Contents
Vol 342, Issue 6162
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
Podcasts
- Science Podcast: 29 November Show
Listen to stories on the top children’s books of 2013, what newlyweds know about their prospects for happiness, authorship for sale in China, 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, the controversial "dueling dinosaur" fossil fails to sell at a New York auction, China's Communist Party leaders call for reform of the country's academy membership system, the European Space Agency's Swarm satellites set out to map Earth's magnetic field, and more.
- Random Sample
With her compelling sand animation about the effects of a little-known parasitic disease, University of Texas Southwestern medical student Shelly Xie took home the annual Communications Award of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.
- Newsmakers
Double Nobel Prize–winning British biochemist Frederick Sanger, renowned for mapping the structure of proteins and developing faster DNA sequencing methods, died 19 November at the age of 95.
News & Analysis
- Chinese Mission Ushers in New Era of Lunar Exploration
Chang'e-3, the first spacecraft expected to make a soft landing on the moon since 1976, has a robust science payload that will study the lunar crust underfoot and Earth and stars overhead.
- Clues to Supertyphoon's Ferocity Found in the Western Pacific
Unusually warm subsurface Pacific waters appear to have endowed Haiyan with the energy that made it the strongest typhoon ever known to make landfall.
- Cholesterol Forges Link Between Obesity and Breast Cancer
A metabolite of cholesterol may spur the development of breast cancer, according to two new studies.
- DARPA Aims to Rebuild Brains
In an interview with Science, Geoffrey Ling, deputy director of the Defense Sciences Office for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, describes the agency's plan for participating in the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative, focusing on new technologies for curing neurological disorders and restoring memory.
- New Head of Advocacy Group Plans to 'Fight the Good Fight'
The new head of the National Center for Science Education promises to "fight the good fight" against attacks on evolution and climate change in U.S. classrooms.
- Tense Vigil in China as Nasty Flu Virus Stirs Back to Life
A deadly H7N9 avian flu strain is back, with four human cases in southern China in the past month. More cases are a certainty, and researchers, public health experts, and vaccinemakers are preparing for the remote but real possibility that H7N9 will explode into a pandemic.
News Focus
- The Life Force
Step by grueling step, Jack Szostak is pushing through the barriers that keep him from his goal: making living cells from scratch in the lab.
- China's Publication Bazaar
A Science investigation has uncovered a smorgasbord of questionable practices including paying for author's slots on papers written by other scientists and buying papers from online brokers.
- An Aura of Legitimacy
China's paper-selling agencies mimic legitimate services that help scientists struggling with English.
Letters
Books et al.
- Some Suggestions from 2013—The SB&F Prizes Finalists
We offer short reviews of the 12 finalists for this year's four Science Books and Films/Subaru Excellence in Science Books prizes
- From the UK—Finalists for the Royal Society's Young People's Book Prize
In addition, we describe the six titles shortlisted for the 2013 Royal Society Young People's Book Prize.
- Books Received
A listing of books received at Science during the week ending 22 November 2013.
Essays on Science and Society
- Exploring the Evolution of Human Mate Preference
The Evolution of Human Mate Preference, an IBI prize–winning module, uses inquiry to elucidate strategies used by males and females to maximize reproductive fitness.
Policy Forum
- International Cooperation on Human Lunar Heritage
Protecting Apollo sites is laudable. Making them U.S. National Parks is not.
Perspectives
- Calibrating Asteroid Impact
The airburst over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk earlier this year provides a calibration point to assess the possible damage due to asteroid strikes.
- Protein Expression Under Pressure
Cellular protein concentrations are generally under stronger evolutionary pressure than mRNA concentrations.
- Abundant Metals Give Precious Hydrogenation Performance
Iron- or cobalt-based catalysts have outperformed traditional precious metal catalysts in several hydrogenation reactions.
- Devices for Low-Resource Health Care
Devices designed for low-resource settings can improve access to life-saving health care around the world.
- Genomes from Metagenomics
Metagenomic approaches are rapidly expanding our knowledge of microbial metabolic potential.
- Fred Sherman (1932–2013)
A geneticist championed baker's yeast as a model system and inspired and trained many scientists in the field.
Association Affairs
Research Articles
- The Innate Growth Bistability and Fitness Landscapes of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
Identical bacteria can have low-level resistance to low concentrations of drugs that can flip subpopulations into dormancy.
- Chelyabinsk Airburst, Damage Assessment, Meteorite Recovery, and Characterization
A detailed study of a recent asteroid impact provides an opportunity to calibrate the damage caused by these rare events.
Reports
- Nanoscale Fe2O3-Based Catalysts for Selective Hydrogenation of Nitroarenes to Anilines
An iron oxide catalyst selects nitro groups for reduction in the presence of many other sensitive chemical substituents.
- Cobalt Precursors for High-Throughput Discovery of Base Metal Asymmetric Alkene Hydrogenation Catalysts
High-throughput screening furnishes surprisingly effective cobalt catalysts from versatile precursors.
- Amine(imine)diphosphine Iron Catalysts for Asymmetric Transfer Hydrogenation of Ketones and Imines
Ligand design based on mechanistic insight enables highly efficient iron catalysis.
- Imaging the Absolute Configuration of a Chiral Epoxide in the Gas Phase
Ultrafast electron stripping by a carbon foil enables precise elucidation of molecular geometries as the nuclei fly apart.
- Regular Patterns in Frictional Resistance of Ice-Stream Beds Seen by Surface Data Inversion
Sheer stress between the ice and the underlying bedrock of Pine Island and Thwaites Glaciers is concentrated into bands.
- Hepatitis C Virus E2 Envelope Glycoprotein Core Structure
The structure of a key viral surface protein provides insight for drug and vaccine development.
- 27-Hydroxycholesterol Links Hypercholesterolemia and Breast Cancer Pathophysiology
The activity of a specific metabolite of cholesterol may help explain why obesity is a risk factor for breast cancer.
- Nonenzymatic Template-Directed RNA Synthesis Inside Model Protocells
Citrate can act as a partial magnesium chelator to facilitate the synthesis of RNA within a protocell-like vesicle.
- Primate Transcript and Protein Expression Levels Evolve Under Compensatory Selection Pressures
In humans, chimpanzees, and macaques, protein expression levels evolve under stronger evolutionary constraint than messenger RNA levels.
- Phycobilisomes Supply Excitations to Both Photosystems in a Megacomplex in Cyanobacteria
The organization of several protein complexes involved in photosynthesis elucidates their energy transfer mechanisms.
- Long-Distance Integration of Nuclear ERK Signaling Triggered by Activation of a Few Dendritic Spines
Induction of long-term potentiation in a few dendritic spines signals to the nucleus to activate transcription factors.
- Neural Activity in Human Hippocampal Formation Reveals the Spatial Context of Retrieved Memories
Place cells in the human brain that fired at an object’s location are reactivated during spontaneous recall.
- BTBD3 Controls Dendrite Orientation Toward Active Axons in Mammalian Neocortex
High-acuity sensory function may be achieved by the tuning of subcellular polarity to sources of high sensory activity.
- Though They May Be Unaware, Newlyweds Implicitly Know Whether Their Marriage Will Be Satisfying
Relationship satisfaction is captured by implicit measures of spousal attitudes.
From the AAAS Office of Publishing and Member Services
