Cover picture: Sequential video images correlating time-dependent changes in macropatch membrane topography with functional properties of heterologously expressed voltage-dependent sodium current. The final frame in the sequence reveals a collapse of cytoskeletal-plasma membrane attachments at the same moment that an abrupt transition from slow to fast inactivation occurs, pointing to a role for mechanical stabilization in the regulation of sodium channel function. See the article by Shcherbatko et al. on p. 1945.