Nature contents: 24 July 2014

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Volume 511 Number 7510      nature •Visit Nature homepage •Subscribe to Nature •View Table of Contents The science that matters. Every week.               Revolutionize your confocal imaging with Airyscan Learn about a confocal technology that provides you with high sensitivity, improved resolution in x, y and z, and high speed. With Airyscan you will be able to go beyond the resolution limits of a confocal laser scanning microscope without sacrificing on sensitivity and speed. Get more information        Jump to the content that matters to you View Table of Contents ▶ ▼ News & Comment   ▼ Biological Sciences   ▼ Health Sciences   ▼ Physical Sciences   ▼ Earth & Environmental Sciences   ▼ Careers & Jobs       This week's highlights     Specials - Outlook: Assessing science     This Outlook supplement is a synthesis of discussions held at a symposium organized earlier this year by Nature in Melbourne, Australia. The theme was how best to measure research outcomes. Every country has its own set of circumstances surrounding its research infrastructure, wealth, and economic, environmental and developmental objectives — so there is no universal solution. This supplement concentrates on the lessons learned in Australia and New Zealand, where the assessment programmes place heavy emphasis on research excellence. ▼ more       Biological Sciences More Biological sciences ▼   Biological insights from 108 schizophrenia-associated genetic loci   More than 100 genetic variants associated with schizophrenia, which may represent new therapeutic targets, are uncovered in the largest genome-wide association study of schizophrenia ever conducted. The results also offer novel insights into the disease and provide support to theories that suggest the immune system is involved in disease development. Prior to this study, only around 30 genetic loci that contribute to disease susceptibility had been identified.       Physical Sciences More Physical sciences ▼   Spin-transfer torque generated by a topological insulator   Topological insulators represent a novel form of condensed matter with remarkable electronic properties. They are insulators through the bulk material, but have robust metallic states at the surface. This study hints at future practical applications, with the demonstration that a thin film of the prototypical topological insulator, bismuth selenide, can be used as a very efficient source of spin current at room temperature, inducing a strong spin-transfer torque on an adjacent thin film of ferromagnetic nickel–iron alloy. This system has relevance to the development of magnetic memory and logic devices.           Transfect with Confidence using X-tremeGENE Reagents from Roche Efficiently transfect DNA or siRNA to power your cell-based applications Obtain high numbers of healthy, viable cells Achieve high transfection efficiency Generate high recombinant protein yields Minimize cytotoxicity and off-target effects Assess true cell response rather than the effects of your transfection reagents Generate physiologically relevant data by minimizing reagent-induced changes To learn more, please visit: X-tremeGENE.roche.com             Earth & Environmental Sciences More Earth & Environmental sciences ▼   Climate change selects for heterozygosity in a declining fur seal population   The recent decline in populations of the Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) are associated with reduced supplies of krill due to rising temperatures, but their genetic diversity seems to be increasing. Although this is not in itself an evolutionary response, it could maintain higher levels of genetic variation giving a greater chance of subsequent evolutionary adaptation, which could help to buffer the impacts of long-term climate change.     Podcast & Video     In this week's podcast: This week, a long study of Antarctic seals shows their populations may be in peril, alternative ways of getting energy from nuclear fusion, and researchers tackle the genetics of puberty.         News & Comment Read daily news coverage▶ ▲top               THIS WEEK           Editorials                   The wrong kind of carbon cut ▶     The repeal of Australia’s carbon-pricing scheme — the first time a nation has reversed action on climate change — sets a worrying example for other countries mulling steps to reduce emissions.             Fusion furore ▶     Soaring construction costs for ITER are jeopardizing alternative fusion projects.             A fate sealed ▶     Exploring how species adapt to climate change requires long-term studies, not snapshots.             World View                   Chile needs better science governance and support ▶     Its scientists have much to offer the world, but are being held back by scattered administration and changing policies, argues Pablo Astudillo Besnier.             Seven Days                   Seven days: 18–24 July 2014 ▶     The week in science: Spacecraft chases duck-shaped comet; Darwin’s library online; and a new journal for workplace fatigue.             NEWS IN FOCUS           Delegates mourn MH17 passengers ▶     AIDS conference tries to draw inspiration from lost scientists.             Anger as Australia dumps carbon tax ▶     Climate experts decry demise of emissions-control system.             Gene-hunt gain for mental health ▶     Flood of genetic locations linked to schizophrenia helps spark financial boost to research field.             China plans super collider ▶     Proposals for two accelerators could see country become collider capital of the world.             Mars slow to yield its secrets ▶     Scientists seek fresh approaches to deciphering red planet’s history.             Features                   Plasma physics: The fusion upstarts ▶     Fuelled by venture capital and a lot of hope, alternative fusion technologies are heating up.             Science and politics: Hello, Governor ▶     When California's governor enlisted the aid of two palaeoecologists, their careers took an unusual turn.             COMMENT           Medical research: Treat ageing ▶     By 2050, the number of people over the age of 80 will triple globally. These demographics could come at great cost to individuals and economies. Two groups describe how research in animals and humans should be refocused to find ways to delay the onset of frailty.             Books and Arts                   Science visualization: Branching arguments ▶     Kevin Padian considers two books on tree diagrams and what they can represent.             Books in brief ▶             Correspondence                   BRAIN initiative: Brain secrets cheap at twice the price Anuj K. Rastogi | Data storage: Overcome hurdles to global databases Venceslas Goudiaby, Pieter A. Zuidema, Godefridus M. J. Mohren | Environment: China's land creation project stands firm Yansui Liu, Yuheng Li | Weed control: Tactics to stamp out herbicide resistance Margaret Mellon             Corrections                   Correction ▶             Correction ▶                 Biological Sciences ▲top             RESEARCH           Latest Online                   HIV: Early treatment may not be early enough ▶     Kai Deng, Robert F. Siliciano             Epigenetics: Cellular memory erased in human embryos ▶     Wolf Reik, Gavin Kelsey             Cancer: Directions for the drivers ▶     Greg Gibson             Proteogenomic characterization of human colon and rectal cancer ▶     Bing Zhang, Jing Wang, Xiaojing Wang et al.     Proteome analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) colorectal cancer specimens reveals that DNA- or RNA-level measurements cannot reliably predict protein abundance, colorectal tumours can be separated into distinct proteotypes, and that copy number alterations drive mRNA abundance changes but few extend to protein-level changes.             Convergence of terrestrial plant production across global climate gradients ▶     Sean T. Michaletz, Dongliang Cheng, Andrew J. Kerkhoff et al.     Net primary production is affected by temperature and precipitation, but whether this is a direct kinetic effect on plant metabolism or an indirect ecological effect mediated by changes in plant age, plant biomass or growing season length is unclear — this study develops metabolic scaling theory to be able to answer this question and applies it to a global data set of plant productivity, concluding that it is indirect effects that explain the influence of climate on productivity, which is characterized by a common scaling relationship across climate gradients.             Comprehensive molecular characterization of gastric adenocarcinoma OPEN ▶     The Cancer Genome Atlas reports on molecular evaluation of 295 primary gastric adenocarcinomas and proposes a new classification of gastric cancers into 4 subtypes, which should help with clinical assessment and trials of targeted therapies.             Loss of oncogenic Notch1 with resistance to a PI3K inhibitor in T-cell leukaemia ▶     Monique Dail, Jason Wong, Jessica Lawrence et al.     Mutations that dysregulate Notch1 and Ras/PI3K signalling are common in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia; here, treatment with a PI3K inhibitor is shown to induce drug resistance that is associated with downregulation of activated Notch1 signalling, suggesting that inhibition of both Notch1 and PI3K could promote drug resistance.             Molecular architecture and mechanism of the anaphase-promoting complex ▶     Leifu Chang, Ziguo Zhang, Jing Yang et al.     The anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) is a large E3 ligase that mediates ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis of cell cycle regulatory proteins; here the complete secondary structure architecture of human APC/C complexed with its coactivator CDH1 and substrate HSL1 is determined at 7.4 Å resolution, revealing allosteric changes induced by the coactivator that enhance affinity for UBCH10–ubiqutin.             Alterations of the human gut microbiome in liver cirrhosis ▶     Nan Qin, Fengling Yang, Ang Li et al.     Invasion of the gut by oral bacteria in liver cirrhosis.             Biological insights from 108 schizophrenia-associated genetic loci ▶     Schizophrenia is a highly heritable genetic disorder, however, identification of specific genetic risk variants has proven difficult because of its complex polygenic nature—a large multi-stage genome-wide association study identifies 128 independent associations in over 100 loci (83 of which are new); key findings include identification of genes involved in glutamergic neurotransmission and support for a link between the immune system and schizophrenia.             The Get1/2 transmembrane complex is an endoplasmic-reticulum membrane protein insertase ▶     Fei Wang, Charlene Chan, Nicholas R. Weir et al.     The receptor for the cytoplasmic factor that targets tail-anchored proteins to the endoplasmic reticulum is an enzyme that enables a facilitated insertion path into the lipid bilayer.             High-resolution structure of the human GPR40 receptor bound to allosteric agonist TAK-875 ▶     Ankita Srivastava, Jason Yano, Yoshihiko Hirozane et al.     The X-ray crystal structure of human GPR40 receptor in the presence of TAK-875, an orally available, potent and selective human GPR40 agonist.             The DNA methylation landscape of human early embryos ▶     Hongshan Guo, Ping Zhu, Liying Yan et al.     Base-resolution maps of DNA methylation in human gametes and early embryos offer novel insights into human methylation dynamics and the functional relationship between DNA methylation and gene expression.             Parent-of-origin-specific allelic associations among 106 genomic loci for age at menarche ▶     Here 106 genomic loci associated with age at menarche, a marker of puberty timing in females, are identified; these loci show enrichment for genes involved in nuclear hormone receptor function, body mass index, and rare disorders of puberty, and for genes located in imprinted regions, with parent-of-origin specific effects at several loci.             Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase opposes renal carcinoma progression ▶     Bo Li, Bo Qiu, David S. M. Lee et al.     Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase is shown to be depleted in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and inhibits ccRCC progression by antagonizing glycolytic flux in renal tubular epithelial cells and by restraining cell proliferation, glycolysis, and the pentose phosphate pathway in von Hippel–Lindau-protein-deficient ccRCC cells by blocking hypoxia-inducible factor function.             DNA methylation dynamics of the human preimplantation embryo ▶     Zachary D. Smith, Michelle M. Chan, Kathryn C. Humm et al.     Genome-scale DNA methylation maps over early human embryogenesis and embryonic stem cell derivation provide insights into shared and unique modes of regulation when compared to the mouse model, including relationships to gene expression, transposable element activity, and maternal-specific methylation.             Rapid seeding of the viral reservoir prior to SIV viraemia in rhesus monkeys ▶     James B. Whitney, Alison L. Hill, Srisowmya Sanisetty et al.     Reservoirs of virus infection represent the most important reason why HIV-1 cannot be cured with current antiretroviral drugs; now the refractory viral reservoir is shown to be seeded as early as 3 days after infection in a monkey model, even before the virus is detected in the blood.             Putative cis-regulatory drivers in colorectal cancer ▶     Halit Ongen, Claus L. Andersen, Jesper B. Bramsen et al.     Examination of allele-specific expression identifies 71 genes with excess somatic cis-regulatory effects in colorectal cancer (CRC), and 1,693 and 948 expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) in normal samples and tumours, respectively (with 36% of tumour eQTLs exclusive to CRC); tumour-specific eQTLs are more enriched for low CRC genome-wide association study P values and accumulate more somatic mutations than shared eQTLs, suggesting a role as germline-derived cancer regulatory drivers.             Articles and Letters                   Biological insights from 108 schizophrenia-associated genetic loci ▶     Schizophrenia is a highly heritable genetic disorder, however, identification of specific genetic risk variants has proven difficult because of its complex polygenic nature—a large multi-stage genome-wide association study identifies 128 independent associations in over 100 loci (83 of which are new); key findings include identification of genes involved in glutamergic neurotransmission and support for a link between the immune system and schizophrenia.             Enhancer hijacking activates GFI1 family oncogenes in medulloblastoma ▶     Paul A. Northcott, Catherine Lee, Thomas Zichner et al.     Focusing on two ill-characterized subtypes of medulloblastoma (group 3 and group 4), this study identifies prevalent genomic structural variants that are restricted to these two subtypes and independently bring together coding regions of GFI1 family proto-oncogenes with active enhancer elements, leading to their mutually exclusive oncogenic activation.             Structure of an Rrp6–RNA exosome complex bound to poly(A) RNA ▶     Elizabeth V. Wasmuth, Kurt Januszyk, Christopher D. Lima     The exosome complex contains two catalytic subunits which degrade RNA in either a distributive (Rrp6) or a processive (Rrp44) manner—previous structures indicated how RNA could be directed to Rrp44, but the path taken to Rrp6 was unclear; here the location of the Rrp6 catalytic domain and the RNA 3′ end are determined and it is found that the RNA lies in an opposite orientation from that of the Rrp44-containing exosome structure, suggesting that the fate of an RNA may be influenced by the manner in which cofactors present it.             Climate change selects for heterozygosity in a declining fur seal population ▶     Jaume Forcada, Joseph Ivan Hoffman     Three decades of data on Antarctic fur seals show that reduced prey availability due to climate change leads to selection for increased heterozygosity in breeding females.             C. elegans Punctin specifies cholinergic versus GABAergic identity of postsynaptic domains ▶     Bérangère Pinan-Lucarré, Haijun Tu, Marie Pierron et al.     Two presynaptically secreted isoforms of the protein Punctin in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans determine the postsynaptic accumulation of acetylcholine versus GABA receptors, raising the question of whether the related human punctin-2 gene, which has been associated with schizophrenia, may also control synaptic organization.             Modality-specific thalamocortical inputs instruct the identity of postsynaptic L4 neurons ▶     Gabrielle Pouchelon, Frédéric Gambino, Camilla Bellone et al.     Sensory modality-specific thalamic inputs are shown to instruct the differentiation and function of postsynaptic target neurons in the cortex, thus controlling the development and functional segregation of cortical circuits.             Receptor binding by H10 influenza viruses ▶     Sebastien G. Vachieri, Xiaoli Xiong, Patrick J. Collins et al.     The structure and receptor-binding characteristics are presented of the haemagglutinin (HA) from an avian H10N2 virus that closely resembles an isolate from recent human fatalities; although avian H10 has a marked preference for the avian receptor, it is already able to bind to the human receptor, and its structure in complex with the human receptor shows similarities to HA from pandemic H1 and H7 viruses.             Ultraviolet radiation accelerates BRAF-driven melanomagenesis by targeting TP53 ▶     Amaya Viros, Berta Sanchez-Laorden, Malin Pedersen et al.     Exposing mice with the BRAF (V600E) mutation to levels of ultraviolet radiation that mimic mild sunburn in humans is shown to induce mutations in the tumour suppressor Trp53 (TP53 in humans), accelerating the development of melanoma; these results support the use of sunscreen in individuals at risk of this cancer.             Activation and repression by oncogenic MYC shape tumour-specific gene expression profiles ▶     Susanne Walz, Francesca Lorenzin, Jennifer Morton et al.     Inducing changes in the levels of the MYC oncoprotein is shown to activate and repress specific sets of target genes that are characteristic of tumour cells, providing an insight into the mechanism by which MYC can stimulate tumorigenesis in contrast to its physiological role.             Selective transcriptional regulation by Myc in cellular growth control and lymphomagenesis ▶     Arianna Sabò, Theresia R. Kress, Mattia Pelizzola et al.     Global transcriptional and epigenomic analyses in diverse cell types reveal that the primary action of Myc is to up- and downregulate transcription of distinct groups of genes, rather than to amplify transcription of all active genes; general RNA amplification, when observed, is better explained as an indirect consequence of Myc’s action on cellular physiology.             News & Views                   Schizophrenia: Genesis of a complex disease ▶     Jonathan Flint, Marcus Munafò             Population biology: Fur seals signal their own decline ▶     Tim Coulson, Sonya Clegg             50 & 100 Years Ago ▶             Gene regulation: Fine-tuned amplification in cells ▶     Chi V. Dang             HIV: Early treatment may not be early enough ▶     Kai Deng, Robert F. Siliciano             Epigenetics: Cellular memory erased in human embryos ▶     Wolf Reik, Gavin Kelsey             Cancer: Directions for the drivers ▶     Greg Gibson             Brief Communications Arising                   Universality of core promoter elements? ▶     Matthias Siebert, Johannes Söding             Retraction                   Retraction: Genomic organization of human transcription initiation complexes ▶     Bryan J. Venters, B. Franklin Pugh             Research Highlights                   Microbiology: A cheesy tool for the laboratory | Palaeontology: Foraging patterns found in fossils | Biotechnology: Gene edits boost wheat defences | Zoology: Mystery bird is dodo relative | Microbiology: Injuries invite ulcer microbe | Archaeology: Clovis people were hunters in Mexico         NEWS & COMMENT           A fate sealed | Medical research: Treat ageing | BRAIN initiative: Brain secrets cheap at twice the price | Correction | Delegates mourn MH17 passengers | Gene-hunt gain for mental health             More Biological Sciences ▶                 Nature Medicine and Helmholtz Zentrum München present: 2nd Annual Helmholtz-Nature Medicine Diabetes Conference September 21-23, 2014 Lenbach Palais Rilano No.6 Munich, Germany Click here for more information or to register for this conference today!          Health Sciences ▲top             RESEARCH           Latest Online                   HIV: Early treatment may not be early enough ▶     Kai Deng, Robert F. Siliciano             Cancer: Directions for the drivers ▶     Greg Gibson             Proteogenomic characterization of human colon and rectal cancer ▶     Bing Zhang, Jing Wang, Xiaojing Wang et al.     Proteome analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) colorectal cancer specimens reveals that DNA- or RNA-level measurements cannot reliably predict protein abundance, colorectal tumours can be separated into distinct proteotypes, and that copy number alterations drive mRNA abundance changes but few extend to protein-level changes.             Comprehensive molecular characterization of gastric adenocarcinoma OPEN ▶     The Cancer Genome Atlas reports on molecular evaluation of 295 primary gastric adenocarcinomas and proposes a new classification of gastric cancers into 4 subtypes, which should help with clinical assessment and trials of targeted therapies.             Loss of oncogenic Notch1 with resistance to a PI3K inhibitor in T-cell leukaemianbsp;▶     Monique Dail, Jason Wong, Jessica Lawrence et al.     Mutations that dysregulate Notch1 and Ras/PI3K signalling are common in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia; here, treatment with a PI3K inhibitor is shown to induce drug resistance that is associated with downregulation of activated Notch1 signalling, suggesting that inhibition of both Notch1 and PI3K could promote drug resistance.             Alterations of the human gut microbiome in liver cirrhosis ▶     Nan Qin, Fengling Yang, Ang Li et al.     Invasion of the gut by oral bacteria in liver cirrhosis.             High-resolution structure of the human GPR40 receptor bound to allosteric agonist TAK-875 ▶     Ankita Srivastava, Jason Yano, Yoshihiko Hirozane et al.     The X-ray crystal structure of human GPR40 receptor in the presence of TAK-875, an orally available, potent and selective human GPR40 agonist.             Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase opposes renal carcinoma progression ▶     Bo Li, Bo Qiu, David S. M. Lee et al.     Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase is shown to be depleted in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and inhibits ccRCC progression by antagonizing glycolytic flux in renal tubular epithelial cells and by restraining cell proliferation, glycolysis, and the pentose phosphate pathway in von Hippel–Lindau-protein-deficient ccRCC cells by blocking hypoxia-inducible factor function.             Putative cis-regulatory drivers in colorectal cancer ▶     Halit Ongen, Claus L. Andersen, Jesper B. Bramsen et al.     Examination of allele-specific expression identifies 71 genes with excess somatic cis-regulatory effects in colorectal cancer (CRC), and 1,693 and 948 expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) in normal samples and tumours, respectively (with 36% of tumour eQTLs exclusive to CRC); tumour-specific eQTLs are more enriched for low CRC genome-wide association study P values and accumulate more somatic mutations than shared eQTLs, suggesting a role as germline-derived cancer regulatory drivers.             Articles and Letters                   Enhancer hijacking activates GFI1 family oncogenes in medulloblastoma ▶     Paul A. Northcott, Catherine Lee, Thomas Zichner et al.     Focusing on two ill-characterized subtypes of medulloblastoma (group 3 and group 4), this study identifies prevalent genomic structural variants that are restricted to these two subtypes and independently bring together coding regions of GFI1 family proto-oncogenes with active enhancer elements, leading to their mutually exclusive oncogenic activation.             Receptor binding by H10 influenza viruses ▶     Sebastien G. Vachieri, Xiaoli Xiong, Patrick J. Collins et al.     The structure and receptor-binding characteristics are presented of the haemagglutinin (HA) from an avian H10N2 virus that closely resembles an isolate from recent human fatalities; although avian H10 has a marked preference for the avian receptor, it is already able to bind to the human receptor, and its structure in complex with the human receptor shows similarities to HA from pandemic H1 and H7 viruses.             Ultraviolet radiation accelerates BRAF-driven melanomagenesis by targeting TP53 ▶     Amaya Viros, Berta Sanchez-Laorden, Malin Pedersen et al.     Exposing mice with the BRAF (V600E) mutation to levels of ultraviolet radiation that mimic mild sunburn in humans is shown to induce mutations in the tumour suppressor Trp53 (TP53 in humans), accelerating the development of melanoma; these results support the use of sunscreen in individuals at risk of this cancer.             Activation and repression by oncogenic MYC shape tumour-specific gene expression profiles ▶     Susanne Walz, Francesca Lorenzin, Jennifer Morton et al.     Inducing changes in the levels of the MYC oncoprotein is shown to activate and repress specific sets of target genes that are characteristic of tumour cells, providing an insight into the mechanism by which MYC can stimulate tumorigenesis in contrast to its physiological role.             Selective transcriptional regulation by Myc in cellular growth control and lymphomagenesis ▶     Arianna Sabò, Theresia R. Kress, Mattia Pelizzola et al.     Global transcriptional and epigenomic analyses in diverse cell types reveal that the primary action of Myc is to up- and downregulate transcription of distinct groups of genes, rather than to amplify transcription of all active genes; general RNA amplification, when observed, is better explained as an indirect consequence of Myc’s action on cellular physiology.             News & Views                   Schizophrenia: Genesis of a complex disease ▶     Jonathan Flint, Marcus Munafò             Gene regulation: Fine-tuned amplification in cells ▶     Chi V. Dang             HIV: Early treatment may not be early enough ▶     Kai Deng, Robert F. Siliciano             Cancer: Directions for the drivers ▶     Greg Gibson             Research Highlights                   Microbiology: Injuries invite ulcer microbe         NEWS & COMMENT           Medical research: Treat ageing | Correction | Delegates mourn MH17 passengers | Gene-hunt gain for mental health             More Health Sciences ▶               Physical Sciences ▲top             RESEARCH           Latest Online                   Velocity anti-correlation of diametrically opposed galaxy satellites in the low-redshift Universe ▶     Neil G. Ibata, Rodrigo A. Ibata, Benoit Famaey et al.     Measurements of the velocities of pairs of diametrically opposed satellite galaxies of host galaxies in the local Universe show that satellite pairs out to a distance of 150 kiloparsecs from their hosts are anti-correlated in their velocities and that galaxies in the larger-scale environment are strongly clumped along the axis joining the inner satellite pair.             Articles and Letters                   Jet acceleration of the fast molecular outflows in the Seyfert galaxy IC 5063 ▶     C. Tadhunter, R. Morganti, M. Rose et al.     The observation of high-velocity warm molecular hydrogen in the galaxy IC 5063 supports the proposal that the powerful jets of particles launched by active galactic nuclei can both accelerate and heat the molecular outflows that influence the evolution of galaxies.             Tracking photon jumps with repeated quantum non-demolition parity measurements ▶     L. Sun, A. Petrenko, Z. Leghtas et al.     The quantized changes in the photon number parity of a microwave cavity can be tracked on a short enough timescale, and with sufficiently little interference with the quantum state, for this parity observable to be used to monitor the occurrence of error in a recently proposed protected quantum memory.             Spin-transfer torque generated by a topological insulator ▶     A. R. Mellnik, J. S. Lee, A. Richardella et al.     Charge flowing in a thin film of the topological insulator bismuth selenide at room temperature can lead to spin accumulation in the insulator and a resultant strong spin-transfer torque on an adjacent thin film of ferromagnetic nickel–iron alloy, potentially offering a means of controlling the orientation of the alloy’s magnetization.             News & Views                   Solid-state physics: Siphoning spins ▶     Joo-Von Kim             Research Highlights                   Astrophysics: Radio burst from beyond the Galaxy         NEWS & COMMENT           Fusion furore | Plasma physics: The fusion upstarts | Environment: China's land creation project stands firm | China plans super collider             More Physical Sciences ▶               Earth & Environmental Sciences ▲top             RESEARCH           Articles and Letters                   A shift of thermokarst lakes from carbon sources to sinks during the Holocene epoch ▶     K. M. Walter Anthony, S. A. Zimov, G. Grosse et al.     Observations and modelling show that the deep thermokarst lakes that formed in Siberia and Alaska when the permafrost warmed in the Holocene epoch changed from climate-warming methane sources to climate-cooling carbon sinks about 5,000 years ago.             Zircons reveal magma fluxes in the Earth’s crust ▶     Luca Caricchi, Guy Simpson, Urs Schaltegger     The age distributions of zircons (found in magmatic rocks) enable magma fluxes in the Earth’s crust to be calculated, providing insight into geological processes such as ore deposit formation and volcanic eruptions.             News & Views                   Earth science: Rain on the parade ▶     Alison M. Anders             Population biology: Fur seals signal their own decline ▶     Tim Coulson, Sonya Clegg             Climate science: Cold carbon storage ▶     Sebastian Sobek             Research Highlights                   Planetary science: Frost forms Mars gullies | Climate change: Hotter summers despite hiatus         NEWS & COMMENT           A fate sealed | Mars slow to yield its secrets | Science and politics: Hello, Governor | Environment: China's land creation project stands firm | The wrong kind of carbon cut | Anger as Australia dumps carbon tax             More Earth & Environmental Sciences ▶               Specials - Nature Outlook: Accessing Science Free Access ▲top               Assessing science ▶     Philip Campbell, Michelle Grayson             Science budget: Funding by numbers ▶     Australia and New Zealand both rely on assessment schemes to improve research quality, yet the money associated with each is very different. By Julie Gould.             Research metrics: Calling science to account ▶     Systematic evaluation of scientific research might strengthen public support, but could it also stifle innovation? The issues were debated at a symposium in Melbourne.             Research assessment: The limits of excellence ▶     Young researchers and interdisciplinary science might be getting short-changed by research assessment in Australia and New Zealand.             Perspective: On the verge of a new ERA ▶     Despite its limitations, Excellence in Research for Australia was the right assessment tool at the right time, says Margaret Sheil.             Research impact: Income for outcome ▶     Australia and New Zealand are experimenting with ways of assessing the impact of publicly funded research.             Perspective: Powering up citations ▶     Changing the way we measure and reward research could enrich academia and improve outcomes for society, says Alan Finkel.             Perspective: If not funding then teaching ▶     The lack of financial reward from Australia's national system of research assessment is obscuring the real issue, says Brian Schmidt.             Q&A Jane Harding: Individual approach ▶     Jane Harding is deputy vice-chancellor for research and professor of neonatology at the University of Auckland, which is New Zealand's most well-funded university under the Performance-Based Research Fund. She discusses the country's approach to assessing science and measuring impact, and describes why she prefers a model that grades the individual not the research group.               Special - Technology Feature ▲top               Cell communication: Stop the microbial chatter ▶     Bacteria can coat everything from thermal springs to teeth. Researchers are looking for antibiotics that can subvert the signalling that the microbes use to carve their niche.                 Nature Genetics in association with the Wellcome Trust are pleased to present: The Genomics of Common Diseases 2014 September 17-20, 2014 Bolger Center, Potomac, MD, USA Click here for more information or to register for this conference today!          Careers & Jobs ▲top               Diversity: Equal access ▶     Universities seek to recreate the success of one institution's mentorship programme for minorities in science.                   Academia: Postdoc policies probed ▶     Survey discloses US institutions' compensation, programmes and services for postdocs.             Careers related news & comment                   Chile needs better science governance and support Pablo Astudillo Besnier | Seven days: 18–24 July 2014 | BRAIN initiative: Brain secrets cheap at twice the price Anuj K. 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