Contents
15 February 2019
Vol 363, Issue 6428
Vol 363, Issue 6428
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
Departments
Products & Materials
- New Products
A weekly roundup of information on newly offered instrumentation, apparatus, and laboratory materials of potential interest to researchers.
In Brief
In Depth
- DOE to limit foreign research collaborations
Recent memos describe crackdown on grantees and on lab scientists with foreign ties.
- Controversial flu studies can resume, U.S. panel says
Critics complain of lack of transparency in decision that allows efforts to create potentially risky virus strains.
- Measles epidemic in Ukraine drove troubling European year
War and distrust of vaccines seeded ongoing outbreak
- How rabbits escaped a deadly virus—at least for now
Same genetic changes found in rabbits on two continents.
- In India, Hindu pride boosts pseudoscience
Claims of great technological achievements in ancient times trigger ridicule and concern.
- AIDS push gets mixed reviews
Trump's initiative to "end AIDS;" promises money, focus.
- Metric prefixes sought for extreme numbers
"Ronna" and "quecca" would help computer scientists keep pace with big data.
Feature
- The twitter warrior
#MeToo provocateur BethAnn McLaughlin battles on behalf of women in STEM—but her own job is in peril.
Working Life
Letters
Books et al.
- Conservation and conflict
Afghanistan's rich natural heritage shines in an insider's account of the foundings of its first national parks
- Overlooked no longer
A new play honors the enslaved black women who helped improve our understanding of reproductive health
Policy Forum
- Long delays in banning trade in threatened species
Scientific knowledge should be applied with more urgency
Perspectives
- Revealing a microbial carcinogen
An E. coli–derived colibactin-DNA adduct is detected in intestinal tissues
- Pathology-linked protease caught in action
Structural snapshots of γ-secretase yield insight for drug development
- Using neuroscience to develop artificial intelligence
Combining deep learning with brain-like innate structures may guide network models toward human-like learning
- Hyperbolic 3D architectures with 2D ceramics
A hexagonal boron nitride aerogel has high resistance to thermal and mechanical shock
- Moving through the crowd
Atoms or molecules can diffuse rapidly on surfaces covered by other adsorbants
- Earth's rugged lower mantle
Seismic data reveal kilometer-scale topography of the lower-mantle boundary
Research Articles
- Recognition of the amyloid precursor protein by human γ-secretase
A view of how the substrate is recognized facilitates understanding of Alzheimer’s disease–associated mutations in γ-secretase.
- Heterochromatin anomalies and double-stranded RNA accumulation underlie C9orf72 poly(PR) toxicity
Poly(PR) causes neurodegeneration in vivo by inducing repetitive element expression and double-stranded RNA accumulation.
- The human gut bacterial genotoxin colibactin alkylates DNA
DNA adducts in cells and animals exposed to colibactin-producing gut microbes shed light on the mode of action of a cancer-linked genotoxin.
- A human postcatalytic spliceosome structure reveals essential roles of metazoan factors for exon ligation
The human spliceosome adopts a more complex solution for exon ligation compared with the yeast spliceosome.
Review
Reports
- Density fluctuations as door-opener for diffusion on crowded surfaces
Density fluctuations in the adsorbate layer on a catalyst create low-energy pathways for diffusion of adsorbed oxygen atoms.
- Printed subthreshold organic transistors operating at high gain and ultralow power
A low-cost, low-power flexible transistor is fabricated entirely through inkjet printing.
- Double-negative-index ceramic aerogels for thermal superinsulation
Ultralow-density ceramic aerogels have excellent mechanical stability that makes them attractive superinsulating materials.
- Photoelectrical imaging and coherent spin-state readout of single nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond
On-chip detection and coherent manipulation of nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond are demonstrated optoelectronically.
- Chemically reversible isomerization of inorganic clusters
Cadmium sulfide clusters undergo reversible solvent-induced structural rearrangements that shift their exciton energy gap.
- Inferring Earth’s discontinuous chemical layering from the 660-kilometer boundary topography
A rough boundary between Earth’s upper and lower mantle suggests partially blocked mantle circulation.
- How a circularized tmRNA moves through the ribosome
Cryo–electron microscopy studies of key trans-translation intermediates reveal mechanistic insight into the rescue of stalled ribosomes.
- Structural insight into nucleosome transcription by RNA polymerase II with elongation factors
The structure of the nucleosome-transcribing RNA polymerase elongation complex reveals how elongation factors facilitate transcription.
- BCR-dependent lineage plasticity in mature B cells
Mature B cells show B cell antigen receptor–dependent ability to differentiate into different immunological cell types.
- Structural insight into substrate and inhibitor discrimination by human P-glycoprotein
Cryo–electron microscopy reveals molecular details of a multidrug transporter’s interactions with drugs and lipids.
About The Cover
COVER In winter, snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) molt from brown to white coats to maintain camouflage in snow-covered environments. This seasonal adaptation has evolved in several animal species and can result in camouflage mismatch as snow duration decreases. The Gordon Research Conference on Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics will be held from 14 to 19 July 2019 in Manchester, New Hampshire. See page 758 for the Gordon Research Conference schedule and preliminary programs.
Photo: Colin Ruggiero