Contents
Vol 323, Issue 5910
Special Issue
Education & Technology
Introduction to special issue
Multimedia
- Video: Education and Technology
A video introduction to Science's special issue on the promises, and challenges, that rapidly changing technology presents for the educational world.
News
- NSF Rethinks Its Digital Library
A $175 million investment by the U.S. National Science Foundation has fostered collaboration and created vast amounts of material. But the digital world is changing.
- New Landscape for the Earth Sciences
A digital library for the earth sciences community and by the community is now also of the community.
- A Nobelist's Passionate Pursuit of Excellence
Nobelist Harry Kroto argues that the best educational resources often come from "people who are passionate about what they are doing and want to share it"--even if those materials haven't first been put under the sort of disciplinary scrutiny typical of material included in the National Science Digital Library.
- A Vision in Search of Funding
Last summer, the U.S. government created an awkwardly named entity to fund research on how the Internet can improve U.S. education. But so far, the National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies exists only on paper.
- Computers As Writing Instructors
Software that helps students hone their writing skills is finding a niche in the classroom.
- Glow Lights Up Scottish Classrooms
Schools across Scotland are flocking to link up with a national intranet that serves students, teachers, and parents.
- Korea Tries to Level the Field
A cyber home learning system seeks to raise achievement and reduce the huge cost of private tutors, a practice not available to every Korean family.
- A Personal Tutor for Algebra
Commercial software created in the lab anticipates wrong answers and reinforces needed skills for first-year algebra students.
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
Podcasts
Products & Materials
News of the Week
Random Samples
Newsmakers
News Focus
- Bending the President's Ear
A science adviser is only as effective as the president wants him to be, say the men who have held the job since Sputnik.
- A Viral Link to Glioblastoma?
Circumstantial evidence hints that cytomegalovirus, a common herpesvirus, may play a role in the aggressive brain cancer, but big questions remain.
- A Death in Antarctica
The death in 2000 of a young Australian astrophysicist at the U.S. South Pole station raised many troubling questions. Eight years later, there are few answers.
Letters
Books
- The Gamers' Advancement of Learning
Starting from the observation that video games captivate both players and programmers, Gee explores their implications for learning theory, motivation, and development of expertise.
- Inside the Schooled Mind
Reif discusses how findings from cognitive science can help improve teaching and learning, especially science education (and, within that, physics education).
- A Handbook for Hands-On Learning
The contributors present perspectives on undergraduate research programs from participants, administrators, and external evaluators.
- What's Wrong with Inferences from Test Scores?
In this account of the complexities of educational testing written for nonspecialists, Koretz discusses what such tests can and cannot reveal and how test scores can be misunderstood and misused.
Policy Forum
- "True" Conservation Progress
Conservation performance in securing biodiversity can be evaluated better with metrics based on the concept of a conservation balance sheet.
Perspectives
- How Old Is That Star?
Despite being fundamental in determining its physical state, a star's age cannot be measured directly, and estimation methods are imprecise.
- Cloaking with Curved Spaces
Designs based on the mathematics behind curved space-time may lead to invisibility cloaks.
- Repair or Replacement--A Joint Perspective
Insights into the molecular origins of cartilage lubrication could lead to more efficient tissue repair and to longer-lasting prostheses for hip and knee joints.
- A Matter of Preservation
Differences in the preservation potential of crustal rocks may explain peaks in crustal ages previously attributed to enhanced crust formation.
- Farewell, Lecture?
A physics professor describes his evolution from lecturing to dynamically engaging students during class and improving how they learn.
- Mosquitoes Cut Short
Can the life-shortening effect of a bacterium on mosquitoes control the transmission of dengue?
Special Perspectives
Special Reviews
Brevia
- Nanodiamonds in the Younger Dryas Boundary Sediment Layer
Nanodiamonds in sites across North America suggest that an asteroid impact coincided with cooling 12,900 years ago.
Research Articles
- A Glucosinolate Metabolism Pathway in Living Plant Cells Mediates Broad-Spectrum Antifungal Defense
Plant cells defend against fungal attack through an innate immunity pathway in which infection triggers glucosinolate synthesis, stimulating formation of a protective callose.
Reports
- Mott Insulating State in Ultraclean Carbon Nanotubes
Both metallic and semiconducting carbon nanotubes exhibit a radius-dependent energy gap arising from correlated electrons in the tubes.
- Broadband Invisibility by Non-Euclidean Cloaking
In theory, materials with a negative refractive index deployed in a curved, non-Euclidean space can provide a route to cloaking and invisibility across a range of wavelengths.
- Control of Self-Assembly of DNA Tubules Through Integration of Gold Nanoparticles
Gold particles incorporated into DNA strands drive the formation of a variety of three-dimensional spiral architectures.
- Declining Coral Calcification on the Great Barrier Reef
Calcification by Great Barrier Reef corals decreased by about 14% since 1990, the largest decline in the past 400 years.
- Stretching the Envelope of Past Surface Environments: Neoproterozoic Glacial Lakes from Svalbard
Unusual oxygen isotope compositions indicate that a Precambrian glacial period had an anomalous, perhaps extremely CO2-rich, atmosphere.
- Why Peer Discussion Improves Student Performance on In-Class Concept Questions
In the classroom, discussion among students improves understanding and leads to more accurate answers to questions.
- Regulation of Neuronal Survival Factor MEF2D by Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy
The degradation of a key neuronal survival factor by chaperone-mediated autophagy may contribute to Parkinson's disease.
- Signal Sequences Activate the Catalytic Switch of SRP RNA
Newly made proteins destined to be inserted into membranes trigger an RNA switch that promotes initiation of this process.
- Floral Iridescence, Produced by Diffractive Optics, Acts As a Cue for Animal Pollinators
The iridescence of tulip petals, as well as their pigmentation, affects foraging behavior by bumblebees.
- Real-Time DNA Sequencing from Single Polymerase Molecules
Arrays of narrow waveguides can record the action of a DNA polymerase stepping along a primer template, potentially providing a way to sequence DNA molecules.
- Phage-Mediated Intergeneric Transfer of Toxin Genes
Viruses may transfer toxin genes among pathogenic bacteria in raw milk, complicating veterinary use of phage therapy as a bacteriacide.
- Stable Introduction of a Life-Shortening Wolbachia Infection into the Mosquito Aedes aegypti
Infection of mosquitoes with a bacterium shortens their lives and reduces disease transmission, without development of resistance.
Technical Comments
