Contents
Vol 332, Issue 6032
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
Podcasts
- Science Podcast
The show includes diet and mammalian gut microbiomes, the science of alchemists, inquiry-based writing, 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, an ethics commission has called for Germany to phase out nuclear power by 2021, a new vaccine against deadly bacterial meningitis A will be rolled out in three more African countries, fewer grant applications may be funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health than ever, funding for the Australian Synchrotron is up in the air, a U.K. parliamentary committee has warned that budget cuts planned for astronomy and particle physics will jeopardize Britain's ability to stay at the forefront of those disciplines, and rinderpest, which has decimated cattle herds for millennia, has been eradicated worldwide.
- Random Sample
A landing card presented by Albert Einstein upon his arrival in Belgium in 1933 went on display at the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool on 10 May. Losing Control, a new film by former biophysicist Valerie Weiss, is now on the festival circuit and will make a stop at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., in October. And this week's numbers quantify visible stars in Orion, the economic impact of the Human Genome Project, and a donation to the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Findings
News & Analysis
- Chinese Academy Takes Space Under Its Wing
On 3 May, the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced that five space science missions were slated for launch in CAS's decadal plan, which began this year, marking a turning point for Chinese space science.
- Pioneering Center Ponders Future as NSF Pulls Out
The future of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis is in question as it faces the end of its core funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation.
- Spain's 'Lonely Fighter' Steps Down Amid a Highly Public Spat
Mariano Barbacid is leaving the helm of Spain's flagship cancer center, the National Cancer Research Centre, the way he has spent much of his time there: fighting fiercely.
News Focus
- Fukushima Revives The Low-Dose Debate
The general public avoided exposure to high levels of radioactivity, but questions linger about the long-term effects of contamination.
- Schoolyard Radiation Policy Brings a Backlash
The Japanese government's most controversial misstep in response to the Fukushima nuclear power plant crisis may have been the release of guidelines on allowable radiological contamination in schoolyards.
- Crippled Reactors to Get Cooled and Wrapped
The crisis at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is far from over. Some 100,000 residents who were evacuated will not return home until the reactors are firmly under control.
- New Work Reinforces Megaquake's Harsh Lessons in Geoscience
High-tech analyses of Japan's March earthquake overturn long-held views of fault behavior and warn that another disaster may be looming.
- Seismic Crystal Ball Proving Mostly Cloudy Around the World
Failing at quake prediction, seismologists tried making fuzzier forecasts, but Japan's megaquake is only the latest reminder of the method's shortcomings.
- The Alchemical Revolution
As cryptic manuscripts and centuries-old labware yield their secrets, scholars are coming to realize that medieval "chymists" were real scientists after all.
Letters
Books et al.
- Truly Multidimensional
Filmed during a few short trips into France's Chauvet Cave, Herzog's 3D documentary presents arresting imagery of the cave's paintings in their natural setting.
Education Forum
- Inquiry-Based Writing in the Laboratory Course
Writing lab reports in science classes can be more productive and engaging if the experience is structured well.
Perspectives
- High-Power Fiber Lasers
The brightness, robustness, and flexibility of high-power fiber laser sources provide an enabling technology for science and industry.
- Shedding Light on Oxide Interfaces
The properties of a metallic oxide can be altered when it is confined as an ultrathin layer by layers of an insulating oxide.
- The TASCC of Secretion
Cells can spatially couple cellular degradation and protein synthesis to boost protein secretion.
- Subtropical Rainfall and the Antarctic Ozone Hole
Simulations show that ozone depletion has had a large impact on Southern Hemisphere climate.
- Evolving Large and Complex Brains
X-ray studies of two Early Jurassic fossils offer insight into the evolution of mammalian brains.
- Lewis R. Binford (1931–2011)
An archaeologist viewed artifacts with an anthropological lens and gave cultural adaptations prominence in the field.
Brevia
- A Diiron Protein Autogenerates a Valine-Phenylalanine Cross-Link
An enzyme creates its own cofactor by linking two nonfunctionalized amino acid side chains.
Research Article
- Comparative Functional Genomics of the Fission Yeasts
A combined analysis of genome sequence, structure, and expression gives insights into fission yeast biology.
Reports
- Dimensionality Control of Electronic Phase Transitions in Nickel-Oxide Superlattices
The structure of metal-oxide superlattices is used to control the electronic order of the system.
- Competition of Superconducting Phenomena and Kondo Screening at the Nanoscale
A manganese complex adsorbed on a superconducting lead surface creates a mosaic of two magnetic ground states.
- Chlorinated Indium Tin Oxide Electrodes with High Work Function for Organic Device Compatibility
Closer matching of the energy levels of transparent electrodes and active materials in organic light-emitting diodes improves efficiency.
- Probing Asthenospheric Density, Temperature, and Elastic Moduli Below the Western United States
Monitoring the response to ocean tidal loads reveals detailed variations in Earth’s internal structure.
- Impact of Polar Ozone Depletion on Subtropical Precipitation
The Antarctic ozone hole has led to increased summertime precipitation in the subtropics of the Southern Hemisphere.
- Fossil Evidence on Origin of the Mammalian Brain
Evidence from two early fossils suggests that brain enlargement and specialization proceeded in three pulses.
- Industrial Melanism in British Peppered Moths Has a Singular and Recent Mutational Origin
The locus responsible for the dark form of the peppered moth is identified.
- The Selaginella Genome Identifies Genetic Changes Associated with the Evolution of Vascular Plants
The genome sequence of a lycophyte hints at ancient evolutionary transitions.
- Chromatin “Prepattern” and Histone Modifiers in a Fate Choice for Liver and Pancreas
Screening histone modifications reveals distinctive patterns of chromatin marks for liver and pancreas development.
- Spatial Coupling of mTOR and Autophagy Augments Secretory Phenotypes
A cellular compartment allows simultaneous protein synthesis and degradation.
- Diet Drives Convergence in Gut Microbiome Functions Across Mammalian Phylogeny and Within Humans
The normal range of physiological and metabolic phenotypes has been shaped by coevolution with microbial symbionts.
- The Toll-Like Receptor 2 Pathway Establishes Colonization by a Commensal of the Human Microbiota
Signaling through innate immune receptors promotes commensal bacteria colonization of the gut.
- A Packing Mechanism for Nucleosome Organization Reconstituted Across a Eukaryotic Genome
Genome-wide nucleosome positioning is a self-organizing system amenable to in vitro reconstitution.
- Structures of the Bacterial Ribosome in Classical and Hybrid States of tRNA Binding
Two crystal structures indicate how conformational changes in the ribosome assist protein synthesis.
Technical Comments
