Contents
Vol 323, Issue 5922
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
Podcasts
- Science Podcast
The 27 March 2009 show includes genetic influences on cognition, visualizing HIV infection, professional science master's programs, and more.
Products & Materials
News of the Week
- Madagascar's Coup Endangers Science and Scientists
The government of Madagascar was toppled last week in a bloody military coup that is playing havoc with the research efforts, and lives, of the many scientists studying the island's rich biodiversity.
- Arctic Summer Sea Ice Could Vanish Soon But Not Suddenly
After paring 23 climate models down to the best half-dozen, two researchers now say with new confidence that arctic summer ice will most likely disappear around 2037. But none of the select models predicts a tipping point--a sudden jump to an ice-free summer Arctic.
- OSTP, NOAA Chiefs Finally Get a Chance to Lead
Two major players on the Obama Administration's science team donned their uniforms last week, 3 months after being nominated for their prospective positions.
- Koonin Tapped at DOE, Which Lays Out New Spending
A top theoretical physicist turned energy guru has been chosen as undersecretary of science at the Department of Energy (DOE), which this week announced how it would distribute $1.2 billion among its 10 national labs and to universities around the country.
- U.K. Funder Accused of 'Blacklisting' Repeatedly Unsuccessful Applicants
A fiery debate is taking place in the United Kingdom after a major funding agency announced it will ignore submissions from "repeatedly unsuccessful applicants," a policy that could exclude 5% of its previous grant applicants.
- From Science's Online Daily News site
Highlights from Science's online daily news site, ScienceNOW, this week include super hard drives, more bad news for coral reefs, the worldwide appeal of happy music, and the earliest corn.
- Twins May Think Alike Too, MRI Brain Study Suggests
On page 1737, a European team uses brain imaging with twins to show that different people may use different strategies to accomplish the same mental task, and that genes influence the type of strategy used.
- Oddly, Too Much Weirdness Slows a Quantum Computer Down
Too much of the mysterious quantum connection called entanglement is bad for a quantum computer and makes it run only marginally faster than a conventional one, a new analysis shows.
- Hughes Backs Institute at Epicenter of HIV and Resistant TB
Last week, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute announced the KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV, a $60 million project on the campus of the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban.
- CIRM Close-Hauled, Seeks Bonds to Sustain Headway
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM)--a state initiative set up to avoid restrictions on federal stem cell research laid down in 2001 by President George W. Bush--is scaling back, rethinking its priorities, and looking at how to mesh its activities with those that will soon be funded by the National Institutes of Health.
- Most State Stem Cell Efforts Staying Afloat
In addition to California, several states have made serious attempts to encourage stem cell research. Although some are tightening their belts, these programs generally seem to be holding their own in this uncertain environment--at least for now.
- From the Science Policy Blog
Science's policy blog, ScienceInsider, reported this week on efforts to help a virologist who may have been accidentally exposed to Ebola virus, the strain on the Web site that handles federal grants caused by applications for stimulus money, and other stories.
Random Samples
Newsmakers
News Focus
- Are You Ready to Become a Number?
Life could be a lot easier if every scientist had a unique identification number. The question is: Who should provide them?
- California's Water Crisis: Worse to Come?
Perennially contentious issues of water management in California are being brought to a head by climate change and rising earthquake risks.
- Can a Shotgun Wedding Help NASA And ESA Explore the Red Planet?
Tight budgets are pushing the U.S. and European space agencies to consider a truly collaborative series of missions to Mars. Can they succeed, and what would it mean for science?
- Piled Higher and Deeper: The Everyday Life of a Grad Student
Jorge Cham's comic strip, capturing the trials and tribulations of grad school, became so popular that he left the lab for a career as a cartoonist and lecturer.
Letters
Books
- The Darwinian Eye
This exhibit explores the wide range of interplay between Darwin's ideas and the visual culture of the 19th century.
- Emerging Market Organisms
For each species (or group), the authors describe possible applications in lab research; summarize husbandry, genetics, and genomics; list other resources; and provide basic protocols for work with the organism.
Education Forum
- Professional Science Master's Programs Merit Wider Support
A recent study shows the potential of an alternative career path in building a scientific work force.
Perspectives
- The Art of Making an Exit
Bacteria can pass from one cell to another through a cytoskeletal structure that prevents host cell destruction.
- Through a Mirror, Differently
Crystal structures elucidate how some enzymes can bind many different molecules, including mirror-image isomers.
- Producing Transportation Fuels with Less Work
New reaction chemistry may reduce the energy input and carbon dioxide emissions from processes that convert coal into liquid fuels.
- Pressurized Viruses
Many viruses depend on extremely high pressures to deliver their genomes.
- Dangers In and Out
The immune system relies on specific signaling molecules to dampen its response to injury while maintaining the capacity to fight infection.
Association Affairs
Brevia
- Queen Succession Through Asexual Reproduction in Termites
Queen termites produce their successors asexually but use normal sexual reproduction to produce other colony members.
Research Articles
- Fermi Observations of High-Energy Gamma-Ray Emission from GRB 080916C
This highly luminous gamma-ray burst had the largest apparent energy release yet measured.
- Comprehensive Characterization of Genes Required for Protein Folding in the Endoplasmic Reticulum
A nine-protein transmembrane is among several hundred genes found to be critical for protein folding in the endoplasmic reticulum.
Reports
- Lubrication at Physiological Pressures by Polyzwitterionic Brushes
Extremely low friction coefficients under high applied pressures are reported for polymeric brushes grafted to a surface.
- Controlled Formation of Sharp Zigzag and Armchair Edges in Graphitic Nanoribbons
Joule heating is used to modify the defect structure along the edges of a graphene ribbon.
- Graphene at the Edge: Stability and Dynamics
Atom rearrangement at the edges of a hole in a sheet of graphene is observed using transmission electron microscopy.
- Reversible Interactions with para-Hydrogen Enhance NMR Sensitivity by Polarization Transfer
The nuclear spin polarization of para-hydrogen can be transferred to organic molecules when both bind to a metal complex.
- Increasing Hyperpolarized Spin Lifetimes Through True Singlet Eigenstates
Singlet states between strongly coupled spins can be used to enhance the magnetic resonance imaging of organic molecules.
- Greatly Expanded Tropical Warm Pool and Weakened Hadley Circulation in the Early Pliocene
The warm tropics of the Early Pliocene, about 4 million years ago, extended much farther toward the poles than they do today.
- Structure of P-Glycoprotein Reveals a Molecular Basis for Poly-Specific Drug Binding
A membrane protein that removes toxins and drugs from cells is caught binding two drug molecules in a large internal cavity.
- CD24 and Siglec-10 Selectively Repress Tissue Damage–Induced Immune Responses
A signaling pathway involving an immune protein protects cells against the potentially fatal immune response induced by tissue damage.
- Visualizing Antigen-Specific and Infected Cells in Situ Predicts Outcomes in Early Viral Infection
Mapping the rate and magnitude of early events in viral infections predicts the success or failure of immune control.
- Infection by Tubercular Mycobacteria Is Spread by Nonlytic Ejection from Their Amoeba Hosts
Tubercular bacteria can slip undetected from host cell to host cell via specialized exit structures called ejectosomes.
- Critical Population Density Triggers Rapid Formation of Vast Oceanic Fish Shoals
A shift from disordered to highly synchronized behavior is seen in hundreds of millions of Atlantic herring at a critical population density.
- Genetic Contribution to Variation in Cognitive Function: An fMRI Study in Twins
Analysis of identical and fraternal twins shows genetic influence on brain activation during arithmetic and memory tasks.
- Changes in Temperature Preferences and Energy Homeostasis in Dystroglycan Mutants
Mutation of a membrane protein alters mitochondrial metabolism and temperature preference in flies.
- A Transposon-Based Genetic Screen in Mice Identifies Genes Altered in Colorectal Cancer
A functional screen in mice uncovers genes that are likely to drive the growth of gut-specific tumors.
