Contents
Vol 335, Issue 6069
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
Departments
Podcasts
- Science Podcast
The show includes ultraviolet light sensing in plants, investigating earthquakes with LIDAR, indoor microbe populations, 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 senator is questioning the FDA about its actions in response to a lawsuit brought by whistleblowers, an Indiana creationism bill is unlikely to advance, Russian space scientists may build a new version of the failed Fobos-Grunt sample return spacecraft, the genome of an extinct human is now online, the Kavli Foundation is endowing its first institute in Japan, Minnesota began destroying blood samples collected in its newborn-screening program, scientists are boycotting Elsevier to protest its journal pricing, and a report outlines the steps needed to increase the number of U.S. science degrees.
- Random Sample
From 20 to 22 April, the winners of GE's 2011 IN Cell Analyzer Image Competition will appear on NBC Universal's high-definition screen of Times Square in New York City. On 2 February, scientists at the Paranal Observatory in Chile for the first time successfully linked all four telescopes of the Very Large Telescope array. Alan Stern, the principal investigator of NASA's New Horizons mission to the dwarf planet, and Dan Durda, an astronomer and space artist, have posted a petition on the website change.org urging the U.S. Postal Service to issue an official stamp in 2015 honoring the mission's arrival at Pluto. And this week's numbers quantify the annual cost of a new cystic fibrosis drug and the amount raised for pediatric cancer research at a disco dance party.
Findings
News & Analysis
- €22 Billion Stimulus Brings Worries About Egalité
On 3 February, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon announced five new winners in the €7.7 billion Excellence Initiatives, which aims to help create a group of five to 10 world-class research and higher education clusters.
- New Cystic Fibrosis Drug Offers Hope, at a Price
The new cystic fibrosis drug Kalydeco illustrates both the promise and peril of personalized medicine: It is extremely expensive and helps only 4% of people with the disease, or 1200 patients.
- More Than One Way for Invaders to Wreak Havoc
A new paper published in the January issue of GSA Today holds invasions responsible for the failure to speciate in some marine animal groups in the Devonian period 380 million years ago.
- High Hopes for Croatia's 'Warm Spring Harbor' Remain Unfulfilled
What was supposed to be a rising star in Eastern European science, the Mediterranean Institute for Life Sciences in Split, is mired in controversy and appears to be on the brink of collapse.
News Focus
- Indoor Ecosystems
The microbial ecology of buildings gets a boost from a foundation and researchers trying to better understand the invisible communities in our homes, hospitals, and workspaces.
- The Visionary
Seeking to spur drug development, Stephen Friend has launched a daring series of initiatives to make biomedical research more open and effective.
Letters
Books et al.
- Paradoxical Roots of “Social Construction”
Nye locates the roots of the "social turn" (highlighting the importance of social communities, behavioral norms, and personal commitments) in the scientific culture and political events of 1930s Europe.
- Imaginary Identities
Zerubavel examines social and cultural aspects of how we understand kinship---and hence approach ethnicity, race, and nationalism.
- Books Received
A listing of books received at Science during the week ending 03 February 2012.
Policy Forum
- Adaptations of Avian Flu Virus Are a Cause for Concern
Members of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity explain its recommendations on the communication of experimental work on H5N1 influenza.
- Restricted Data on Influenza H5N1 Virus Transmission
Authors of a debated flu transmission study discuss why such work is important and should be published.
Perspectives
- Ode to the Mushroom Bodies
Neurons that stabilize memory storage are located outside of a region in the insect brain long thought to handle this task.
- Critical Truths About Power Laws
Most reported power laws lack statistical support and mechanistic backing.
- Remembering to Be Tolerant
Self-tolerant T cells can be transiently reactivated.
- Probing Frozen Molecular Embraces
The conformation of the complex formed by a catalyst and its substrate was determined with a method that combined mass spectrometry and infrared spectroscopy.
- It's All in the Symmetry
The structure of a sodium-calcium exchange protein provides insight into the mechanism of Ca2+ transport through the cell membrane.
Review
Brevia
- Pigment Pattern Formation by Contact-Dependent Depolarization
Cell culture experiments reveal that direct interactions between pigment cells play a key role in skin pattern formation.
Research Articles
- Visualizing Long-Term Memory Formation in Two Neurons of the Drosophila Brain
Protein synthesis underlying olfactory memory storage takes place outside the mushroom body—the site of memory storage.
- Structural Insight into the Ion-Exchange Mechanism of the Sodium/Calcium Exchanger
The arrangement of four central ion-binding sites with differing specificities suggests how a membrane transporter protein works.
Reports
- One-Step Fabrication of Supramolecular Microcapsules from Microfluidic Droplets
A molecular host that binds two guests directs scalable fabrication of hollow polymer/gold nanoparticle hybrid structures.
- Determination of Noncovalent Docking by Infrared Spectroscopy of Cold Gas-Phase Complexes
Conformationally freezing a weakly bound complex in the gas phase sheds light on its likely binding motifs in solution.
- A Molecular MoS2 Edge Site Mimic for Catalytic Hydrogen Generation
A small molecule functionally models the active component of an extended solid material with wide catalytic applications.
- Near-Field Deformation from the El Mayor–Cucapah Earthquake Revealed by Differential LIDAR
Optical remote sensing before and after a large earthquake reveals its rupture dynamics.
- Propagation of Slow Slip Leading Up to the 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku-Oki Earthquake
Two sequences of slow slip preceded and migrated toward the main rupture.
- Structure-Based Mechanistic Insights into DNMT1-Mediated Maintenance DNA Methylation
The enzyme that maintains DNA methylation in eukaryotes flips out the target C base in hemimethylated DNA for methylation.
- Structure and Allostery of the PKA RIIβ Tetrameric Holoenzyme
Details are revealed as to how cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) binding causes dissociation and activation of cAMP-dependent protein kinase.
- The Crystal Structure of TAL Effector PthXo1 Bound to Its DNA Target
Structures show how a virulence factor in a plant pathogen recognizes and binds to host DNA.
- Structural Basis for Sequence-Specific Recognition of DNA by TAL Effectors
Structures show how a virulence factor in a plant pathogen recognizes and binds to host DNA.
- Rescued Tolerant CD8 T Cells Are Preprogrammed to Reestablish the Tolerant State
Maintenance of T cell tolerance is likely regulated by epigenetic mechanisms.
Technical Comments
