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The computer will see you now

‘Computational pathologist’ diagnoses different grades of breast cancer.

A computer program has been trained to grade breast cancer, predicting which tumours are associated with worse outcomes and, therefore, deserve more aggressive treatment.

Science/AAAS

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A struggle for power

Brazil is developing the last great untapped reserve of hydroelectricity, the Amazon basin.

When a few hundred demonstrators, mostly from indigenous communities, temporarily occupied the construction site of the Belo Monte dam on Brazil's Xingu River early on 27 October, workers laid down their tools. But the Brazilian government did not back down from its stance that this hydroelectric project on a tributary of the Amazon — expected to be among the world's largest, with a capacity of 11,000 megawatts, when completed in 2015 — is essential to meeting the energy needs of a booming economy. Under a court order, the demonstrators vacated the site later the same day, but the dam remains the subject of fierce litigation.

Source: King's College London

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Seth Stein: The quake killer

The US government says that a huge earthquake risk lurks in the heart of the country, where a series of large shocks hit 200 years ago. Seth Stein says that kind of warning is dead wrong.

The lethal fault cuts through the middle of a Tennessee bean field and then ducks beneath the Mississippi River, making a beeline for New Madrid, Missouri. Named the Reelfoot fault, this geological crack combined with neighbouring faults two centuries ago to unleash a series of devastating earthquakes that have been called the biggest to strike the contiguous United States in recorded history. On government hazard maps, the New Madrid region stands out as a red bull's eye. This spot in the middle of the continent — far from the plate boundaries that produce Earth's greatest quakes — would seem to be every bit as dangerous as San Francisco or Los Angeles.

JEAN-MARC GIBOUX/GA BY GETTY IMAGES

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Art history: Sight and salvation

Martin Kemp sifts the evidence that Leonardo da Vinci painted the newly emerged work Salvator Mundi.

Credit: Leonardo da Vinci/Private collection © 2011 Salvator Mundi LLC/Photo: T. Nighswander/Imaging4Art

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Lost in translation: Mystery of the missing text solved

A discovered letter explains the loss of key paragraphs during the translation of one of Georges Lemaître's papers about the expanding Universe, shows Mario Livio.

ARCHIVES GEORGES LEMAÎTRE/CATHOLIC UNIV. LOUVAIN/TECLIM

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Plague genome: The Black Death decoded

The genome of a 660-year-old bacterium is revealing secrets from one of Europe's darkest chapters.

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The computer will see you now

‘Computational pathologist’ diagnoses different grades of breast cancer.

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Seven DaysSeven days: 4–10 November 2011

The week in science: China's first docking in space; six men complete 520-day virtual mission to Mars; and GSK pays US$3billion to settle investigations.

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A struggle for power

Brazil is developing the last great untapped reserve of hydroelectricity, the Amazon basin.

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FeatureSeth Stein: The quake killer 2 comments
Fresh dispute about MMR 'fraud' 7 comments
Drug research feels Europe's pain
US lawsuit extends thalidomide's reach
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CommentLost in translation: Mystery of the missing text solved

A discovered letter explains the loss of key paragraphs during the translation of one of Georges Lemaître's papers about the expanding Universe, shows Mario Livio.

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Books & ArtsQ&A: Botanical ceramicist

Artist Rob Kesseler adorns porcelain, glass and books with incredibly detailed close-ups of pollen, seeds, leaves and fruit, created in collaboration with botanists in London and Lisbon. As he exhibits Jardim Porcelanico, a collection of tableware decorated with magnified sections of plants he collected in Portugal, he discusses the changing face of botany in art.

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EditorialAcademic freedom

A court decision in the United States rescinding an order to turn over academic e-mails in response to a freedom-of-information request is welcome.

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The road to fraud starts with a single step

The extensive academic fraud of Diederik Stapel has rocked science. Social psychologist Jennifer Crocker traces the destructive path that cheats follow.

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The danger may be overstated but look what happened in Italy to scientists who made predictions about faults that killed people and destroyed buildings much sooner than they believed.

Charles Hollahan on Seth Stein: The quake killer

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The Autism Enigma

Autism spectrum disorder has attracted intense interest from the public and scientists over recent years. Nature sorts fact from fiction in this hot, but sometimes contentious, field: from the debate about soaring diagnoses, to the idea that scientists and engineers are at high risk of having a child with autism. The special includes news and comment from Nature, and articles from Nature Medicine, Nature Neuroscience and Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

Image: Daren Newman

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