Contents
Vol 311, Issue 5762
Special Issue
Plant Volatiles: From Chemistry to Communication
Introduction to special issue
Perspectives
Reviews
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
NetWatch
Products & Materials
News of the Week
ScienceScope
Random Samples
Newsmakers
News Focus
Letters
Books
Essays on Science and Society
Policy Forum
Perspectives
Review
Brevia
- The Age of the Sahara Desert
Wind-driven dune deposits in the northern Chad Basin imply that at least part of the Sahara Desert had formed by 7 million years ago, earlier than had been thought.
Research Article
- The Ste5 Scaffold Allosterically Modulates Signaling Output of the Yeast Mating Pathway
Scaffold proteins that support aggregates of proteins with related functions can also be allosteric regulators of those proteins.
Reports
- Cosmological Magnetic Field: A Fossil of Density Perturbations in the Early Universe
Scattering of photons off electrons in the primordial universe generated magnetic fields strong enough to seed magnetic fields seen in galaxies and galaxy clusters today.
- Reductive Cyclotrimerization of Carbon Monoxide to the Deltate Dianion by an Organometallic Uranium Complex
Thanks to its f-orbital chemistry, a uranium complex can join three CO molecules into a triangle, a coupling reaction that has been elusive because of the strong C-O triple bonds.
- A Molecular Jump Mechanism of Water Reorientation
Simulations suggest that water molecules can rotate in large jumps as the broken hydrogen bonds redistribute concertedly, not diffusively, among neighboring molecules.
- The Role of Pair Dispersion in Turbulent Flow
Visualization of particles in violently turbulent flows, such as pollutants in the atmosphere, shows that initial separation distance influences their subsequent mixing or spreading.
- Late Quaternary Atmospheric CH4 Isotope Record Suggests Marine Clathrates Are Stable
Hydrogen isotopes in methane from Greenland ice cores show that marine clathrates did not produce the atmospheric methane jumps seen in abrupt warming events during the last glacial period.
- The Spatial Extent of 20th-Century Warmth in the Context of the Past 1200 Years
The geographical extent of 20th-century warming is greater than that of any other extremely warm or cold interval during the past 1200 years.
- Histone H4-K16 Acetylation Controls Chromatin Structure and Protein Interactions
Acetylation of histones, major regulators of chromatin structure and function, inhibits tight packing of chromatin and occurs more frequently near active genes.
- Caspases 3 and 7: Key Mediators of Mitochondrial Events of Apoptosis
Two key enzymes that degrade cellular proteins late during programmed cell death unexpectedly also act in the early stages of the process.
- Translational Regulators Maintain Totipotency in the Caenorhabditis elegans Germline
In nematodes, germ cells are actively prevented from differentiating into somatic cells by RNA-binding proteins.
- Experimental Study of Inequality and Unpredictability in an Artificial Cultural Market
Access to information about other people's musical choices changes one's own selections, exaggerating the market success of certain songs and introducing uncertainty.
- The Nucleosomal Surface as a Docking Station for Kaposi's Sarcoma Herpesvirus LANA
The Kaposi's sarcoma herpesvirus hitchhikes on its host's chromosomes by binding to an acidic region on histones, resulting in efficient distribution to daughter cells during mitosis.
- Neurochemical Modulation of Response Inhibition and Probabilistic Learning in Humans
Inhibition of neurotransmitters in the human prefrontal cortex identifies those pathways required for associative learning and for control of impulsive movements.
- Essential Role of BDNF in the Mesolimbic Dopamine Pathway in Social Defeat Stress
Learning to avoid unpleasant encounters requires the action of a growth factor within the reward pathways of the rat brain, an effect that can be blocked with antidepressant drugs.
Technical Comments
