Contents
Vol 332, Issue 6031
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
Podcasts
- Science Podcast
The show includes protein interactions by design, curing HIV infection, comparing photosynthetic and photovoltaic efficiencies, 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
- Around the World
In science news around the world this week, a draft plan to restore the California Bay delta east of San Francisco has been found to contain major scientific gaps, the Obama Administration has interpreted a congressionally imposed ban on scientific collaboration with China in a way that may limit its impact, the charges against two scientists involved in a growth hormone scandal in France have been dropped, a plan to create a new body for European science policy has been thrown into disarray, and Japan is abandoning its plan to build 14 new nuclear reactors and generate half the country's electricity from nuclear power.
- Random Sample
NASA selected three possibilities last week as candidates for its next Discovery mission, to be launched in 2016. A science enthusiast is petitioning the Nobel Committee to award the unawarded 1916 Nobel Prize in physics to Henry Moseley, who determined that each element's spot on the periodic table equaled the proton count in its nucleus. And this week's numbers quantify world population by 2100, Americans with asthma, and the prevalence of autism among children aged 7 to 14 in Goyang, South Korea.
- Newsmakers
This week's Newsmaker is Michael Rosenfeld, the head of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's new documentary film unit, who hopes to team up with researchers around the world to bring the excitement of scientific discovery to a broader audience.
Findings
News & Analysis
- Cholera Linked to U.N. Forces, But Questions Remain
A report from an independent panel leaves little doubt that United Nations peacekeeping forces from Nepal inadvertently introduced cholera to Haiti last fall, triggering an ongoing epidemic that has killed almost 5000.
- Scientific Link-Up Yields ‘Control Panel’ for Networks
A trio of physicists has found a way to determine the smallest number of nodes that must be externally controlled to force a given network from any initial state to any desired final state.
- Did Neandertals Linger in Russia's Far North?
In this week's issue of Science, a research team claims that some of the last Neandertals may have taken refuge in the dark Arctic north rather than the sunny south as archaeological evidence has indicated.
- Feedback From Frontal Cortex May Be a Signature of Consciousness
In this week's issue of Science, researchers say they have identified a neural signature of consciousness that is present in healthy people and brain-damaged patients who retain some awareness, but not in people who are truly in a vegetative state.
- Loosing the Louse on Europe's Largest Invasive Pest
Last week, the United Kingdom approved the widespread release of a natural enemy of invasive Japanese knotweed, a plant louse, or psyllid, called Aphalara itadori.
- Is It Time to Declutter the Dinosaur Roster?
Paleontologist Jack Horner thinks too many discoveries of supposedly new species of dinosaurs are actually duplicates of animals already on the books.
- Homeland Security Science Chief Aims to Put House in Order
Tara O'Toole, undersecretary of science and technology at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, spoke to Science recently about her efforts to boost S&T's role in making the country more secure.
News Focus
- The Emerging Race to Cure HIV Infections
Timothy Ray Brown's startling fate has pushed to the front a daunting research challenge that long seemed a fool's errand
- Understanding HIV Latency to Undo It
With reservoirs of latently infected cells in the spotlight as the central obstacle to a cure, attention is focusing on the fine details of how HIV does this deep dive and stays submerged.
Letters
Books et al.
- Our Caring Neurons
Churchland approaches the question of what grounds morality through a consideration of the neurobiological foundations of human sociability.
- Arts and the Dreaming Mind
Exploring the interplay between neuroscience and the arts, this year's Brainwave Festival was centered on dreaming.
Policy Forum
- Toward the Second Commitment Period of the Kyoto Protocol
Black carbon should be included in the Kyoto framework, and treatment of short-lived gases like methane should change.
Perspectives
- Cold-Trapping Mars' Atmosphere
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has observed large deposits of frozen CO2 at Mars' southern polar region.
- The Cost of Being Male
Mitochondrial mutations influence nuclear gene expression more in male Drosophila than in females.
- Planarian Pluripotency
Cellular and molecular details underlying tissue regeneration are revealed in the flatworm.
- From Computational Design to a Protein That Binds
Researchers use computational approaches to design two proteins from scratch that bind to the flu virus.
- Brownian Motion Goes Ballistic
Measurements of the Brownian motion of particles in air and in water reveal a smooth “ballistic” motion at very short times.
- Walter M. Fitch (1929–2011)
A meticulous biologist developed fundamental tools for the field of molecular evolution.
Review
Research Articles
- Clonogenic Neoblasts Are Pluripotent Adult Stem Cells That Underlie Planarian Regeneration
A pluripotent adult stem cell underlies flatworms’ amazing regenerative ability.
- Computational Design of Proteins Targeting the Conserved Stem Region of Influenza Hemagglutinin
Proteins can be designed that bind to specific patches on target proteins to alter their subsequent interactions.
Reports
- Interplay of Rotational, Relaxational, and Shear Dynamics in Solid 4He
Comprehensive measurements argue against the existence of the exotic supersolid quantum state of frozen helium.
- Very Large Capacitance Enhancement in a Two-Dimensional Electron System
Electron correlation effects at the interface of two metal oxides lead to a lower chemical potential and enhance capacitance.
- Beating Crystallization in Glass-Forming Metals by Millisecond Heating and Processing
Resistive heating can be used to rapidly heat a bulk metallic glass without inducing crystallization.
- Three-Dimensional Orientation Mapping in the Transmission Electron Microscope
Electron microscopy is used to nondestructively map the three-dimensional grain orientations in nanocrystalline aluminum.
- Silver-Catalyzed C-C Bond Formation Between Methane and Ethyl Diazoacetate in Supercritical CO2
Supercritical carbon dioxide solvent facilitates transformation of the generally inert carbon-hydrogen bonds in methane.
- Massive CO2 Ice Deposits Sequestered in the South Polar Layered Deposits of Mars
Radar measurements reveal a substantial buried deposit of carbon dioxide in the south pole of Mars.
- Late Mousterian Persistence near the Arctic Circle
Artefacts at a site in the northern Urals dating to about 33,000 years ago suggest a last northern refuge of Neandertals.
- Experimental Evidence Supports a Sex-Specific Selective Sieve in Mitochondrial Genome Evolution
Polymorphisms in the organelle genome have little effect in female flies but do alter gene expression in males.
- Role for piRNAs and Noncoding RNA in de Novo DNA Methylation of the Imprinted Mouse Rasgrf1 Locus
Small, noncoding PIWI-interacting RNAs regulate the imprinting of a mouse gene.
- Polarized notum Activation at Wounds Inhibits Wnt Function to Promote Planarian Head Regeneration
Local detection of tissue polarity results in selective feedback inhibition of signaling at posterior-facing wounds.
- Natural Microbe-Mediated Refractoriness to Plasmodium Infection in Anopheles gambiae
Insect midgut-dwelling bacteria generate reactive oxygen species that inhibit malaria parasite development.
- Preserved Feedforward But Impaired Top-Down Processes in the Vegetative State
Discerning the neural correlates of (un)consciousness sheds light on the mechanisms underlying vegetative states.
- Improved Learning in a Large-Enrollment Physics Class
Encouraging active engagement results in enhanced learning.
