Contents
Vol 335, Issue 6075
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
Podcasts
- Science Podcast
The show includes entrepreneurship in the developing world, microbes and the immune response, flying robots, 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, researchers have identified the vectors for the Schmallenberg virus, which has been causing birth defects in livestock across western Europe; a new measurement appears to torpedo the claim that neutrinos travel faster than light; the European Space Agency is pressing ahead with ExoMars; the U.S. highway bill has put the brakes on some research; a gene therapy trial for cystic fibrosis has found funding and will go ahead this spring; and Indian scientists are disappointed with proposed spending increases for research in a new government budget plan.
- Random Sample
A team of scientists based at Harvard University has created a tool, called Bookworm, that can reveal historical trends in the language of research with the click of a button. And this week's numbers quantify the price tag to name Max Planck Florida Institute's new medical research lab, the height above Earth from which Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner jumped on 15 March, and the volume of sand spewed by undersea geysers in the North Sea hundreds of thousands of years ago.
- Newsmakers
This week's Newsmaker is physicist Robert Birgeneau, who announced last week that he will step down at the end of 2012 after 8 years as chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley.
Findings
News & Analysis
- Seeking Cures for North Korea's Environmental Ills
At a landmark seminar in Pyongyang, capital of North Korea, participants took stock of the country's ecological issues and shared ideas on how to restore its ecosystems and improve food security.
- A Vision of How Mouse Vision Can Reveal Consciousness' Secrets
Neuroscientist Christof Koch of the California Institute of Technology is embarking on a 10-year project to study vision in the mouse brain, funded by a new donation of $300 million from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
- Gut Microbes Keep Rare Immune Cells in Line
A new study reported online in Science this week has found that the typical intestinal bacteria in mice rein in a rare type of immune cell, curtailing asthma and colitis in the rodents.
- Field Biologists Cry Foul Over Ban
In the past 2 years, southern India's Karnataka State has canceled 40 out of 42 research permits in four tiger reserves, shutting down studies on topics as diverse as Asian elephant migrations and long-term ecological plots.
News Focus
- A Flapping of Wings
Robot aircraft that fly like birds could open new vistas in maneuverability, if designers can forge a productive partnership with an old enemy: unsteady airflow.
- It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a … Spy?
A new 19-gram crewless aircraft called the Nano Hummingbird with a wingspan of 17 centimeters can hover in place and fly in any direction (including backward) as fast as 18 kilometers per hour.
- Materials Scientists Look to a Data-Intensive Future
Supercomputing power now makes it possible to compute the properties of thousands of crystalline materials in a flash and is expected to guide experimentalists where to search for the next best things.
- Learning How to NOT Make Your Own Earthquakes
As fluid injections into Earth's crust trigger quakes across the United States, researchers are scrambling to learn how to avoid making more.
Letters
Books et al.
- New Light on a Continuing Clash
Examining how issues of race, gender, and regional identity affected responses to the teaching of evolution, Moran offers a fresh perspective on 20th-century clashes between science and religion in the United States.
- Objectifying Our Past
In this kaleidoscopic history of humankind (originally presented on BBC radio), MacGregor views people's lives through the prisms of 100 artifacts.
Education Forum
- Entrepreneurship Training for the Developing World
Education focused on commercial dynamism, not just policy and bureaucracy, can contribute to economic growth in low-income countries and the world.
Perspectives
- Old Drug, New Hope for Alzheimer's Disease
A nuclear receptor agonist increases the clearance of beta-amyloid and improves cognitive skills in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.
- At the Bottom of the Oceanic Plate
High-resolution seismic maps are providing a better picture of the processes involved in plate tectonics.
- Keystones in a Tangled Bank
Ecological network studies highlight the importance of individual species to community conservation.
- How Plants See the Invisible
Plants can sense ultraviolet light with a photoreceptor that only contains standard amino acid side chains.
- The Hunters Did It
Human hunting was responsible for the extinction of large mammal species in tropical Australia.
- Searching for a Better Thermal Battery
Improved materials for storing heat could save energy in applications such as heating and cooling and could enhance generation from solar thermal plants.
- The Imaginary Mind of a Mouse
Can the brain combine a previous memory into a current situation, creating the memory of an imaginary experience?
- Oscar Miller (1925–2012)
An unconventional molecular biologist used the electron microscope to take snapshots of active genes.
Review
Brevia
- Seroevidence for H5N1 Influenza Infections in Humans: Meta-Analysis
One to two percent of 14,000 people tested in 20 studies showed evidence of prior H5N1 infection.
Reports
- Actinide Topological Insulator Materials with Strong Interaction
Density functional calculations predict that some binary actinide compounds support an exotic electron-correlated state.
- Experimental Realization of a Magnetic Cloak
A ferromagnetic and superconductor composite structure can shield (cloak) a magnetic field without causing any distortion.
- Renewable Cathode Materials from Biopolymer/Conjugated Polymer Interpenetrating Networks
Lignin derivatives that can be sourced from paper-industry waste are examined as a battery cathode component.
- Iron-Catalyzed Cyclopropanation in 6 M KOH with in Situ Generation of Diazomethane
A robust catalyst circumvents the need to isolate a common reagent that is toxic and explosive.
- Energy Capture from Thermolytic Solutions in Microbial Reverse-Electrodialysis Cells
Thermally induced salt gradients could augment the electricity generated by microbial fuel cells from wastewater.
- Silicon Isotope Evidence Against an Enstatite Chondrite Earth
Earth accreted from materials with a heterogeneous mix of chondritic meteorite compositions.
- The Gutenberg Discontinuity: Melt at the Lithosphere-Asthenosphere Boundary
Analysis of seismic waves suggests the presence of thin layers of melted rock below the Pacific Ocean lithosphere.
- The Aftermath of Megafaunal Extinction: Ecosystem Transformation in Pleistocene Australia
The extinction of megafauna 40,000 years ago after the arrival of humans led to major changes in vegetation and fire regimes.
- Specialization and Rarity Predict Nonrandom Loss of Interactions from Mutualist Networks
In the sierras of Argentina, specialized mutualistic plant-pollinator relationships increase vulnerability to habitat loss.
- Evolutionary Conservation of Species’ Roles in Food Webs
How species are embedded in food webs is an intrinsic species attribute and is conserved across diverse ecological communities.
- Plant UVR8 Photoreceptor Senses UV-B by Tryptophan-Mediated Disruption of Cross-Dimer Salt Bridges
A tryptophan pyramid allows a dimeric protein to perceive ultraviolet light without an additional chromophore.
- MARF1 Regulates Essential Oogenic Processes in Mice
A protein that is highly expressed in oocytes regulates meiosis, genomic integrity, and female fertility.
- Trim28 Is Required for Epigenetic Stability During Mouse Oocyte to Embryo Transition
In early mouse embryos, the loss of a single maternal gene results in lethal phenotypic and epigenetic variability.
- ApoE-Directed Therapeutics Rapidly Clear β-Amyloid and Reverse Deficits in AD Mouse Models
Bexarotene counters the effects of neurodegenerative disease in mice.
- Long-Range–Projecting GABAergic Neurons Modulate Inhibition in Hippocampus and Entorhinal Cortex
Long-range inhibitory projections bidirectionally couple brain regions that play a role in spatial learning and memory.
- Glucocorticoids Can Induce PTSD-Like Memory Impairments in Mice
The infusion of a stress hormone produces fear responses to cues that were not associated with the traumatic event itself.
- Generation of a Synthetic Memory Trace
The brains of transgenic mice incorporate experimentally generated neural activity into a memory trace.
Technical Comments
