Contents
Vol 341, Issue 6150
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
Podcasts
- Science Podcast: 6 September Show
Listen to stories on failed stars, numerosity in the brain, monitoring a North Korean volcano, 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, a measleslike virus is the culprit behind hundreds of dolphin deaths on the U.S. East Coast this summer, two Italian scientists are named "senators for life," and the U.S. government considers changing consent rules for preemie therapies in the wake of a controversial study.
- Newsmakers
Two University of California, Davis, researchers who sought to treat patients with brain cancer with gastrointestinal bacteria have resigned following internal investigations that found that they failed to follow the university's ethical guidelines governing medical research.
- Random Samples
New tomographic images reveal that hotspot plumes, such as the one feeding Hawaii's volcanoes, extend deep into the mantle.
Findings
News & Analysis
- U.N. Taps Special Labs to Investigate Syrian Attack
Special laboratories that investigate alleged chemical weapons attacks are getting a rare call to action from the United Nations after the horrifying events in Syria.
- As Syria Crisis Mounts, Scientist Looks Back at Last Major Chemical Attack
As the Syrian crisis unfolds, a scientist involved in investigating the last major chemical attack against civilians, in Iraq in 1988, describes his experience.
- Fluorine-Adding Bacteria May Transform Natural Product Medicines
Synthetic biology now makes it possible to add fluorine atoms just where they are desired on large drug molecules, which could revolutionize medicines based on compounds harvested from living organisms.
- Protein Designers Go Small
After years of frustration and controversy, computer scientists have succeeded in designing a protein able to bind tightly and uniquely to a single small drug molecule.
- Japan Gets Serious About Creating Its Own NIH
Japan is counting on biomedical innovation as a pillar of economic growth.
- Evolution Heresy? Epigenetics Underlies Heritable Plant Traits
A study presented at an evolutionary biology meeting found that heritable changes in plant flowering time and other traits were not the result of DNA sequence changes but chemical modifications to the DNA.
News Focus
- The Unruly Neutrino
Neutrinos flout the rules of particle physicists' standard model, but researchers are already deciphering their tricks.
- Sizing Up a Slumbering Giant
A thousand years ago, Mount Paektu unleashed one of the biggest eruptions in recent history. An unusual collaboration aims to learn why the volcano is so potent.
Letters
Books et al.
- Mysterious Travelers Revisited
Tapping the extensive literature and his own research, Rappole offers a personal "reflective inquiry" on the ecology and evolution of avian migrants.
- A Too-Soft Critique of India's Growth
Drèze and Sen consider the deprivations and inequalities that continue to afflict India and the hurdles to alleviating those.
- Books Received
A listing of books received at Science during the week ending 30 August 2013.
Policy Forum
- Certify Sustainable Aquaculture?
Certification's limited contribution to sustainable aquaculture should complement public and private governance.
Perspectives
- Fighting Obesity with Bacteria
Intestinal bacteria from lean humans can confer protection against fat gain in experimental mice.
- Reducing Earthquake Risk
How can a higher level of earthquake preparedness be achieved, particularly in developing nations?
- Unraveling Charge Transport in Conjugated Polymers
New semiconducting polymers reach record mobility despite apparently lower structural order.
- Feedback on Galaxy Formation
High-resolution radio images reveal how jets of relativistic particles can drive the dynamics of galaxy evolution.
- A Hyperventilating Biosphere
Seasonal carbon dioxide uptake and release patterns are changing as a result of global warming.
- Uncloaking the Quantum Nature of Inelastic Molecular Collisions
Experiment and theory combine to reveal quantum resonances when hydrogen molecules hit and excite oxygen molecules.
- Tony Pawson (1952–2013)
A “titan of signaling” who established principles of protein-protein interactions that influenced our understanding of cellular signal transduction.
Research Article
- Gut Microbiota from Twins Discordant for Obesity Modulate Metabolism in Mice
Mice carrying gut bacteria from lean humans protect their cage mates from the effects of gut bacteria from fat humans.
Reports
- Decades-Long Changes of the Interstellar Wind Through Our Solar System
Analysis of data collected by 10 different spacecraft indicates that our solar system’s local environment may be changing.
- Radio Jets Clearing the Way Through a Galaxy: Watching Feedback in Action
High-resolution radio images of a galaxy reveal how a jet of relativistic particles is driving cold gas away from the center.
- Enhanced Seasonal Exchange of CO2 by Northern Ecosystems Since 1960
The amplitude of the seasonal cycle of carbon dioxide in high northern latitudes has increased by 50% since 1960.
- Expanding the Fluorine Chemistry of Living Systems Using Engineered Polyketide Synthase Pathways
Biochemical pathways can be engineered to incorporate fluoroactetate into tri- and tetraketides in place of acetate.
- Observation of Partial Wave Resonances in Low-Energy O2–H2 Inelastic Collisions
Purely quantum mechanical effects are manifested in an experiment probing crossed molecular beams.
- Direct Determination of Absolute Molecular Stereochemistry in Gas Phase by Coulomb Explosion Imaging
A simple molecule’s three-dimensional structure can be ascertained from the fragment trajectories when it is blown apart.
- Achieving the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Goals for Plant Conservation
Protecting 17% of the land surface and 60% of plant species is possible, but not at present.
- Caffeoyl Shikimate Esterase (CSE) Is an Enzyme in the Lignin Biosynthetic Pathway in Arabidopsis
A key enzyme involved in lignin biosynthesis is identified and characterized in the model plant Arabidopsis.
- Epigenetic Regulation of Mouse Sex Determination by the Histone Demethylase Jmjd1a
Histone modification controls mammalian sex determination.
- Single-Cell DNA-Methylation Analysis Reveals Epigenetic Chimerism in Preimplantation Embryos
Lethal epigenetic chimerism can be rescued by transfer of pronuclei.
- Neuroendocrine Control of Drosophila Larval Light Preference
The hormone that triggers the transition from larva to adult also induces the larvae to find a dark spot to do this safely.
- Conserved Regulation of Cardiac Calcium Uptake by Peptides Encoded in Small Open Reading Frames
Small peptides regulate calcium transport and regular heart contraction in both flies and humans.
- A Causative Link Between Inner Ear Defects and Long-Term Striatal Dysfunction
In mutant mice, severe ear dysfunction is associated with motor hyperactivity.
- Topographic Representation of Numerosity in the Human Parietal Cortex
There is a map of numerical magnitude in the human brain.
