Contents
Vol 335, Issue 6066
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
Podcasts
- Science Podcast
The show includes a Sun-grazing comet, protecting against the shiga toxin, the risks of experimental cancer therapies, and more.
Products & Materials
- New Products
A weekly roundup of information on newly offered instrumentation, apparatus, and laboratory materials of potential interest to researchers.
News of the Week
- Around the World
In science news around the world this week, India marks 1 year without polio; a newly discovered pathogen infecting cattle, sheep, and goats has been found across Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium; the imperiled hospital and research center run by the San Raffaele del Monte Tabor Foundation may have found a buyer; China's Ministry of Health will crack down on unproven stem cell treatments; the Ecuadorian government will move forward with its rainforest conservation plan; Spain is cutting science funding; and NOAA is being moved from the Commerce Department to Interior.
- Random Sample
The German chemical company BASF will move the headquarters of its plant science division from Limburgerhof, Germany, to Raleigh, North Carolina. At less than half the diameter of a U.S. dime, a newly discovered frog species has taken the top spot as the world's smallest vertebrate. funky49, a self-described "IT worker/nerd/science enthusiast" whose real name is Steve Rush, raps about particle accelerators, Benjamin Franklin, and swapping genes. And this week's numbers quantify the award for designing a hand-held device capable of diagnosing certain diseases and the percentage of about 2700 academic and medical researchers who had witnessed scientific misconduct.
- Newsmakers
This week's Newsmakers are Mark Ferguson, who has been named as the next director general of Science Foundation Ireland, and Dipak Das, head of the cardiovascular research center at the University of Connecticut Health Center, who has been found guilty of 145 counts of fabrication and falsification of data.
Findings
News & Analysis
- A Tantalizing View of What Set Off Japan's Killer Quake
Japanese scientists combing through the vast jumble of seismic signals recorded in the days before the Tohoku earthquake have just sorted out more than 1000 newly recognized earthquakes.
- Engineered Superbugs Boost Hopes of Turning Seaweed Into Fuel
In this week's issue of Science, researchers describe a strain of Escherichia coli that they have genetically engineered to break down and ferment alginate and all the other major sugars in seaweed into ethanol.
- Report Notes China's Influence in Emerging Asian Science Zone
The 2012 edition of NSF's biennial Science and Engineering Indicators report, released this week, shows a sharp rise in intra-Asian collaborations and the growing share of top-cited papers by Chinese authors.
- Heads-Up on a Whale's Gulp
Researchers described a new sensory organ in jaws of gulping whales and gave a detailed accounting of whale feeding bouts, showing how the animals unexpectedly twist as they take in water.
- Robotic Fish Point to Schooling Gene
Scientists studying schooling behavior with the aid of robotic fish reported at the meeting that they may have pinpointed a gene important for schooling.
- Clingfish Stick Like Geckos
An undergraduate reported at the meeting that Gobiesox maeandricus adhered to eight surfaces mimicking the range of sandpaper grades with an average force 180 times their body weight.
News Focus
- Archaeologist of Sound
With near-obsessive determination, audio historian Patrick Feaster has been tracking down remnants of long-vanished voices and noises—and in some cases resurrecting them against the odds.
- Explaining Exercise
Cellular "self-eating," which helps cells meet their energy demands, may account for some of the benefits of exercise.
- Experimental Cancer Therapies Move to the Front Line
It's standard to test drugs in advanced cancer; now, some doctors are using experimental drugs earlier in disease and juggling the challenges that come with doing so.
Letters
Books et al.
- The Long and Winding Road
Examining the nature and fate of efforts to reform the healthcare system in the United States, Starr describes how it has become such a politically charged topic there.
- Deploying a Powerful Pesticide
Highlighting the uses of DDT as a tool of U.S. foreign policy and in international development projects, Kinkela places the controversies surrounding the pesticide in a global context.
- Books Received
A listing of books received at Science during the week ending 13 January 2012.
Policy Forum
- What Next for Agriculture After Durban?
Despite obstacles in the UN climate talks, modest progress and opportunities for scientific input on agriculture arose.
Perspectives
- Bird-Brained Illusionists
The bowers constructed by great bowerbirds to attract mates create optical size and distance illusions.
- Taking a Back Door to Target Myc
The oncogenic activity of the transcription factor Myc might be blocked by targeting nononcogenic proteins that Myc depends on to cause cancer.
- Moving Beyond Trust in Quantum Computing
A protocol that allows users and operators of a quantum computer to avoid revealing their methods has implications for the need of classical ideas in quantum mechanics.
- The Final Flight of a Sun-Diving Comet
A suite of space-based observatories has captured the details of a comet as it disintegrates in the solar corona.
- Transforming Earthquake Detection?
Citizen science projects have the potential to transform earthquake science if data quality standards are maintained.
- Sowing the Seeds of Centromeres
How can a centromere relocate to a new chromosomal position?
- Enzymes in Coherent Motion
A single-molecule approach reveals coherence in long trajectories of enzyme conformational dynamics.
- Lynn Margulis (1938–2011)
A biologist's innovative theoretical syntheses provided the intellectual scaffolding for endosymbiotic theory, a cornerstone of mainstream evolutionary biology.
Research Articles
- Demonstration of Blind Quantum Computing
A protocol is implemented that can ensure secure client-server interactions on a quantum computer architecture.
- An Engineered Microbial Platform for Direct Biofuel Production from Brown Macroalgae
Metabolic engineering showcases a preliminary route to generating ethanol from seaweed.
Reports
- Synthetic Partial Waves in Ultracold Atomic Collisions
A pair of lasers is used produce complex interactions between bosons in an ultracold gas.
- Visualizing Gas Molecules Interacting with Supported Nanoparticulate Catalysts at Reaction Conditions
Electron microscopy reveals how adsorbed carbon monoxide molecules restructure the surface of gold nanoparticles.
- Single-Molecule Lysozyme Dynamics Monitored by an Electronic Circuit
Changes in protein conformation can be detected via changes in electrostatic potential with a carbon nanotube transistor.
- Destruction of Sun-Grazing Comet C/2011 N3 (SOHO) Within the Low Solar Corona
The NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory detected and tracked a comet as it penetrated the solar atmosphere.
- Polymerase Exchange During Okazaki Fragment Synthesis Observed in Living Cells
Single-molecule microscopy suggests that a new core polymerase is used to synthesize each Okazaki fragment.
- Manganese Blocks Intracellular Trafficking of Shiga Toxin and Protects Against Shiga Toxicosis
Manganese may represent a low-cost therapeutic agent for the treatment of a type of Escherichia coli food poisoning.
- Illusions Promote Mating Success in Great Bowerbirds
Males that are more successful at tricking female senses mate more often.
- Activation-Induced B Cell Fates Are Selected by Intracellular Stochastic Competition
Cell-fate decisions in activated B lymphocytes are determined by stochastic competition.
- Asymmetric B Cell Division in the Germinal Center Reaction
Germinal center B cells undergo asymmetric cell division.
- Tuning of Natural Killer Cell Reactivity by NKp46 and Helios Calibrates T Cell Responses
The activating receptor NKp46 is important for keeping the responses of natural killer cells in check.
- A SUMOylation-Dependent Transcriptional Subprogram Is Required for Myc-Driven Tumorigenesis
An RNA interference screen identifies a “druggable” enzyme whose inhibition halts tumor cell growth.
- Locally Synchronized Synaptic Inputs
The computational power of individual neurons is determined by a surprisingly precise wiring of neuronal networks.
Technical Comments
