Selections from the RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS scientific literature VIROLOGY Improved mouse for Ebola research To overcome the lack of good mouse models for Ebola studies, researchers have created a mouse that displays the hallmark symptoms of Ebola infection — potentially useful for drug and vaccine development. A team led by Michael O’NEILL/OCEANWIDEIMAGES.COM MICHAEL PATRICK Katze at the University of Washington, Seattle, crossed eight strains of mice to produce a colony with a diverse genetic background. When infected with a mouse-adapted version of the Ebola virus, the mice ZOOLOGY exhibited a broad range of responses from no observable symptoms to severe Fish grind teeth to grunt haemorrhagic fever. Surviving mice showed A species of fish makes grunting sounds by animals and found that the sound-making key physiological differences grinding its teeth. The French grunt fish process was similar to chewing, but slightly compared with susceptible (Haemulon flavolineatum; pictured) is thought slower. Electron microscope images of the teeth animals, such as immune to groan in distress by rubbing together its revealed signs of erosion. cells that function better. pharyngeal jaws, a second pair of toothed jaws The fish’s hearing is not tuned specifically to The researchers link these located in the throat that help to process food. the frequencies of the grunts, suggesting that differences to variants of the Frédéric Bertucci of the University of Liége the pharyngeal jaws first evolved for eating and genes Tie1 and Tek. in Belgium and his co-workers used X-ray were later co-opted for communication. Science http://doi.org/ws4 (2014) cameras to capture high-speed video of the J. Exp. Biol. 217, 3862–3869 (2014) PHYSIOLOGY tissue growth that together mice, suggesting that muscle certain directions. How baby bones move the bone fragments contractions are also required To create the structure, self-repair back into place. for infant bone healing. Takuo Tanaka at the RIKEN Elazar Zelzer and his Dev. Cell 31, 159–170 (2014) Metamaterials Laboratory Infant bone fractures colleagues at the Weizmann in Saitama, Japan, and his heal without any medical Institute of Science in MATERIALS colleagues first built a flat intervention, thanks to Rehovot, Israel, imaged template out of an etched muscle contractions and fractured bones as they healed Device bends light polymer, silicon and metal in newborn mice. They found from all angles strips. When exposed to air, that a soft callus (pictured in stresses in the strips caused purple) containing cartilage A material can distort the them to curl into three- forms at the fracture site and refraction of infrared light dimensional rings, a structure /ELSEVIER acts like a mechanical jack: the from almost any angle, paving that unnaturally bent light growth of tissue (red arrows) the way for new kinds of coming from almost any angle. on one side of the fracture optical device. The authors say that the CELL AL., DEV. ET provides force to realign the Such metamaterials are approach could eventually bone fragments. The callus made up of tiny structures that be used in devices such as C. ROT hardens (orange), allowing the tune electromagnetic waves in superlenses, which allow bone to heal. ways that would be impossible scientists to see beyond the Botulinum toxin, which in a natural material. But they limit of conventional lenses. paralyses muscles, blocked work only for long wavelengths, Adv. Opt. Mater. http://doi.org/ the repair process in the or with light coming from ws3 (2014) 10 | NATURE | VOL 515 | 6 NOVEMBER 2014 © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK CLIMATE CHANGE Germany, monitored five wild female chimps at Taï National Greenland’s ice at Park in the Ivory Coast for Popular articles SOCIAL SELECTION on social media mercy of ocean 275 days over 2 years. They found that when figs were ripe, As the climate warms, changes the animals often left their Conference gender gap revealed to the ocean around Greenland bed nests before dawn, and could cause its ice sheet to melt departed earlier when the fig Conferences are a central part of scientific life, but they are also where it currently seems stable. tree was farther away. an arena for gender disparities, according to a study proving Camille Lique and her Such flexible planning may popular on social media. Researchers in Australia gathered colleagues at the University of have supported the evolution data from the 2013 Australasian Evolution Society meeting Oxford, UK, used data from of calorie-hungry big brains and found that male speakers tend to get a bigger share of the an integrated climate model in other primates and exposure — a conclusion shared by past studies of conferences. to study a worst-case scenario: ancient human ancestors, the Even though roughly the same number of men and women concentrations of atmospheric researchers say. attended and presented at the evolution conference, women carbon dioxide that increase by Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA http:// spoke for less time and were also less inclined to ask for longer 2% each year for 70 years until doi.org/ws6 (2014) slots for their talks. Katie Hinde, an evolutionary biologist at they are four times the current Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, shared her level. The authors found that NEUROSCIENCE take-home message on Twitter: “Ladies, request the long talk.” the resulting changes in ocean PeerJ 2, e627 (2014) circulation will contribute Nostalgia rewards to ocean warming across the the brain entire region, by up to 5 °C Based on data from altmetric.com. NATURE.COM in places. This will lead to Reminiscing about happy Altmetric is supported by Macmillan For more on increased melting of marine- times is rewarding to the brain, AScienceltmetric and Education, which owns popular papers: terminating glaciers across and people will even give up Nature Publishing Group. go.nature.com/qcd1tf most of Greenland. money for the chance to enjoy The potential for widespread some nostalgia. ice loss suggests that ice-sheet Mauricio Delgado and Wang at the Massachusetts form of hydrogen. monitoring should not be his colleagues at Rutgers Institute of Technology in The molecule limited to areas of current, University in Newark, New Cambridge and his colleagues BrHBr is held together by rapid melting, the authors say. Jersey, asked volunteers to used a refined chemical weak electrostatic attractions Clim. Dynam. http://doi.org/wsq recall happy and neutral transport model, along with known as Van der Waals’ (2014) memories while their brains actual observations, to study forces. Jörn Manz at Shanxi were scanned using functional black-carbon behaviour. University in Taiyuan, ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR magnetic resonance imaging. They found that previous China, and his colleagues Participants spent more time simulations have substantially calculated what would Chimps plan for recalling happy memories, overestimated concentrations happen if the hydrogen better breakfasts and when doing so, their brain of soot in remote regions were swapped for a lighter activity patterns were similar to as well as its global lifetime, isotope called muonium, in Wild chimpanzees plan their those seen in people receiving leading to higher estimates which a positively charged days to improve the chance of money. When offered a small of its warming potential. The elementary particle called an finding tasty fruit for breakfast. amount of money to recall a authors conclude that the antimuon takes the place of Chimps (Pan troglodytes positive memory and a larger direct warming effect of black the proton. verus) like ripened figs amount for a neutral memory, carbon might be less than They predict that the (pictured), but these treats the volunteers were more likely one-quarter of the previously BrMuBr molecule would are available only for short to choose the happy memory. reported value. be held together not by periods of time and are sought The researchers say that Policies aimed at reducing electrostatic forces but with by other animals. To find out recalling good memories could black-carbon emissions could a vibrational bond. The how chimps secure the prized be useful for improving mood. have only a limited impact on muonium shuttling between fruit, Karline Janmaat and her Neuron http://doi.org/ws2 (2014) mitigating climate warming, the bromine atoms would colleagues at the Max Planck the team cautions. form a lower-energy system Institute for Evolutionary ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE Atmos. Chem. Phys. 14, than the vibrations of MuBr FERRERO-LABAT/ARDEA.COM Anthropology in Leipzig, 10989–11010 (2014) alone. Warming from soot These calculations suggest overestimated CHEMISTRY that the bond might have been produced in the earlier Atmospheric soot may Vibrations yield experiment, which combined not have nearly as much new type of bond muonium and bromine. climate warming potential as Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. http://doi. previously thought. Calculations suggest that a org/f2vjn6 (2014) Tiny carbon particles new kind of chemical bond produced by biomass burning proposed in the 1980s might NATURE.COM and incomplete combustion have occurred in a 2012 For the latest research published by of fossil fuels absorb sunlight, experiment that coupled two Nature visit: warming the planet. Xuan bromine atoms to an exotic www.nature.com/latestresearch 6 NOVEMBER 2014 | VOL 515 | NATURE | 11 © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.