees existed on this site. Eospermatopteris trees were interspersed with large lycopsids, and perhaps the most surprising finding is gigantic creeping plants (known as progymnosperms) that might have used the trees for support.
CONTACT
William Stein (Binghamton University, NY, USA)
Tel: +1 607 423 2584; E-mail: [email protected]
Chris Berry (Cardiff University, UK) co-author
Tel: +44 29 20 876971; E-mail: [email protected]
Brigitte Meyer-Berthaud (CNRS-CIRAD, Montpellier, France) N&V author
Tel: +33 4 67 61 75 22; E-mail: [email protected]
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[2] Neuroscience: A new approach to treating stroke (AOP)
DOI: 10.1038/nature10841
Brain damage from oxygen deprivation after a stroke can be prevented in non-human primates by administering PSD-95 inhibitors. These findings, published this week in Nature, provide a framework for possible treatments that could potentially work in humans.
Brain damage from stroke is a prevalent problem worldwide and a leading cause of death and disability. There is currently only one approved treatment for stroke (unblocking blood vessels with tPA) and it is only effective if delivered soon after the onset of symptoms — too soon for most patients who are unable to receive treatment in time. Many pharmacological therapies for reducing brain damage due to ischaemia have appeared promising in rodent models of stroke, but all have failed to translate into success in humans.
Instead of rodents, Michael Tymianski and colleagues studied cynomolgus macaques, which have greater genetic, anatomic and behavioural similarities to humans. The authors tested whether neuroprotection could be conferred by PSD-95 inhibitors, which uncouple the postsynaptic density protein from the neurotoxic signalling pathways. Using histology and magnetic resonance imaging, the authors found that these inhibitors reduced the number of ischaemic cells as well as the volume of damaged brain tissue, respectively. Behavioural improvements were also seen, even when the therapy was given 3 hours after the experimentally induced stroke.
CONTACT
Michael Tymianski (Toronto Western Hospital Research Institute, Canada)
Tel: +1 416 603 5481 or: +1 647 293 2232 or: +1 416-603-548; E-mail: [email protected]
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Comment: To save the planet, tax ‘societal ills’ (p. 30)
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development this June, ‘Rio+20’, will aim to green the world economy and, at the same time, eradicate poverty. But how will the funds be raised to pay for such efforts? The best option might be to tax everything from financial transactions to the arms trade, writes Edward Barbier in a commentary in this week’s issue of Nature.
Today, there are large gaps between intended actions and actual funds, on the order of hundreds of billions of dollars, says Barbier. Closing that gap requires some creativity. A financial-transaction tax (FTT) on the sale of stocks, bonds or futures could raise substantial funds: a tax of 0.1% on equities and 0.02% on bonds could bring in about US$48 billion from G20 member states. Alternatively, a currency-transaction tax, or Tobin tax, of just 0.05% could raise $400 billion annually. A 10% tax on global arms exports could raise up to $5 billion annually; tobacco-sales taxes could generate $10.8 billion; global aviation-fuel taxes an extra $27 billion; and shipping-fuel taxes $37 billion.
“It is time that such creative funding mechanisms were discussed more seriously at meetings — such as Rio+20 — where action is proposed,” says Barbier.
CONTACT
Edward Barbier (University of Wyoming, Larmie, WY, USA)
Tel: +1 307 766 2358; E-mail: [email protected]
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[3] Planetary science: Earthshine sheds light on surface characteristics (pp 64-66; N&V)
Light signatures from Earth could potentially be useful as a benchmark for constraining the atmospheric and surface compositions of exoplanets. These observations, reported in this week’s Nature, can be used to determine how much cloud cover, ocean surface and vegetation there is.
The light spectrum from Earth has characteristic absorption features caused by oxygen, ozone and water in the atmosphere that can reveal the properties of clouds and aerosols. Michael Sterzik and colleagues observe strong biosignatures in Earthshine ― sunlight that has been first reflected by Earth and then reflected back to Earth by the Moon. They determine the contribution of cloud, ocean surface and vegetation to these signatures. Moreover, these measurements are sensitive enough to detect visible areas of vegetation as small as 10 per cent.
The measured polarization of Earthshine reported here can be compared to other models of Earth’s spectra and atmosphere. Improvement and validation of such models could help interpret polarization spectra from Earth-like exoplanets, the authors conclude.
CONTACT
Michael Sterzik (European Southern Observatory, Santiago, Chile)
Tel: +56 9 8819 3424; E-mail: [email protected]
Christoph Keller (Leiden University, Netherlands) N&V author
Tel: +31 302 535 223; E-mail: [email protected]
Daphne Stam (Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Utrecht, the Netherlands) N&V author
Tel: +31 152 788 866; E-mail: [email protected]
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[4] Immunology: Skin with memory to fight infection (AOP)
DOI: 10.1038/nature10851
A mouse study published in Nature demonstrates that long-lived T cells known as resident memory T cells (or non-migratory memory cells) provide rapid, long-term protection against re-infection. These findings may have a role in influencing the design of vaccines that protect against infectious agents that target specific tissues.
Recent research has shown that memory T cells reside in specific tissues, and can reproduce to mount a faster and stronger immune response upon re-infection. Experiments have induced the production of these cells using viruses such as the herpes simplex virus. Thomas Kupper and coworkers show that mice subjected to localized skin infection with the vaccinia virus generate long-lived CD8+ resident memory T cells that remain within the skin.
The authors find that the immune response elicited by the skin-specific resident memory T cells is superior that of circulating central memory T cells. The CD8+ resident memory T cells populate not only local, infected, but also distant, uninfected skin. Resident memory T cells at previously uninfected sites, although present at much lower numbers than at the initial site of infection, provide robust protection against re-infection. Kupper and colleagues suggest that a more complete understanding of this phenomenon may have an impact on vaccine development and could shed light on mechanisms underlying human T-cell-mediated diseases.
CONTACT
Thomas Kupper (Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 525 5550; E-mail: [email protected]
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[5] Geoscience: When continents collide (pp 74-77)
An alternative explanation for the slowing of continental movements following collision is put forward in Nature this week. Focusing on India’s penetration into Eurasia, the study indicates that continuing plate motion is resisted by strain deep beneath Tibet, rather than within the crust. Previous studies have suggested that forces associated with mountain development, such as in the Himalayas, and crustal thickening beneath the Tibetan plateau controlled plate motion.
Understanding the forces that control plate motion is fundamental to plate tectonic theory. Marin Clark shows that the rate of India’s movement into Eurasia has decreased exponentially since their collision. She attributes this decreasing rate of convergence to a constant amount of contractional strain across Tibet’s mantle lithosphere (beneath the crust) throughout the collision.
The constant stress and strength of the deforming viscous mantle lithosphere produces resistance that affects plate motion irrespective of how topographic features evolved, Clark concludes.
CONTACT
Marin Clark (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA)
Tel: +1 734 615 0484; E-mail: [email protected]
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[6] Environment: Predicting ancient environmental changes (AOP)
DOI: 10.1038/nature10854
An interpretation of stable carbon isotope data from the mid-Neoproterozoic era (between 717 and 635 million years ago) challenges previous models for predicting Neoproterozoic environments. The analysis, presented in Nature this week, suggests that stable carbon isotope data for carbonate rocks preserves a faithful snapshot of the Neoproterozoic surface carbon cycle.
Stable carbon isotope records of carbonate rocks and sedimentary organic matter provide an opportunity for revealing major climatic and biological events in Earth’s history. David Johnston and colleagues assess mid-Neoproterozoic stable carbon isotope samples to evaluate existing models used to explain large negative isotope anomalies recorded during this time. Using a new mixing model, they suggest that these anomalies are best interpreted as recording a disturbance to the surface carbon cycle. These anomalies may reflect failed transitions from a reducing and biologically simple world to a more oxidizing and biologically complex world, the authors conclude.
CONTACT
David Johnston (Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 496 5042; E-mail: [email protected]
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[7] Organic chemistry: Activating the inactive (pp 70-73; N&V)
A new method for chemically transforming carbon–hydrogen (C–H) bonds into more complex compounds is described in this week’s issue of Nature. The method relies on a key oxygen atom in the substrate; this oxygen atom acts like a rope hanging from the branch of a tree, enabling an iridium-containing catalyst to ‘swing’ over to a specific C–H bond.
The development of new ways to selectively functionalize C–H bonds is extremely important, because such methods could make it easier for medicinal chemists to make complex, drug-like molecules from simpler compounds. John Hartwig and Eric Simmons show that this iridium-containing catalyst can selectively functionalize specific C–H bonds in a broad range of compounds, including very complex steroid-like molecules. This method overcomes several limitations observed in previous C–H bond functionalization techniques, the authors conclude.
CONTACT
John Hartwig (University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA)
Tel: +1 510 642 2038; E-mail: [email protected]
John Wolfe (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA) N&V author
Tel: +1 734 763 3432; E-mail: [email protected]
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[8] And finally... Giant bloodsuckers from the Jurassic (AOP)
DOI: 10.1038/nature10839
Giant fleas from the Middle Jurassic and Early Cretaceous of China are described in Nature this week. The finding represents the oldest definitive fleas reported to date.
André Nel and colleagues report that these ancient fleas were wingless and distinctly larger than recent fleas with body lengths of 14–20.6 mm in females and 8–14.7 mm in males. They also had many defining features of fleas while retaining primitive traits, such as non-jumping hind legs. Their most impressive feature, however, was their long and serrate suctorial siphon, which was used for piercing the hinds of their hosts and which was longer in females than in males. The authors note that an apparent difference between these and modern fleas is the size of the mouthparts, which are relatively shorter in today’s examples. However, they are proportionally about the same length relative to overall body size in both the ancient and modern flea.
The discovery also gives us a clue as to the development of chosen hosts for fleas. The fleas’ special morphology suggests that they had hairy or feathered ‘reptilian’ hosts before moving on to mammals and birds later on.
CONTACT
André Nel (Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France)
Tel: +33 1 40 79 33 85; E-mail: [email protected]
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ALSO IN THIS ISSUE…
[9] Recognition of SUMO-modified PCNA requires tandem receptor motifs in Srs2 (pp 59-63)
[10] Structural basis of ultraviolet-B perception by UVR8
DOI: 10.1038/nature10931
[11] An epigenetic blockade of cognitive functions in the neurodegenerating brain
DOI: 10.1038/nature10849
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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.
CANADA
Toronto: 2
Victoria: 6
CHILE
Santiago: 3
CHINA
Beijing: 10
Nanjing: 8
FRANCE
Paris: 8
SPAIN
Tenerife: 3
UNITED KINGDOM
Armagh: 3
Cardiff: 1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
California
Berkeley: 7
Illinois
Urbana: 7
Kansas
Lawrence: 8
Massachusetts
Boston: 4, 11
Cambridge: 6, 11
Michigan
Ann Arbor: 5
New York
Albany: 1
Binghamton: 1
New York: 9
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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
Eiji Matsuda, 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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