Last October I carried a piece about the Oxford poker investment committee. It was just a piece of nostalgia really but it had a dramatic effect on the numbers of visitors coming to this site. It would appear that mention of thw word poker had even more impact than the unlikely combination of Paris Hilton and Jeffrey Archer, as described here. It is, therefore, with some anticipation that I can reveal the publication later this week of Swimming with the Devilfish and an interview with its author, Des Wilson. He uncovers the truth about professional poker but does he fully understand the utter ruthlessness of amateur poker players?

From poker to heredity (which is a form of poker after all) I have a note from the team at Nature about last week's issue.

As well as a superb issue with a focus on stem cells, to be marketed at the International Society for Stem Cell Research annual meeting and to help showcase our new online web portal stem cell reports, we had two mega stories to boost.

Firstly, two papers published online that show that fibroblasts can be reprogrammed to an embryonic state which eliminates the need to use embryos – the finding is described as being akin to Dolly in accomplishment by a stem cell researcher in our news pages

We also published one of the biggest genetic association studies completed to date which identified more than 20 genetic markers associated with 7 major diseases.

This issue and these papers generated headlines around the world, including two US and two UK front pages, as well as volumes of print, broadcast and online coverage. Highlights include the BBC  twice, the New York Times twice and the Guardian  twice.

And many, many more – not bad for a serious journal of science.

For those not following the cricket yesterday, it ended in predictable anti-climax. England won but credit goes to the West Indies and to our new star, Monty Panesar.