Contents
Vol 325, Issue 5938
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
Podcasts
- Science Podcast
The show includes the dynamics of rotavirus epidemics, how tiger moths jam bat sonar, a look at NIH's new director, 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
- White House Taps Former Genome Chief Francis Collins as NIH Director
President Barack Obama's announcement last week that he had chosen Francis Collins to lead the National Institutes of Health ended months of speculation and ignited a volley of flattering remarks from researchers and biomedical groups.
- Questions About the Language of God
Although many scientists say geneticist Francis Collins will make a superb director of the National Institutes of Health, a discussion about whether Collins's very public religious views will influence his leadership of NIH has been playing out on blogs.
- Geophysicist McNutt Named to Lead U.S. Geological Survey
Marcia McNutt, president and CEO of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, was nominated last week to be the next director of the U.S. Geological Survey.
- Sequencing Neandertal Mitochondrial Genomes by the Half-Dozen
On page 318 of this week's issue of Science, researchers describe a new technique to decipher the entire mitochondrial genomes from five Neandertals. These genomes show relatively little genetic diversity among Neandertals scattered across Europe and Russia.
- Lunar Survey Spacecraft Develops an Attitude Problem
India's first moon probe, Chandrayaan-1, has suffered a critical malfunction that jeopardizes the remainder of the mission. The spacecraft, which entered lunar orbit last November, can no longer orient itself with high precision.
- From Science's Online Daily News Site
Science's online daily news site, ScienceNOW, this week exonerated birds as the source of the 1918 flu pandemic, showed how cats manipulate their owners and swearing eases pain, and described flexible fibers that act like cameras, among other stories.
- Roundup of Utah Collectors Stirs a Debate on Enforcement
Last month, 16 residents of Blanding, Utah, were arrested and accused of stealing prehistoric Indian artifacts from public and tribal lands, the culmination of a 2.5-year-old undercover investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of the Interior that netted 24 alleged looters in the archaeology-rich Four Corners region.
- From the Science Policy Blog
ScienceInsider this week reported on congressional appropriators' approval of nearly all of the president's $4.94 billion request for the Department of Energy's Office of Science, as well as their skepticism about Energy Secretary Steven Chu's plan to fund eight large energy research centers, and other stories.
Random Samples
News Focus
- Prosperity's Plague
Researchers have linked a growing number of chronic diseases to the metabolic disorder known as insulin resistance; two general theories have emerged about its mechanism.
- Can Bolden Banish NASA Blues?
Obama's nominee for NASA administrator is trying to rally public support on the eve of the moon landing anniversary as an expert panel and Congress worry that NASA has lost its way.
- Shifting Orbits Gave Solar System A Big Shakeup, Model Suggests
Dynamicists simulating the solar system's early days are finding that a violent reshuffling of bodies large and small may explain many of today's planetary mysteries.
Letters
Books et al.
- The Flexible Organism
Gilbert and Epel focus on embryonic and larval development of metazoans to explore where "embryology meets the real world."
- Entanglement with a Twist
Weaving her narrative around a series of imagined face-to-face dialogues, Gilder offers an account of the development of quantum physics that pays particular attention to developments through the second half of the 20th century.
Policy Forum
- Beneficial Biofuels—The Food, Energy, and Environment Trilemma
Exploiting multiple feedstocks, under new policies and accounting rules, to balance biofuel production, food security, and greenhouse-gas reduction.
Perspectives
- Neutralizing Toxic RNA
Oligonucleotides that target aggregates of RNA and protein show potential for treating myotonic dystrophy.
- What Drives Climate Flip-Flops?
A numerical modeling study questions the validity of a key paradigm in rapid climate change studies.
- Does Viral Diversity Matter?
Detailed analyses of population demographics and viral diversity should help predict the impact of childhood vaccination for endemic viruses such as rotavirus.
- Is Quantum Theory Exact?
Future experiments may tell us if quantum mechanics is an approximation to a deeper-level theory.
- Toward a Smarter Web
Interactive evolutionary algorithms are increasingly implemented in Web sites to respond to user preferences.
- Edge-State Physics Without Magnetic Fields
A novel class of materials called topological insulators allows spin physics to be probed without the need for magnetic fields.
Reviews
Brevia
- Modern Riding Style Improves Horse Racing Times
Increased horse race speed over the past century can be attributed to the crouching posture and increased work done by jockeys.
Research Articles
- Demographic Variability, Vaccination, and the Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Rotavirus Epidemics
Diarrhea-causing rotavirus epidemics can be predicted by shifts in birth rate rather than by seasonal variables.
- Nonlocal Transport in the Quantum Spin Hall State
A topological insulator exhibits current flow in edge states around the sample without the need for magnetic fields.
Reports
- Higher-Order Photon Bunching in a Semiconductor Microcavity
The tendency for photons to bunch gets stronger as their number increases.
- Band Formation from Coupled Quantum Dots Formed by a Nanoporous Network on a Copper Surface
Trapped electronic states induced by a nanoporous overlayer create an artificial electronic band structure.
- CH Stretching Excitation in the Early Barrier F + CHD3 Reaction Inhibits CH Bond Cleavage
A molecular bond vibration unexpectedly inhibits, rather than promotes, cleavage of the carbon–hydrogen bond.
- Deep-Sea Temperature and Ice Volume Changes Across the Pliocene-Pleistocene Climate Transitions
Increases in glacial ice volume and ice-sheet dynamics are implicated in two distinct climate cooling events.
- Transient Simulation of Last Deglaciation with a New Mechanism for Bølling-Allerød Warming
A coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model simulates the warming of the last deglaciation.
- Undulatory Swimming in Sand: Subsurface Locomotion of the Sandfish Lizard
X-ray imaging reveals the undulatory motion of a sandfish lizard through a granular fluid.
- Targeted Retrieval and Analysis of Five Neandertal mtDNA Genomes
Targeted sequencing improves Neandertal mitochondrial DNA retrieval and reveals low diversity among individuals.
- The Human SepSecS-tRNASec Complex Reveals the Mechanism of Selenocysteine Formation
A crystal structure shows how a pyroxidal phosphate enzyme catalyzes the formation of selenocysteine from phosphoserine on transfer RNA.
- Tiger Moth Jams Bat Sonar
Bertholdia trigona thwarts the attacks of bats by generating bursts of ultrasound that interfere with the bats’ sonar system.
- Functional Amyloids As Natural Storage of Peptide Hormones in Pituitary Secretory Granules
Peptide and protein hormones are stored in secretory granules in a nonpathological amyloid conformation.
- RIP3, an Energy Metabolism Regulator That Switches TNF-Induced Cell Death from Apoptosis to Necrosis
The protein kinase RIP3 mediates necrotic cell death, likely through regulation of metabolic enzymes.
- Reversal of RNA Dominance by Displacement of Protein Sequestered on Triplet Repeat RNA
An antisense oligonucleotide ameliorates the symptoms of myotonic dystrophy in transgenic mice.
- Genome-Wide RNAi Screen Identifies Genes Involved in Intestinal Pathogenic Bacterial Infection
In vivo RNA interference screen reveals regulators of innate immunity in Drosophila.
Technical Comments
