Contents
Vol 328, Issue 5983
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
Podcasts
- Science Podcast
The show includes a potential therapeutic target for sepsis treatment, reproductive success in field crickets, nuclear security, 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
- Louisiana Begins Controversial Engineering to Ward Off Oil Spill
The magnitude of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico—the largest oil spill in U.S. history—has inspired an unprecedented and untested idea for combating it: an extensive sand trap. But scientists are dubious about the project's chance of success.
- No 'Smoking Gun' for Killer Oil
As turtle and dolphin corpses wash up on Gulf of Mexico beaches, scientists face a sleuthing challenge worthy of CSI: determining whether oil had a hand in the deaths.
- Long-Delayed Airborne Observatory Takes First Flight, Sees First Light
Last week, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy glided off the runway of the Palmdale Airport in California for its first observational flight, drawing cheers from scientists who expect it to open a new window on the nearby universe.
- In Quest to Save Energy, China Ignores Simple Answer
China could make huge strides in energy savings and pollution reduction: All it must do is wash its coal before burning it, experts say. But it doesn't, and this bodes ill for China's frantic efforts to meet a looming energy-efficiency target.
- From the Science Policy Blog
ScienceInsider reported this week that the third time was a charm for members of the U.S. House of Representatives, which last week passed a reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act that would increase spending on research, science education, and innovation, among other stories.
- Researchers to Return Blood Samples to the Yanomamö
Researchers will be releasing parts of their collections of samples taken from the Yanomamö in Brazil and Venezuela during fieldwork in the 1960s and early 1970s to the Brazilian Embassy in Washington, D.C., which in turn will escort them back to Brazil and the Yanomamö tribe.
- From Science's Online Daily News Site
ScienceNOW reported this week that swarming desert locusts grow bigger brains, a new treatment for Ebola, the immune system may be to blame for obsessive-compulsive disorder, dirt may determine a country's destiny, and violent galaxy collisions power mega–black holes, among other stories.
Random Samples
News Focus
- Major Heart Disease Genes Prove Elusive
So far, genome-wide association studies have not found common genes with a big impact on heart health; researchers hope that the low-effect genes they are finding will help identify pathways and drug targets.
- An Unending Mission to Contain the Stuff of Nuclear Nightmares
With new tools and painstaking analyses, researchers are helping to detect clandestine nuclear-weapons research and keep deadly material from going astray.
- Renewing the Post-Soviet Steppe
Ukraine's steppe has largely disappeared, but researchers, conservationists, and farmers are devising plans to restore the vital grasslands while making money.
- Along the Indus River, Saber Rattling Over Water Security
Pakistan accuses India of contravening a treaty that governs Indus water; with climate change likely to make things tenser, better data sharing may forge mutual trust.
The Gonzo Scientist
- Calling All Dancing Scientists!
Call your labmates, get the video camera, and leave your fear of Internet fame behind. It's time to dance again.
Letters
Books et al.
- The Climate Change Debates
Kitcher's essay review examines eight books that explore causes and consequences of the debates over climate change. (Plus: online discussion)
Policy Forum
- Closing Loopholes: Getting Illegal Fishing Under Control
The current system of port state control lacks transparency, accountability, and the global reach to punish fishers who are illegally emptying our oceans.
Perspectives
- Dance Like No One Is Watching, Sing Like No One Is Listening?
Genetic paternity testing and field observations of crickets challenge conventional wisdom about sex differences and fitness.
- Countering the Early Faint Sun
A haze of fractal particles may account for the warm temperatures that led to the wet conditions of the early Earth.
- The Lamb Shift—Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Quantum field effects are magnified by collective interactions between many atoms.
- Top-Down Versus Bottom-Up
Can national emissions inventories be verified through direct atmospheric measurements?
- Helping the Resistance
Phylogenetic analysis reveals mutations that led to the rise of drug resistance in seasonal H1N1 influenza.
- Anchors Away for Ubiquitin Chains
Unanchored chains of ubiquitin molecules control a cell signaling pathway that responds to viral infection.
Reports
- Highly Mobile Gapless Excitations in a Two-Dimensional Candidate Quantum Spin Liquid
Thermal conductivity measurements on a novel organic insulator help describe its microscopic electronic structure.
- Collective Lamb Shift in Single-Photon Superradiance
Superradiance is observed from an ensemble of iron atoms excited by synchrotron radiation.
- Dynamic Kinetic Resolution of Biaryl Atropisomers via Peptide-Catalyzed Asymmetric Bromination
A simple catalyst converts antibiotic-like molecules into near-single chiral form.
- Operation Mechanism of a Molecular Machine Revealed Using Time-Resolved Vibrational Spectroscopy
Measuring the travel of a molecular ring along an axle explains its shuttling motion.
- The Thermodynamics of the Elusive HO3 Radical
Molecular kinetics shows that hydrogen superoxide is too unstable to play a major role in atmospheric chemistry.
- Freshwater Outburst from Lake Superior as a Trigger for the Cold Event 9300 Years Ago
The trigger for the dramatic North Atlantic cooling event 9300 years ago was an outburst flood from Lake Superior.
- Fractal Organic Hazes Provided an Ultraviolet Shield for Early Earth
A fractal organic haze layer kept the early Earth warm, despite the faintness of the Sun.
- Natural and Sexual Selection in a Wild Insect Population
Monitoring reproduction in wild crickets confirms that male success varies more than female success.
- Permissive Secondary Mutations Enable the Evolution of Influenza Oseltamivir Resistance
Compensatory mutations offset the structural costs of acquiring a drug-resistance mutation in a virus.
- The Incidence of Fire in Amazonian Forests with Implications for REDD
Without a fire policy in place, emission reductions from reduced deforestation are likely to be offset by increased carbon dioxide emissions from fires.
- Meiotic Recombination Provokes Functional Activation of the p53 Regulatory Network
A tumor suppressor appears to protect against aberrant chromosome breakage during meiosis.
- FCHo Proteins Are Nucleators of Clathrin-Mediated Endocytosis
Membrane-sculpting proteins nucleate clathrin‐coated pits during endocytosis.
- The Fusogen EFF-1 Controls Sculpting of Mechanosensory Dendrites
In developing Caenorhabditis elegans during neuronal arborization, excess neurite branches are retracted and fuse.
- Induction of Fear Extinction with Hippocampal-Infralimbic BDNF
Pharmacological agents can be used to treat disorders of pathological fear without reactivating the original memory trace.
- SphK1 Regulates Proinflammatory Responses Associated with Endotoxin and Polymicrobial Sepsis
Blockade of an enzyme that promotes inflammation results in protection from lethal sepsis.
- Asymmetrical Distribution of the Second Messenger c-di-GMP upon Bacterial Cell Division
Genetically encoded biosensors visualize the dynamics of a global signaling molecule within bacterial cells.
