Contents
Vol 342, Issue 6163
Special Issue
Single-Cell Biology
Introduction to Special Issue
Reviews
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
Podcasts
- Science Podcast: 6 December Show
Listen to stories on noisy gene expression, results from drilling at the Tohoku-Oki fault, the benefits of snake venom, 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, Israel secures a spot in the Horizon 2020 funding program, a study linking genetically modified maize to disease in rats is retracted, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issues a warning to genetic testing company 23andMe, and more.
- Random Sample
A group of high school students in Springfield, Missouri, took their school science project above and beyond: They've published a new theory about mysterious striped boulders on the moon in the journal Icarus and presented their work among graduate students at NASA's Lunar Science Institute Forum.
- Newsmakers
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has selected Francesca Grifo, a longtime advocate with the Union of Concerned Scientists, to implement its scientific integrity policy.
Findings
News & Analysis
- Lawsuits Seek 'Personhood' for Chimpanzees
Animal rights group files series of lawsuits to turn chimpanzees into legal persons.
- Elusive Denisovans Sighted in Oldest Human DNA
Traces of DNA from the Denisovans, a shadowy species thought to have lived in Asia, turn up in a surprising place: in a proto-Neandertal from Spain.
- A Painful Cure for Ailing Academy
In recent weeks, the Russian Academy of Sciences has faced a forced merger, the appointment of a new overlord with no background in science, and now, a painful downsizing: At least 30% of the academy's roughly 55,000 researchers are expected to be laid off in 2014.
- Faulty Brain Connections in Dyslexia?
A scientific fight is brewing around the cause of dyslexia, a learning disability that affects reading and other language-processing skills.
News Focus
- Secrets of Snakes
Exotic, elusive, and dangerous, snakes have fascinated humankind for millennia.
- Genes for Extremes
The first two snake genomes, published this week, reflect the amazing evolutionary tales of a prey-crushing python and a venomous cobra.
- From Toxins to Treatments
Researchers are hoping to find lifesaving drugs in the deadly venoms from snakes and other animals.
- The Freek Show
Snake scientist Freek Vonk can't choose between research and starring in wildlife documentaries. And so far, he doesn't have to.
- Island of the Snakes
The invasive brown tree snake has devastated Guam's ecosystems. Can it be eradicated?
Letters
Books et al.
- Placing Climate Change
Collaborating with scientists, artists explore the links between people and place in the Scottish isles in the context of climate change.
- Up Close and Personal with Cancer
Johnson weaves together a memoir of his wife's illness and his personal investigation into what is and is not known about cancer.
- Books Received
A listing of books received at Science during the week ending 29 November 2013.
Essays on Science and Society
- From Persistence to Cross-Species Emergence of a Viral Zoonosis
Interdisciplinary research on zoonotic pathogens illuminates ecology and evolution, while guiding disease prevention and control.
- Stop, Go, and Evolve
Mouse genetics and intravital microscopy are combined to investigate how antibody evolution correlates with, and depends on, B lymphocytes.
- Assembly of a Neural Circuit
Differential expression of cell-surface molecules instruct the precise assembly of a neural circuit.
- Evolution of Vertebrate Transcriptional Regulator Binding
Comparative evolutionary analysis of transcriptional regulator binding across several vertebrate species reveals intricate regulatory genome evolution.
Policy Forum
- Advanced Manufacturing Policies and Paradigms for Innovation
U.S. innovation is heavy on early-stage R&D; it requires additional focus on manufacturing stages.
Perspectives
- How Fisheries Affect Evolution
Commercial fishing alters the genetic traits of fish stocks.
- Do T Cells Have a Cilium?
The T cell immunological synapse may function as a surrogate cilium.
- Dangers of Being Thin and Weak
Ocean drilling data show that the large trench-breaching rupture of the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake occurred along a thin and weak fault zone.
- Shining Light at Microtubule Crossroads
Severing at microtubule crossovers reorients the plant microtubule network and redirects plant growth in response to light.
- Freeing Nonlinear Optics from Phase Matching
Optical metamaterials that have a refractive index of zero can boost the efficiency of nonlinear optical processes.
- Permission to Proliferate
Epidermal stem cells produce the signals that control tissue homeostasis.
Research Articles
- A Mechanism for Reorientation of Cortical Microtubule Arrays Driven by Microtubule Severing
A self-organizing system makes the microtubule array in plants rearrange in order for the shoot to turn toward blue light.
- Oscillatory Control of Factors Determining Multipotency and Fate in Mouse Neural Progenitors
During neural development, the differentiated state correlates with sustained expression of a single fate-determination factor.
Reports
- Structure and Composition of the Plate-Boundary Slip Zone for the 2011 Tohoku-Oki Earthquake
The Tohoku-Oki earthquake occurred along a thin, clay-rich fault zone in the basal strata of the subducting plate.
- Low Coseismic Shear Stress on the Tohoku-Oki Megathrust Determined from Laboratory Experiments
The Tohoku-Oki earthquake occurred along a thin, clay-rich fault zone in the basal strata of the subducting plate.
- Low Coseismic Friction on the Tohoku-Oki Fault Determined from Temperature Measurements
The Tohoku-Oki earthquake occurred along a thin, clay-rich fault zone in the basal strata of the subducting plate.
- Giant Convection Cells Found on the Sun
Flows in cells transport angular momentum toward the solar equator, maintaining the Sun’s rapid equatorial rotation.
- Precision Spectroscopy of Polarized Molecules in an Ion Trap
A method to measure the electric dipole moment of the electron is demonstrated by using polarized trapped molecular ions.
- Phase Mismatch–Free Nonlinear Propagation in Optical Zero-Index Materials
Metamaterials relax the requirement for phase matching in nonlinear optics.
- Interfollicular Epidermal Stem Cells Self-Renew via Autocrine Wnt Signaling
Stem cells produce short-range signals to support self-renewal and long-range signal inhibitors to allow differentiation.
- Preferential Recognition of Avian-Like Receptors in Human Influenza A H7N9 Viruses
The hemagglutinin of 2013 avian-origin H7N9 influenza virus is poorly adapted for efficient human-to-human transmission.
- HCF-1 Is Cleaved in the Active Site of O-GlcNAc Transferase
A protein involved in cell-cycle regulation is proteolytically activated and glycosylated by a nutrient-sensitive enzyme.
- Crosstalk Between Microtubule Attachment Complexes Ensures Accurate Chromosome Segregation
Chromosome partitioning involves regulatory crosstalk between two major microtubule-binding complexes at the kinetochore.
- Nonredundant Function of Soluble LTα3 Produced by Innate Lymphoid Cells in Intestinal Homeostasis
Soluble lymphotoxin plays a paracrine role in controlling immunoglobulin A responses and regulating gut microbiota.
- Hedgehog Signaling Controls T Cell Killing at the Immunological Synapse
T cell receptor stimulation activates Hedgehog signaling to arm cytotoxic T cells with the labile actin needed for killing.
- Intact But Less Accessible Phonetic Representations in Adults with Dyslexia
The persistent reading problems observed in dyslexia may derive from inefficient communication within the brain.
- MicroRNA-128 Governs Neuronal Excitability and Motor Behavior in Mice
A microRNA expressed in adult neurons affects movement by modulating neuronal signaling networks and excitability.
Technical Comments
From the AAAS Office of Publishing and Member Services
