Virology: Why ’flu research is important and more news from Nature

A Perspective article in this week’s Nature discusses concerns that were raised about making the data from two H5N1-related papers available and emphasizes the importance of ongoing research to advance our understanding of infectious diseases.

This press release contains:

· Summaries of newsworthy papers:

Evolution: Green Saharan Africa early on prehistoric milkman's round

Astronomy: Searching for the signature of the first stars

Virology: Why ’flu research is important

Outlook: The taste of things to come

Genomics: Sequence analysis of mutations and translocations across breast cancer subtypes

Planetary science: A relatively dry lunar south pole

Materials science: Graphene promises progress for plasmonics

And finally... Smile for the gigapixel camera

· Geographical listing of authors

[1] Evolution: Green Saharan Africa early on prehistoric milkman's round (pp 390-394)

Isotope analysis of absorbed food residues in excavated pottery suggests that prehistoric people in Saharan African may have been dairy farming as early as 7,000 years ago, during a time when the region was in a humid phase and was ‘green’. The findings, reported in this week’s Nature, confirm that milk was an important part of the diet of these people.

It is generally accepted that in northern Africa the domestication of cattle, sheep and goats emerged long before plants were domesticated as crops. The importance of cattle in the lives of ancient humans in this region during the Holocene period is reflected in the extensive rock paintings, which contain numerous scenes depicting cattle and even milking, but reliable dates for this rock art are hard to ascertain, and little direct evidence exists to discern whether dairying was widely practised.

Julie Dunn, Richard Evershed and colleagues have previously identified a dairy fat isotope, which they used to accurately date early dairying practices in Europe and Asia. Using the same technique, the team present direct chemical evidence for the processing of dairy products in pottery vessels in the Libyan Sahara in the fifth millennium bc, which is supported by a new database of modern ruminant animal fats collected from Africa. The finding of dairy fat residues in pottery is consistent with the processing of dairy products, suggesting how these people could have consumed milk products in spite of lactose intolerance.

CONTACT

Julie Dunne (University of Bristol, UK)
+44 117 925 1295; E-mail: [email protected]

Richard Evershed (University of Bristol, UK)
Tel: +44 117 9287671; E-mail: [email protected]

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[2] Astronomy: Searching for the signature of the first stars (AOP)

DOI: 10.1038/nature11177

Simulations of what happened in the early Universe as the first stars formed suggest that detecting a signature of these stars may be achievable, a report shows in Nature this week. The authors include a recently discovered effect of the difference in velocity between dark and normal matter that suppressed early star formation. Incorporating this effect into the simulations indicates that an observable signal from that suppression may be several times larger than previously estimated.

Determining when the first stars formed represents one of the most challenging goals in astronomy. Rennan Barkana and colleagues used a hybrid simulation to show that the suppression of star formation in some regions leaves an ‘acoustic oscillation’ that can be seen in radiation from the surrounding atomic hydrogen gas. The authors suggest that it may be possible to detect these signals using an instrument like the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in Australia, but operating in the 50–100 MHz range (the MWA currently observes frequencies from 80 to 300 MHz).

CONTACT

Rennan Barkana (Tel Aviv University, Israel)
Tel: +972 3640 5993; E-mail: [email protected]

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[3] Virology: Why ’flu research is important (pp 335-340)

A Perspective article in this week’s Nature discusses concerns that were raised about making the data from two H5N1-related papers available and emphasizes the importance of ongoing research to advance our understanding of infectious diseases.

In May 2012, Nature published one of two long-awaited papers reporting mammalian transmissibility of avian influenza as a result of artificial genetic manipulation (the other paper is expected to appear soon in Science). Jeffery Taubenberger and colleagues discuss the controversies raised following the decision by the US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity to censor the research, which was subsequently reversed. They note that safety concerns with regards to accidental contamination are taken into proper consideration in the laboratories where this work was done. They also argue that the projected mortality figures may be overestimated. The authors conclude that the study of such viruses is paramount to helping us to learn how to control pandemics.

CONTACT

Jeffery Taubenberger (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA)
Tel: +1 301 443 5960; E-mail: [email protected]

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Outlook: The taste of things to come (pp S18-19)

Artificial tongues that mimic the human sensory experience could help provide quality control in food and agriculture, aid development of new flavours and artificial sweeteners, and make medicines more palatable. In an article in Nature Outlook: Taste, Neil Savage rounds up some emerging taste technologies.

Although we think of taste as a subjective experience, devices that analyze it precisely and quantitatively are being developed at several laboratories. These so-called electronic tongues respond to flavours in ways analogous to the human tongue. One example is an e-tongue that registers a change in electrical potential when taste molecules in a liquid interact with lipids on its surface. It can analyse the taste of foods including soy sauce, soup and sake. Another device incorporates carbon nanotube transistors coasted in protein; a change in electrical conductance caused by protein binding can signal bitterness, for example. A third approach uses an array of colour-changing dyes that react to sweetness. A computer compares before and after images to produce a map unique to a particular quality of sweetness.

CONTACT

Neil Savage (Freelance science writer, Lowell, MA, USA)
E-mail: [email protected]

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[4] Genomics: Sequence analysis of mutations and translocations across breast cancer subtypes (pp 405-409; N&V)

New recurrent mutations and gene deletions are uncovered in an analysis of breast cancer patients from Mexico and Vietnam in this week’s Nature. The paper reports one of the largest whole-exome sequencing efforts in human breast cancers so far, complemented by whole-genome sequences of a smaller sample of individuals. Breast cancer is a diverse disease and is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in women worldwide; understanding more about the different subtypes can help us to determine patient prognosis and predict responses to treatment.

Matthew Meyerson and colleagues compared exome sequences (the coding regions of the genome) of103 tumours and normal tissue samples, and whole-genome sequences of 22 breast cancer and normal samples. Their analysis identifies new recurrent mutations and deletions in a pair of genes (CBFB and RUNX1, respectively) involved in the regulation of cell differentiation, an important aspect of carcinogenesis. They also discover a recurrent fusion of two genes (MAGI3–AKT3) in a subset of triple-negative breast cancers. This fusion represents a potential target for breast cancer therapy, and the authors demonstrate that the effects of this gene fusion can be counteracted by treatment with a small-molecule inhibitor.

CONTACT

Matthew Meyerson (The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 632 4768; E-mail: [email protected]

Joe Gray (Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR, USA) N&V author
Tel: +1 503 418 9302; E-mail: [email protected]

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[5] Planetary science: A relatively dry lunar south pole (pp 378-381)

Observations of the Shackleton crater near the Moon’s south pole, which is mostly in permanent shadow, reveal that it is an ancient, unusually well-preserved simple crater. Shackleton has been a target of numerous Earth-based and spacecraft analyses because of the possibility that the shadowy environment may contain frozen water. Data in this week’s Nature suggest that the crater does not contain significant amounts of water ice.

Maria Zuber and colleagues report that deposits on Shackleton’s floor are the same age as the rim, whereas the interior walls are younger. Their findings indicate that the floor has barely changed since the crater formed more than 3 billion years ago, probably owing to a lack of space weathering in this shadowy region.

The authors conclude that their observations are most easily explained by downslope movement of regolith (Moon rubble) on the walls exposing fresher underlying material. However, they are unable to exclude the possibility that volatile chemicals, such as water, may be present in small quantities on the crater floor.

CONTACT

Maria Zuber (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA)
Tel: +1 617 253 6397; E-mail: [email protected]

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[6] & [7] Materials science: Graphene promises progress for plasmonics (AOP)

DOI: 10.1038/nature11254

DOI: 10.1038/nature11253

Plasmonic capabilities of graphene — atom-thick sheets of carbon touted as a revolutionary material — are demonstrated by two separate reports in Nature this week. Both studies find that graphene is an excellent host for guiding, confining and electrical manipulation of light. These properties are desirable for plasmonic devices, which offer the possibility to control and guide light at sub-wavelength length scales; applications include the development of superfast optical computer chips.

Plasmons are electromagnetic waves that spread across the surface of a metal, and similar effects are expected for graphene but have so far been difficult to instigate and detect. In two independent studies, teams led by Frank Koppens and Dmitri Basov show that plasmons can be directly launched and propagate in graphene. Both groups observe this effect with near-field optical microscopy. In addition, each of the teams show that properties of these plasmons can be controlled using a gate voltage.

The ability to tune plasmons could facilitate the design and development of plasmonic devices for use in telecommunications, information processing and other applications.

CONTACT

Frank Koppens (Institut de Ciéncies Fotoniques, Barcelona, Spain) Author paper [6]
Tel: +34 93 553 41 63; E-mail: [email protected]

Dmitri Basov (University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA) Author paper [7]
Tel: +1 858 822 1211; E-mail: [email protected]

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[8] And finally... Smile for the gigapixel camera (pp 386-389)

A ‘supercamera’ that can take one-gigapixel images is described in Nature this week. Demonstration of the camera system shows that a wealth of information can be obtained from gigapixel snapshots. Current digital cameras operate in megapixels, but gigapixel cameras have the potential to transform the nature of photography from visual-image capture to post-capture analysis for surveillance and data mining.

The compact gigapixel camera developed by David Brady and co-workers can take one-gigapixel images at three frames per minute. The system uses 98 micro-cameras and a specially designed electronic processing unit to process the large volume of imaging information at high speed. A gigapixel snapshot of a nature reserve taken by the camera allows details of the full image, such as the number of swans in the distant sky at that precise moment, to be seen.

The present study is the first demonstration of the whole system of this multiscale gigapixel camera. It measures 75 ´ 75 ´ 50 cm, a size that is dictated by the space needed to effectively cool the electronic control boards. The authors are hopeful that as more efficient and compact electronics are developed, the age of hand-held gigapixel photography may follow.

CONTACT

David Brady (Duke University, Durham, NC, USA)
Tel: +1 919 660 5394; E-mail: [email protected]

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ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

[9] Superallowed Gamow–Teller decay of the doubly magic nucleus 100Sn (pp 341-345; N&V)

[10] Electronic nematicity above the structural and superconducting transition in BaFe2 (As1-xPx)2 (pp 382-385)

ADVANCE ONLINE PUBLICATION

[11] Disentangling nestedness from models of ecological complexity
DOI: 10.1038/nature11214

[12] Reconciling the temperature dependence of respiration across time scales and ecosystem types
DOI: 10.1038/nature11205

[13] Novel mutations target distinct subgroups of medulloblastoma
DOI: 10.1038/nature11213

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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
Sydney: 12
Kensington: 13
Parkville: 13

CANADA
Montréal: 12
Toronto: 13
Vancouver: 9
Winnipeg: 4

DENMARK
Roskilde: 12

FINLAND
Helsinki: 12

FRANCE
Caen: 9
Strasbourg: 9
Tours: 6

GERMANY
Darmstadt: 9
Garching: 7, 9
Köln: 9
Martinsried: 6

ISRAEL
Tel Aviv: 2

ITALY
Ispra: 12
Legnaro: 9
Milano: 1
Roma: 1

JAPAN
Kyoto: 10
Sayo: 10
Sendai: 10
Tokyo: 10
Wako: 9

MEXICO
Mexico City: 4

NEW ZEALAND
Canterbury: 11

POLAND
Krakow: 9
Warsaw: 9

SERBIA
Belgrade: 9

SLOVAKIA
Bratislava: 9

SOUTH AFRICA
Johannesburg: 1

SPAIN
Barcelona: 6, 9, 12
Bilbao: 6
Donostia-San Sebastián: 6
Madrid: 6
Valencia: 9

SWEDEN
Uppsala: 9

THE NETHERLANDS
Groningen: 9

TURKEY
Ankara: 9

UNITED KINGDOM
Bristol: 1
Edinburgh: 9
Guildford: 9
London: 12
Penryn: 12
York: 11

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Arizona
Tucson: 8
California
La Jolla: 7
Pasadena: 2, 5
Riverside: 7
San Marcos: 7
Florida
Pensacola: 12
Illinois
Champaign: 8
Indiana
West Lafayette: 5
Maryland
Bethesda: 3
Chevy Chase: 4
College Park: 7
Greenbelt: 5
Massachusetts
Boston: 4, 7
Cambridge: 2, 4, 5
Michigan
East Lansing: 9
Missouri
St Louis: 13
North Carolina
Durham: 8, 13
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia: 1
Rhode Island
Providence: 5
Tennessee
Memphis: 13
Texas
Houston: 10, 13

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From the UK
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Tel: +44 20 7843 4502; E-mail: [email protected]

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Published: 20 Jun 2012

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