Cover legend: A scanning electron micrograph of a surface preparation of wild-type (C57BL/6) mouse cochlea. Prominent are hair bundles of the three rows of outer hair cells (V-shaped structures). The actin-crosslinking protein fascin-2 is necessary for the continued presence of cochlear hair bundles, which are essential for hearing. Micrograph by Kateri Spinelli. See the article by Shin et al. in this issue (pages 9683–9694).