Cell

Particular types of neuronal loss and brain damage are caused by a molecular mechanism associated with calcium signaling

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Climate science: Not a drop to drink; News Features and Comment: The animal-testing conflict; Neuroscience: Helpless neurons; Earth science: Volcanic tremor explained; Physics: Coupled quantum pendulums; And finally… A leg-up for arthropod evolution

Engineering experts at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)'s Industrial Centre (IC) have helped achieved a breakthrough in aero engine maintenance by applying a mathematics-based software to the multiple axes machining of turbine blades.

Birds are useful models in developmental biology, but the study of avian development has been dominated by a single species of chicken. New research provides a comparative description of the development of the emu with that of the better-known chick.

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Fossils: Ancient ‘seaweeds’ tell tales of the deep; Materials science: Bending the rules for transformation optics; Stem cells: Driving the neural pathway; And finally… Pruning the tree of life

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Physics: A new twist on black-hole detection; Materials: Hydrogen in view.

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Genomics: A new era for personal medicine; Cancer: Genomic complexity of prostate cancer; Immunology: Retinoic acid implicated in coeliac disease; Nanotechnology: Programmable nanowire circuits; Physics: Frustrated ferroelectrics.

Solar cells can be made thinner and lighter with the help of aluminum particles

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Genetics: Genetic ancestry correlated with leukemia relapse; Methods: Multicoloured fly brains; Methods: Watching single molecules under flow.

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Biology: Prostate cancer progression; Climate science: Solving the methane question; Comment: Policies needed to protect deep-sea denizens from mining; Physics: Biological imaging with an X-ray laser; Genetics: Plants ‘predict’ infection?; And finally… Once upon a thymus.

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Nanotechnology: Keeping the carbon-nanotube blood flowing; Chemistry: An iron-sandwich solar cell; Neuroscience: The neuroscience of nutrition; And finally…Nature: The nitty-gritty of nicotine addiction.

A set of neighboring immune-system genes each receive separate activation instructions despite being controlled by a common factor

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Genomics: Orang-utan genome reveals a tale of two islands; Astrophysics: A glimpse of the Universe 500 million years after the Big Bang; Genetics: Social dominance imprinted?; Materials science: Nanopatterning technique mixes firm with flexible; And finally… Time for a new clock model?

The UN have declared 2011 the International Year of Chemistry (IYC 2011). Throughout the year a wide range of activities will be taking place as part of IYC 2011, starting with the Official International Launch Ceremony being held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on 27-28 January. Below is a list of experts available for comment on the IYC 2011.

Researchers at the RIKEN Plant Science Center have discovered a series of genes that control cell division and cell growth

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Social evolution: Small farmers; Comment: Prenatal genetic testing is here at last; Social evolution: Small farmers; Quantum physics: Solid-state spins entangled by the billions; Social evolution: Too risky to succeed?; And finally… To sleep, perchance to dream.

Neuroscientists have uncovered why relatively minor details of an episode are sometimes inexplicably linked to long-term memories.

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Geoscience: Reduced climate cooling from snow and ice; Geoscience: Sea ice impedes mercury breakdown.

Masao Ito, founder of the RIKEN Brain Science Institute (BSI), is famous as one of the pioneers in a research movement that has shed light on the deeper functions of the cerebellum. Ito recounts the story of this research in his own words.

Research at the Electron Microscope Laboratory is shedding light on the elegant mechanisms that control the push and shove of cells in living organisms

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory report for the first time how animals' knowledge obtained through past experiences can subconsciously influence their behavior in new situations.

In Nature China this week - Pharmacology: Brain protection; Catalytic materials: All that glitters is not gold; Catalytic materials: Works in water; Photonics: A complete makeover; Neuroimaging: Mind the details; Acoustics: A one-way street.

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Chemical Biology: Cysteine naturally sweetened.

Summaries of newsworthy papers: Neuroscience: Social networks in the amygdala; Genetics: One type of chocolate genome sequenced; Genetics: Strawberry genome sequenced; Structural & Molecular Biology: Taming RNA toxicity; And finally… Chemical Biology: Hydrogen peroxide does a stem cell good.

Researchers at National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) have successfully developed two types of novel proton conducting oxide electrolytes for SOFCs, moving towards the commercialization of SOFCs.

The Road to Invisible Antennas

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Newsmaker of the Year: In the eye of the storm; Method of the Year: Optogenetics; Biotechnology: Measuring personal haplotypes; Geoscience: How debris flows grow; And finally…Genetics: Variant associated with narcolepsy.

• A*STAR’s IMRE houses some of the world’s leading experts in SPM which was built for the physical sciences but is now widely adopted by biologists • SPM studies can help engineer novel techniques to reduce friction between surfaces at the molecular level and further miniaturise electronics.

Researchers at RIKEN have linked a specific type of cellular stress to neuronal cell death leading to brain damage. The findings overturn existing assumptions on the role of a key neuronal protein in cellular stress response, opening up new avenues for research on a range of neurodegenerative diseases.

Summaries of newsworthy papers - Cancer: Getting to the root of brain cancer; Climate: Meltwater variability drives ice-sheet acceleration; Astronomy: Probing the early Universe with a single dipole antenna; And finally… Resisting everything except reward cues