Nature Newshumans rode and milked horses as early as 3500 BC, say an international group of researchers.
Nature Newsafter decades of searching, plant biologists have found a way to selectively snip out one gene
In 1997, a Nature paper reporting targeted gene disruption in Arabidopsis raised the hopes of many plant researchers3.
Nature Newsa new strain of swine flu-influenza A (H1n1)- is spreading around the globe. This timeline will be updated continually with key dates, drawing on authoritative information from the World health organization (WHO), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other sources.
For more on the situation see the Nature News swine flu special, and read updates on The Great Beyond blog.
Nature Newsthe state of California has adopted regulations to curb greenhouse-gas emissions from transportation fuels,
Nature Newschris Whitty became head of research at the UK Department for International Development last month.
Nature News caught up with Whitty, a clinical epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, to find out more about the department's ambitious five-year research strategy.
Nature Newsa white-faced, red-coated Hereford cow named Dominette has become the first cow to have sequenced its genome.
Nature Newsthe US Environmental protection agency (EPA) today declared greenhouse gases a threat to public health and welfare, a move that gives the Obama administration broad powers to regulate greenhouse gases without going through Congress.
Nature Newsforestry experts have warned again that climate change could transform forests from sinks to sources of carbon.
Nature Newssince the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) crashed into the ocean minutes after its 24 february launch,
Nature Newsprotected areas can rapidly become parks only on paper if their status as reserves is backed not by the authorities
Nature Newsthe Australian government's proposed cap-and-trade scheme to regulate greenhouse gases, released in draft legislation last month,
-and-trade bill as Nature went to press. And on 20 march the US Environmental protection agency submitted a proposed finding to the White house,
Nature Newssufficient efforts are not being made to protect 10%of the world's forests by 2010 as agreed under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) according to a new analysis1.
It shows that only 7. 7%are protected currently according to categories established by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN),
Nature Newsvehicles propelled by biomass-fired electricity would travel farther on a given crop and produce fewer greenhouse-gas emissions than vehicles powered by ethanol,
Nature Newsthe water plumes erupting from the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus could be caused by a liquid ocean lurking many kilometres underground rather than by geysers erupting from a salty ocean just beneath the moon
Nature Newsmost African farmers will be able to find heat-resistant crop varieties within their own borders or in other countries on the continent,
Nature Newspublic-health experts are warning that a lack of surveillance may be allowing the 2009 pandemic H1n1 flu virus to go undetected in pigs.
Nature advance online publication doi: 10.1038/nature08182; 2009), Gavin Smith, a flu geneticist at the University of Hong kong,
Moreover, Nature has learned that the international community was warned of such a risk in a presentation at a closed meeting between the OIE, THE WHO and the Food and agriculture organization of the united nations in Paris in February.
Nature Newsusing a combination of three genetic mutations, plant researchers have disrupted the usual process of genetic shuffling during the formation of reproductive cells male pollen and female ova.
Nature Newsan international treaty aimed at protecting and improving access to the world's plant genetic resources is set to dole out its first round of research grants this week amid cash-flow problems that could endanger future awards.
Nature Newscarbon dioxide emissions from deforestation in the Amazon are increasing as loggers and land developers move deeper into dense regions of the forest,
Nature Newsacross the United states, researchers are firing up experiments to determine how rising temperatures could reshape the nation's forests.
But as the US Department of energy phases out a number of large-scale forest experiments designed to look at the effects of elevated carbon dioxide levels (see Nature 456,289;
really knows whether the way that we're warming will have some effects that might be different from the way that nature will warm forests in the future.
Nature Newsfarmers in the Ethiopian village of Adi Ha have been busy sowing fresh crops of grain in recent weeks,
Nature Newson 10 july, G8 leaders promised to dedicate US$20 billion over three years to food security around the world.
talks to Nature News about how research fits into this new model of agricultural development.
Nature Newsfamily trees for pandemic influenza have revealed that components of deadly flu viruses probably lurk in humans
Nature Newsas far as your immune system is concerned, the pandemic H1n1 (swine flu virus currently circling the globe bears an uncanny resemblance to an influenza virus that wreaked havoc nearly a century ago,
Nature Newsfollowing up on a non-binding pledge to halve its emissions by mid-century, the Mexican government is finalizing regulations that would curb the country's projected emissions by more than 6%over the next three years.
Nature Newsthe ability to adapt to a new environment may not always be beneficial for long-term success in flour beetles at least.
Nature Newslaboratory studies suggest that it may be possible for insects to overcome two disparate toxins produced by genetically modified cotton.
Nature Newsmillions of hectares of land will be needed to meet growing energy demands in the United states over the next two decades, according to new'energy sprawl'estimates.
says study author Robert Mcdonald, a landscape ecologist with The Nature Conservancy, a nonprofit environmental organization based in Arlington, Virginia.
a policy expert at The Nature Conservancy and a co-author of the study. If we are to prevent serious, damaging climate change,
Nature Newspolicy Events Business Facilities Environment<br></br>The week ahead Sound bites Number crunch<br></br>Policy Stem cells:
-and-trade scheme to limit greenhouse-gas emissions from industry (see Nature 458,554-555; 2009).
as Nature went to press, it had failed to put its observation satellite into its intended orbit.
As Nature went to press, environmental groups seeking to block the use of air guns during the tests (see Nature 460,939;
2009) were expected to return to court on 25 august to try to divert the RV Marcus Langseth from her mission.
The product's manufacturer, Geron in Menlo Park, California, had hoped to start human testing of its potential treatment for spinal-cord injury this summer (see Nature 457,516;
as the cost of solar panels plummeted in the first half of 2009 (see also Nature 460,677;
A nuclear reactor in Petten, The netherlands, that supplies radioactive isotopes for use in medical imaging reopened last week after a month's scheduled maintenance partly alleviating a global shortage of the isotopes (see Nature 460,312-313;
The FDA won powers to regulate tobacco for the first time in its 103-year history under legislation passed by Congress in June (see Nature 459,901;
Nature Newsjapanese research teams have pinpointed the genes in hardy varieties of rice that help the plants to outgrow rising paddy-field waters
Nature Newsthe health of the world's forests and their capacity to lock away carbon could be jeopardized by logging
Nature Newsalong the Trans-Amazonian Highway in the Brazilian state of Par ¡,, many landowners try to boost their income by clearing a hectare or two each year for farms or cattle grazing.
Nature Newssimple changes to farming practices in China have slashed the amount of methane released from rice fields,
Nature Newsinternational experts have called for urgent changes to the way water is used in farming throughout Asia.
Nature Newswith a strangely naked face covered in skin flaps and a wide, foreshortened skull, the head of the rarely seen, fruit-eating,
Nature Newsmysteriously, Earth has much less carbon in its rocks than would be expected from the amounts of carbon available in the planet-forming regions of our Galaxy.
Nature Newsresearchers have created transgenic maize plants that fight off pests by emitting a chemical to attract insect-killing nematode worms. 1the method,
Nature Newsdeveloping countries could see large drops in crop yields by 2050 if climate change is unchecked left, according to a US report,
Nature Newspolicy Events Research Business The week ahead News maker Number crunch Policy Merkel wins:
and genetically modified crops (see Nature 461,456-457; 2009). ) Merkel is expected also to review the country's plans to phase out its nuclear power stations over the next decade.
Nature News<newline>The business of biofuels</newline>This year was supposed to be a big year for Bluefire Ethanol.
Nature Newsus agricultural research is getting a makeover. The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) opens its doors on 1 Â October, with plant biotechnologist Roger Beachy at its helm.
Nature Newsa review committee in Sacramento, California, begins on 24 september to assess the science behind methyl iodide a pesticide that has been approved for agricultural use by the US Environmental protection agency (EPA),
did not respond to press queries from Nature. The California DPR now awaits the conclusion of the independent panel
Nature Newscanadian researchers have decoded the DNA of the tree-killing fungus found in the mouths of mountain pine beetles,
What really happens in nature is confined not to one species but is happening at the intersection
Nature News The business of biofuels The promise of green gold is fading from Jatropha curcas,
Biodiesel from his institute's jatropha project (see Nature 449,652-655; 2007) has been used in test cars belonging to the project
Nature Newsthe Obama administration released new automobile standards on Tuesday, proposing regulations that would curb greenhouse-gas emissions and ratchet up fuel-efficiency standards beginning in 2012.
Nature Newsthe blight that caused the infamous Irish potato famine of the 1840s has yielded its genetic secrets.
Nature Newspolicy Events Funding Research Business The week ahead Number crunch News maker Policy Spaceflight review:
-I rocket in favour of commercial space flights, had already been aired in public meetings (see Nature 460,791;
came in response to a damning review of the ERC published in July (see Nature 460,557;
See go. nature. com/Eh8n43 for more. Nuclear vision: Germany's new coalition government will extend the lifespan of the nation's nuclear power plants which last year produced around 23%of the country's electricity needs beyond 2022.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed on 22 october to designate around 500,000 square kilometres of critical habitat 96%of which is sea ice for the polar bear.
See go. nature. com/APMPTB for more. GM protests: Environmental groups are protesting after the Mexican government's 15 october approval of the first permits to plant experimental genetically modified (GM) maize (corn.
But researchers say that past landrace contaminations from illegal GM maize planting (see Nature 456,149;
The week ahead 29 october â oe1 November Philadelphia hosts the 47th Annual Meeting of the Infectious diseases Society of America. go. nature. com/ykfvnw 29 â oe30 October
A European council summit meeting in Brussels may firm up European promises to finance climate-change action in developing countries. go. nature. com/1kwxls 2 november The European space agency is scheduled to launch its Soil Moisture
and Ocean Salinity satellite. go. nature. com/shq161 2 â oe6 November Nairobi, Kenya, hosts the Multilateral Initiative on Malaria's fifth Pan-African Malaria Conference. www. mimalaria. org/pamc 2 â oe6 November The United nations Framework
Spain. go. nature. com/Qss4jx Number crunch 57%of Americans think there is solid evidence the Earth is warming,
Nature Newsstiff opposition from activists has persuaded the Indian government to put off commercial release of the country's first genetically modified (GM) food crop,
Nature Newsargentina, often perceived as a vast fertile territory, is losing its native forests. Nearly 40%of animal and plant species in the country's arid and semiarid ecosystems are in danger from habitat loss,
Nature Newspolicy Facilities Events Business Research Awards The week ahead Sound bites Number crunch Policy Climate law:
See go. nature. com/RWJADJ for more. Frozen grants: A ¥270-billion (US$3-billion) funding programme in Japan has been put on hold because of a wholesale budget freeze by the country's new government.
See go. nature. com/yvlwt3 for more. Facilities Dam settlement: After a bitter and lengthy controversy over water management, four hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River in Oregon and California will be removed to restore salmon runs.
See go. nature. com/qkxbhd for more. Business Firing frenzy: Sequenom, a biotechnology firm in San diego, California, has cleared out its top executives after an internal investigation found lax oversight of faulty research.
and could not be relied on (see Nature 459,23; 2009). ) Last week the company fired chief executive Harry Stylli and Elizabeth Dragon, senior vice-president of research and development.
See go. nature. com/VYZOWL for more. Presidential visit: US President Barack Obama visited the National institutes of health in Bethesda, Maryland, on 30 september (pictured.
The chemistry prize was yet to be awarded as Nature went to press. See page 706 and www. nature. com/news for more.
The week ahead 9 october NASA's Lunar crater Remote Observation and Sensing Satellite will crash into a crater near the Moon's south pole,
and industrial representatives converge on Brussels to discuss the region's space programme. www. spaceconference. eu 15-25 october Canada's Perimeter Institute for Theoretical physics (see Nature 461,
tells Nature how he feels about trying to ensure that the agency won't suffer financially
See go. nature. com/h15ch6 for the full interview. Number crunch 12,000%The potential rise in India's nuclear capacity, from 3. 8 gigawatts today to 470 gigawatts by 2050
Nature Newsafter months of back-door talks with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, Democrats in the US Senate released a cap-and-trade climate bill on Wednesday.
Nature takes a closer look. What's in the bill? Based in large part on the version passed by the House of representatives in June,
Nature Newsliving like a pig could be good for you. Research has shown how dirty piglets obtain'friendly'bacteria that help them to develop healthy immune systems later in life.
Nature Newsmany strategies for reining in greenhouse gases come with substantial health benefits, according to a new study.
Nature Newsmexico doesn't have an adequate system to monitor or protect natural maize (corn) varieties from transgenes,
Nature Newsplant biologists have something special to be thankful for this US Thanksgiving day. The genome of maize (corn) a staple crop first introduced by Native americans to the European settlers centuries ago has finally been sequenced.
Nature Newspolicy Funding Events Research Awards Business watch The week ahead News maker Sound bites Policy DNA bar codes:
The two-gene identifier beat a pair of other proposals put forward by the 52-member plant working group of the Consortium for the Barcode of Life in July (see go. nature. com/nztuhw.
had asked the APS to adopt a statement that climate change is a natural phenomenon. After a review, the society's council decided to retain its current statement.
which released its own code of conduct earlier this month (see Nature doi: 10.1038/news. 2009.1065; 2009).
See go. nature. com/bcusi6 for more. Funding Cash squeeze: The board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the major funding channel for controlling these diseases, last week approved US$2. 4 billion in extra funding over two years.
but the US Fish and Wildlife Service says there are now more than 650,000 in the United states, the Caribbean and Latin america.
See go. nature. com/odk7he for more. Carbon cutters: Brazil has pledged to reduce its projected carbon dioxide emissions in 2020 by 36-39%below business-as usual levels, increasing pressure on other countries less than a month before the United nations climate summit in Copenhagen.
scientists and politicians will release findings on the public-health effects of policies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. go. nature. com/4vfwwo 25-27 november Planetary scientists will discuss observations
and health-insurance coverage on the basis of genetic information. go. nature. com/Vlym5n News maker Lee Myung-bakthe president of South korea is backing a plan to increase total R&d spending
See go. nature. com/K3gytx for more. Sound bites I couldn't find a professional job in my chosen field
Nature Newsa controversial herbicide-spraying programme to tackle cocaine production in Colombia has few adverse environmental impacts.
Nature Newsfor someone who had emerged just from a 40-month trial, Byeong-Chun Lee seemed remarkably energetic.
Nature Newsplanting trees, which can significantly help to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide, nevertheless comes with potentially damaging side effects.
Nature Newsa notorious pair of man-eating lions that teamed up to terrorize Kenyan labour camps more than 100 years ago did not have the same taste for human flesh,
Nature Newsthe mysterious Peruvian culture that preceded the Incas had a significant hand in its own catastrophic collapse,
Nature Newsbuilding on an existing pledge to slash deforestation rates in the Amazon, Brazil is considering a commitment to substantially reduce cumulative greenhouse-gas emissions over the next decade.
Details were under discussion as Nature went to press, but such a commitment would represent the most significant step yet by a developing country going into December's United nations climate summit in Copenhagen.
Brazil created the Amazon Fund last year as an alternative mechanism that would allow donor countries to help pay for the country's ongoing programme to curb deforestation (see Nature 460,936-937;
As Nature went to press, Lula had scheduled a 3 november cabinet meeting to discuss the issue.
 See also www. nature. com/roadtocopenhagen
Whatever happened to...Nature News Liberia's caterpillar plague Panic struck Liberia in early 2009, after a plague of caterpillars struck villages around the country, munching trees
and leaves and polluting water supplies. By late January, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the country's president, had declared a state of emergency
Nature Newshumans may have been baking bread 105,000 years ago, says a researcher who has discovered evidence of ground seeds from sorghum grass on stone tools in a Mozambique cave.
Nature Newschalk up another piece of dire news for the Arctic in a globally warmed future.
Nature Newswhatever agreement emerges from the climate meeting in Copenhagen, many expect that it will include a mechanism allowing rich nations to offset their emissions by paying poorer countries to protect their forests
Nature Geosci. 2, 737-738; 2009). ) The latest assessments, presented at Copenhagen, harness data from multiple satellites as well as thousands of ground plots,
offsetting some of the reductions in deforestation that Brazil aims to achieve in the coming decade (see Nature doi:
) Â See also www. nature. com/roadtocopenhagen
News briefing: 10 december 2009: Nature Newspolicy Business Market watch Events Research The week ahead Number crunch Sound bites Policy Stem-cell lines:
On 2 december, the US National institutes of health (NIH) approved 13 human embryonic stem-cell lines for use by US government-funded researchers the first lines to be given the green light
said that the target was worked out in concert with other developing countries (see Nature 462,550; 2009).
See go. nature. com/ayfwdf for more. Unhealthy air: Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are dangerous to human health,
when the exclusion was added by politicians to a text agreed by a committee of scientific experts (see Nature 460,19;
See go. nature. com/Ttu9tm for more. Events Space tourism's new era: Enthusiastic space tourists got their first public viewing of the commercial passenger vehicle Spaceshiptwo (pictured,
See go. nature. com/upkuly for more. Climate security breach: Three weeks after the theft of e-mails from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK, unsuccessful hacking was reported at the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis
See go. nature. com/Ooyxwx for more. Tuberculosis funds: Tuberculosis research has seen funding jump in each of the past few years,
and Afghanistan to gain cultural understanding (see Nature 455,583-588; 2008). ) In a report presented by the American Anthropological Association at its annual meeting on 3 december,
which will recommend ways to manage ship-borne tourism to Antarctica. go. nature. com/cujgwi 10 december This year's Nobel science laureates receive their awards in Stockholm,
Sweden. go. nature. com/PUFASN 11 december NASA's orbiting infrared telescope, the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, is scheduled to launch. http://wise. ssl. berkeley. edu 14-18 december The American Geophysical Union meets in San francisco,
Nature Newswhat does it take to wipe a scourge off the face of the Earth? A massive global push to hunt down
and since then it has killed millions of cattle and other wildlife throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle east and the Indian subcontinent.
regional efforts and focused on widespread vaccination programmes and on long-term monitoring of cattle and wildlife.
Nature Newsstrike one planet from the list of 400-odd found around stars in other solar systems:
Nature Newsamazon nations will be the early winners in a future market for forest carbon credits,
Nature Newsastronomers have watched the violent death of what was probably the most massive star ever detected.
This week in Nature Gal-Yam and his colleagues report that the explosion was probably that of a supermassive star, at least two hundred times the mass of the Sun1.
Nature Newsrinderpest, the world's most devastating cattle disease, will be declared eradicated within 18 months, according to world health bodies.
It not only kills cattle and other wildlife, it also causes famines when people in developing countries lose the beasts they need to plough their fields,
and other wildlife around the world since it first spread from Asia to Europe in the herds of the invading tribes, causing outbreaks during the Roman empire in 376-386.
The programme's success depended on widespread vaccination programmes and long-term monitoring of cattle and wildlife.
Nature Newsliving like a pig could be good for you, according to research showing that dirty piglets pick up'friendly'bacteria that help them to develop robust immune systems later in life.
Nature Newsin a bid to overcome the drawbacks of existing biofuels, researchers have engineered a bacterium that can convert a form of raw plant biomass directly into clean, road-ready diesel.
In this week's Nature, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and the biotech firm LS9 of South San francisco, California, among others describe a potential solution:
Nature Newshaving passed climate legislation in the House of representatives last June, Democrats in the US Congress were hoping to push climate legislation through the Senate this spring.
Nature takes a look at the resolution and the longer-term prospects for global-warming legislation.
Nature Newspandas are endangered increasingly in the wild, and the sighting of one with extremely rare brown-and-white fur is now raising fears that the species may be suffering from inbreeding.
In November 2009, a staff member at the Foping Nature Reserve in China's Qinling Mountains one of the panda's last remaining strongholds spotted a panda with the unusual colouring.
which was published online in Nature last month3, also revealed little sign of inbreeding, says Jun Wang of the Beijing Genomics Institute in Shenzhen, China.
Nature Newsbiological oceanographer Andrew Pershing wants carbon credits for whale conservation. That's because whales, he says,
Nature Newspolicy Business Research Events People Business watch The week ahead Number crunch Sound bites Policy Stem-cell lines:
See go. nature. com/vmucio for more. Avandia risks: Drug-maker Glaxosmithkline (GSK) was aware of cardiac risks associated with its diabetes drug Avandia (rosiglitazone) years before they became public
Cosan (see Nature 463, 592; 2010. Nuclear guarantees: The US Department of energy on 16 february issued an US$8. 3-billion loan guarantee for a pair of nuclear power plants in Georgia,
who resigned last month (see Nature 463,407; 2010). ) Climate chief resigns: Yvo de Boer (pictured), executive secretary of the United nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, unexpectedly announced his resignation on 18 february after almost four years leading climate negotiations.
on the fifth anniversary of the treaty's entry into force. go. nature. com/RMWXIO 1-5 march The 41st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference takes place at the Woodlands,
Chandrayaan-1 and Chang'e-1. go. nature. com/QIBPPZ 3-5 march The International Emissions Trading Association joins with various United nations agencies to host the second Africa Carbon Forum
The meeting aims to boost lowcarbon projects in Africa under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism. go. nature. com/Nz7bzt Number crunch 523 Number of authors on two
See go. nature. com/Ajykoj for more on the conference.
China takes stock of environment: Nature Newschina has completed its first ever pollution census. The 4-billion yuan (US$585-million) project took 570,000 people two years to complete.
It tracked pollution from industry, agriculture, urban waste, landfills and incinerators. The broad survey will provide the basis for setting environmental protection targets in the next five-year plan of economic initiatives that begins in 2011,
Nature Newschinese farmers'rampant use of fertilizers could soon endanger the nation's ability to feed itself.
Nature Newsindia's government has refused to allow commercial cultivation of what would have been the country's first genetically modified (GM) food crop.
he Nature. This year we are putting maximum emphasis on research in agricultural and environmental biotechnology.
Nature Newspolicy Business People Events Awards Research Business watch The week ahead Number crunch Sound bites Policy Climate service:
ipierian of San francisco, was awarded Britain's first patent for ips cell reprogramming (see Nature 463,592-593;
Andrew Wakefield for unethical conduct (see Nature 463,593; 2010). ) Pika not protected: The US Fish and Wildlife Service has denied endangered-species protection to the American pika (Ochotona princeps.
Campaigners had argued that the small herbivore (pictured) would be threatened by rising temperatures. It would have been only the second mammal other than the polar bear to be afforded such protection explicitly because of climate change.
and by HP, Intel and Yahoo already offer some scientists access to their services (see Nature 449,963;
and Technology. go. nature. com/YWJQIN 12 february NASA holds a public'state of the agency'meeting,
presenting its current and proposed programmes. go. nature. com/Ddnjf6 13-17 february The American Physical Society meets in WASHINGTON DC. go. nature. com/OTUIVJ Number crunch $2. 4
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