Developmental biology: How to turn inside out. The discovery that a molecular motor of the kinesin family is involved in turning a multicellular green alga inside out might have implications for similar events in animal development

Theoretical biology: Safeguards and spurs Biological traits are buffered against genetic and environmental upset by a process called canalization. New work suggests this may be a general feature of regulatory gene networks, selected to survive gene loss

Condensed-matter physics: Singular behaviour. Quantum fluctuations at absolute zero may push a system into a different phase or state. The 'quantum critical point' at which this happens in certain materials has now been probed in greater detail