Fine ways to fail to secure local realism

Since he proved his theorem in 1982, Fine has been challenging the traditional interpretation of the experimental violation of the Bell Inequalities (BI). A natural interpretation of Fine's theorem is that it provides us with an alternative set of assumptions on which to place blame for the failure of the BI, and opens to a new interpretation of the violation of the BI. Fine has a stronger interpretation for his theorem. He claims that his result undermines the traditional interpretation in terms of local realism. The aim of this paper is to understand and to assess Fine's claim. We distinguish three different strategies that Fine uses in order to support his view. We show that none of these strategies is successful. Fine fails to prove that local realism is not at stake in the violation of the BI by quantum phenomena.     

CCCTC-binding factor: to loop or to bridge

Eukaryotic genomes have complex spatial organization in the nucleus. The factors and the mechanisms involved in this organization remain an enigma. Among the many proteins implicated in such a role, the ubiquitous Zn-finger protein CTCF stands out. Here we summarize the evidence placing CTCF in the enviable position of a master organizer of the genome. CTCF can form loops in cis, and can bridge sequences located on different chromosomes in trans. The thousands of CTCF binding sites, identified in recent genome-wide localization studies, and their distribution along the genome further support a crucial role of CTCF as a chromatin organizer. Received 10 October 2008; received after revision 11 December 2008; accepted 16 December 2008