Contents
Vol 324, Issue 5933
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
Podcasts
- Science Podcast
The show includes deforestation and development in the Amazon, stamping out Kashin-Beck disease in China, measuring the charge state of gold and silver atoms, 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
- Congress Takes First Step Toward One-Stop Shopping for Climate
Congress is moving quickly to lay a framework for a new federal body that would generate scientifically credible predictions about the impact of global warming, for use by everyone from city planners to state wildlife managers.
- Macau Launches Late Bid to Cure Its Pearl River Delta Blues
Macau, a gambling haven known more for unbridled development than for ecological awareness, started down the road to sustainability this year with the creation of a wetland reserve and an Environmental Protection Bureau.
- U.S. Supreme Court Delves Into What Is and Isn't Patentable
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that could clarify rules about what is, or is not, patentable.
- Science Windfall Stimulates High Hopes—and Political Maneuvering
A handful of stellar researchers could be in line for grants of as much as $90 million over 5 years, thanks to a new program included in a stimulus package approved by Japan's legislature on 29 May. But some scientists worry that a political selection process could steer money toward industry-favored projects.
- From Science's Online Daily News Site
Highlights from Science's online daily news site, ScienceNOW, this week include the identity of the birds that caused the January crash of a US Airways jet, a 10-million-year-old laugh, a mathematical model of how snakes get around, and building a better light bulb with lasers.
- Scientists Seek Easier Access to Seed Banks
Last week, the governing body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture met in Tunis to review implementation and coax reluctant nations to open their seed banks and contribute to a "doomsday vault" on Norway's Svalbard island.
- U.S. Promises to Reduce Delays in Granting Visas for Scientists
The U.S. government has streamlined procedures for processing visa applications from foreign students and researchers trying to enter the United States.
- From the Science Policy Blog
Germany's stimulus plan, a new open-access online repository and a restructuring of government departments in the U.K., and U.S. science diplomacy in the Islamic world were among the stories covered by ScienceInsider in the past week.
Random Samples
News Focus
- A Medical Mystery in Middle China
China has launched a massive effort to stamp out Kashin-Beck disease, including moving populations from affected areas, but the cause of this crippling ailment remains elusive.
- Russia's Polar Hero
Artur Chilingarov has led researchers exploring the polar regions, the Arctic ocean floor, and the world's deepest lake. But is he promoting science or his homeland?
- Diving Into the Sacred Sea
Prompted by potential menaces to Lake Baikal, the largest, deepest, most ancient, and most biologically diverse freshwater lake on Earth, scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences, led by oceanographer and explorer Artur Chilingarov, last year began a program of research using two deep-water Mir minisubmarines.
- Authors Scramble to Make Textbooks Conform to Texas Science Standards
The Texas market is so large that publishers must pay heed to new guidelines on what students should learn.
- Minority Retention Rates in Science Are Sore Spot for Most Universities
A few universities have demonstrated what it takes to help more minority students earn science degrees. But their efforts are only beginning to be widely replicated.
- Following the Leaders
Several institutions have begun to imitate aspects of the Meyerhoff program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the Biology Scholars Program at the University of California, Berkeley (see main text). However, none has published comprehensive data on what has been accomplished.
Letters
Books et al.
- Mr. Armstrong's Jersey and Mr. Rogers's Sweater
Discussing beliefs in the supernatural and irrational, Hood argues that they arise because human minds have been selected to "think there are unseen patterns, forces, and essences inhabiting the world"—the beliefs help people bind together.
- Epidemics of Fear
Exploring biological, social, and narrative aspects of epidemics, Alcabes concludes that the common gap between the hype and the actual levels of damages reflects the crucial roles fear and imagination play in shaping our responses to diseases.
Policy Forum
- Repurposing with a Difference
Consumer activism, genetic information, and social networking technologies are creating many opportunities for drug repurposing.
Perspectives
- Extreme Spinning Tops
Observations of the same binary star system over 10 years confirm a scenario of how pulsars form and evolve.
- Novel Probes for Molecular Electronics
An extension of noncontact atomic force microscopy allows detection and manipulation of the charge states of individual atoms.
- Silicon Carbide as a Platform for Power Electronics
Methods for growing large, defect-free silicon carbide crystals have enabled the fabrication of devices that can operate at high power.
- Breaching the Cancer Fortress
Pancreatic tumors are poorly vascularized, suggesting that new therapeutic strategies are needed.
- Yield Stress Fluids Slowly Yield to Analysis
The behavior of a type of complex fluid (exemplified by mayonnaise and concrete) can depend on the sample's flow history.
Review
Brevia
- Herapathite
Discovered in 1852 and used for polarizing light, the crystal structure of iodoquinine sulfate has been solved.
Reports
- Magnetic Fields in the Formation of Massive Stars
Observations of polarized dust emission show that the magnetic field controls the dynamical evolution of a massive star-forming region.
- A Radio Pulsar/X-ray Binary Link
Radio observations reveal a system undergoing the transition from a low-mass x-ray binary star to a millisecond radio pulsar.
- Determining the Dynamics of Entanglement
The evolution of quantum mechanically entangled photon pairs can now be measured as they interact with their environment.
- Colloidal Nanocrystals with Molecular Metal Chalcogenide Surface Ligands
Chalcogenide-based ligands are used to link colloidal nanocrystals together and can be converted into semiconducting complexes.
- Polarization Control of Electron Tunneling into Ferroelectric Surfaces
High electric fields delivered with an atomic force microscope tip pattern polarization domains in ferroelectric thin films.
- Isotopic Homojunction Band Engineering from Diamond
Nanoscale multilayers of diamond that alternate in isotopic composition create quantum wells that confine electrons.
- Measuring the Charge State of an Adatom with Noncontact Atomic Force Microscopy
Charging of gold and silver atoms on salt films changes the force detected by the tip of a scanning probe microscope.
- Oxygen-18 of O2 Records the Impact of Abrupt Climate Change on the Terrestrial Biosphere
Ice core studies show that changes in low-latitude rainfall accompanied abrupt climate change over the past 100,000 years.
- Boom-and-Bust Development Patterns Across the Amazon Deforestation Frontier
Rainforest loss in the Amazon is associated with ephemeral increase in people’s relative prosperity.
- Leading-Edge Vortices Elevate Lift of Autorotating Plant Seeds
Winged plant seeds use leading edge vortices to create lift, in the same way that flying animals do.
- Fluorescent False Neurotransmitters Visualize Dopamine Release from Individual Presynaptic Terminals
Optical tracking of neurotransmitter release in the brain reveals multiple synaptic populations that depend on brain activity.
- Structure of Rotavirus Outer-Layer Protein VP7 Bound with a Neutralizing Fab
Binding of neutralizing antibodies to rotavirus stabilizes coat-protein trimers and blocks cell entry.
- Extensive Demethylation of Repetitive Elements During Seed Development Underlies Gene Imprinting
Gene function in Arabidopsis endosperm depends on whether a gene is maternally or paternally inherited.
- Genome-Wide Demethylation of Arabidopsis Endosperm
The endosperm genome of Arabidopsis shows extensive gene imprinting.
- Hyper-Recombination, Diversity, and Antibiotic Resistance in Pneumococcus
Promiscuity not only leads to diversity in streptococcal bacteria, but also to an increased likelihood of acquiring drug resistance.
- Inhibition of Hedgehog Signaling Enhances Delivery of Chemotherapy in a Mouse Model of Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic tumors are unresponsive to chemotherapy because their limited vasculature precludes efficient drug delivery.
Technical Comments
