Cover The surface of the Sun shows rapidly changing patterns due to convection, as well as global oscillations of very low amplitude. The CoRoT (Convection Rotation and Planetary Transits) satellite, launched in December 2006, has now measured both phenomena in other stars. In Brief: Where They Stand on Science Policy At the risk of oversimplifying these complex topics, the news staff of Science has boiled down what Senators John McCain and Barack Obama have said during the long campaign about some three dozen important issues. A Full Serving of Science Awaits the Next President Many scientific issues are never discussed during the campaign. But ignoring them doesn't make them disappear. Here are 10 meaty topics that we think the 44th president will have to chew on. Eyeing Oil, Synthetic Biologists Mine Microbes for Black Gold Biotechnology researchers want to reengineer microorganisms to turn agricultural products into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. Last-Ditch Effort to Save Center at Vanguard of Stem Cell Research After ousting its CEO and board, the Australian Stem Cell Centre hopes to regroup around a plan that rebalances research and commercial goals. PDF | 25.8 MB

Jacking into the Brain Science-fiction writers and futurists routinely describe a day when advances in neuroscience and information technology will make it possible to treat the human brain like an outsize flash drive: memories could be uploaded or downloaded, and complicated devices could be controlled with no more than a thought. But how close is any of that to reality? A Sunshade for Planet Earth To avert global warming, some experts are willing to consider partly shielding the earth from the sun's rays. The Long Arm of the Second Law Seemingly in defiance of the second law of thermodynamics, nature is filled with examples of order emerging from chaos. A new theoretical framework resolves the apparent paradox. The Vaccine Search Goes On The unfinished quest for an AIDS vaccine has become a search for new approaches to the problem. DNA Computers for Work and Play DNA logic gates may one day make medical decisions from within your blood stream. For now, they play a mean game of tic-tac-toe. PDF | 15.3 MB

Cover Representatives of diverse species from the plant kingdom. The genomes of thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), grape (Vitis viniferva), rice (Oryza sativa), and the moss Physcomitrella patens have been sequenced, and there is ongoing genetic research on apple (Malus domestica), rose (Rosa spp.), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), Gerbera daisy (Gerbera hybrida), monkey flower (Mimulus lewisii), columbine (Aquilegia formosa), maize (Zea mays), wheat (Triticum aestivum), tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), and the fern Ceratopteris richardii. The special section includes News stories and Perspectives exploring plant biology, ecology, economic applications, and the future of plant genomics research. GM Crops: A World View Science maps where genetically modified crops are grown and imported, as well as which countries avoid them. Bypassing Medicine to Treat Diabetes By altering the gut's production of hormones, gastric bypass surgery may be able to eliminate type 2 diabetes. But scientists worry that this radical operation can also cause dangerously low blood sugar. Japanese Experts Steal a Glance at Once-Taboo Royal Tomb Japan's key-shaped burial mounds offer tantalizing glimpses into prehistory. Researchers have been given access for the first time to those built for the imperial family. Picking Up Evolution's Beat Pardis Sabeti mixes geek cool with hot science as she studies how human populations have evolved to resist malaria and Lassa fever. PDF | 36.1 MB

Cover Graphic representation of an integrated quantum optics controlled-NOT chip. Single photons (represented as flashes) propagate on the chip, confined by silica waveguides, and are then coupled into optical fibers for detection. A Bruising Battle Over Lung Scans Doctors and researchers are sharply divided over the merits of screening smokers and others at high risk of lung cancer with costly computed tomography scans; a $200 million clinical trial has become a lightning rod. Wishing for an African Einstein Hoping to nurture Africa's talent into becoming elite scientists, cosmologist Neil Turok has plans to clone the math institute he founded. Two Teams Report Progress in Reversing Loss of Sight The first safety trials of gene therapy for a degenerative eye disease produced good results in adults; researchers now intend to treat children. Tuberculosis Jumped From Humans to Cows, Not Vice Versa At the American Association of Physical Anthropologists meeting, a DNA study showed that early humans were infected with strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which cause tuberculosis, long before they began herding cattle, suggesting that it was humans who transmitted the disease to bovids and other animals. Fire-Derived Charcoal Causes Loss of Forest Humus Charcoal enhances the microbial activity in soils, which in turn decreases the amount of carbon and humus in forests over time. PDF | 29.3 MB

Cover Lake Boku at the Ounianga oasis in remote northeastern Chad, one of the few remaining bodies of water in the almost rainless Sahara. Still sustained by fossil groundwater dating from the humid past, it is doomed because of encroaching dunes. The Roots of Morality Neurobiologists, philosophers, psychologists, and legal scholars are probing the nature of human morality using a variety of experimental techniques and moral challenges. To Touch the Water of Mars and Search for Life's Abode The Phoenix lander will soon arrive at Mars to perform the first analyses of martian water and to probe the rocky polar soil as a habitat for life; it has been a struggle. Talk Nerdy to Me A surprise hit, the new TV comedy The Big Bang Theory plumbs science for laughs, thanks to aid from physicist David Saltzberg and friend. Into the Wild: Reintroduced Animals Face Daunting Odds Researchers in the emerging field of wildlife reintroduction battle hawks, habitat loss, and poachers to give animals a second chance. Climate-Driven Ecosystem Succession in the Sahara: The Past 6000 Years A climate record from lake sediments in Chad shows that the Sahara changed gradually from a tropical ecosystem to a desert, not abruptly as implied by Atlantic dust layers. PDF | 29.3 MB

Cover Male flowers of Gurania makoyana, a Central American plant in the cucumber family, harbor larvae (not visible) of two species of fly; a third fly species infests female flowers of the same species of plant. Some plant species in this family can host as many as 13 different fly species.

Cover A hot spring in Bali, Indonesia. The discovery of thriving microbial communities in such unexpected places has motivated investigation into the diversity and distribution of microbial life. The special issue explores the microbial world. Microbial Ecology News stories look at the hidden microbial world inside sponges and ongoing efforts to classify microbes with respect to their environments, while Review articles discuss the microbial processes that drive earth's biogeochemical cycles and approaches to understanding the distribution of microbial taxa and their traits. Sichuan Disaster Landslides unleashed by the rupture on 12 May of a more than 200-kilometer section of the Longmenshan fault in Sichuan, China, followed by powerful aftershocks, dammed parts of nine rivers, creating 24 new lakes; experts are worried about another catastrophe. A New Great Lake -- or Dead Sea? Turkmenistan intends to create a huge lake in the desert by filling a natural depression with drainage water. Critics say it's a bad idea that could even spark a war. All That Makes Fungus Gardens Grow The discovery of a parasitic yeast draws attention to the ways that pathogens can stabilize ant agriculture and other symbiotic networks. GLAST Mission Prepares to Explore the Extremes of Cosmic Violence NASA's new gamma ray observatory will probe the most energetic radiation ever studied, the product of cataclysmic events deep in space. PDF | 32 MB

The Sahel The vast swath of sub-Saharan savanna is a world of unseen lines. Crossing one of them landed the writer in a Sudanese jail. Biomimetics Burs on a dog's coat led to the invention of Velcro. That's an example of biomimetics -- the young science of adapting designs from nature to solve modern problems. Now it may be coming of age. Almost Human The Fongoli chimps of Senegal will break off a branch, sharpen it with their teeth, and use it to hunt bush babies. That's just one of the recent discoveries that underscore the ape-human connection.

Brings together the most significant immunology from every discipline within a single high-profile journal. Internationally peer-reviewed, Nature Immunology presents only the most influential, important or conceptually novel work.

Brings together the most significant immunology from every discipline within a single high-profile journal. Internationally peer-reviewed, Nature Immunology presents only the most influential, important or conceptually novel work.