Contents
Vol 338, Issue 6104
Special Issue
Forces in Development
Introduction to Special Issue
Reviews
Perspectives
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
Podcasts
- Science Podcast
The show includes the evolution of development, the human mutation rate, publishing patterns, 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, the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, which comprises 36 12-meter-diameter antennas, was completed last week in Western Australia; an expert panel has dismissed as "inconclusive" a controversial study claiming to find that rats fed genetically modified maize developed tumors at a higher rate than control animals; and disgraced Dutch psychologist Diederik Stapel is under investigation by Dutch prosecutors.
- Random Sample
Schools in England are failing girls who want to study physics; the Royal Society in London will hold an "edit-a-thon" event on 19 October in which Wikipedia articles on illustrious yet unsung female scientists will be expanded or created; and microscopic analysis of Pegomastax teeth suggest that heterodontosaurs used their fangs to nip and spar.
- Newsmakers
This week's Newsmakers are Terry Plank, a geochemist at Columbia University who studies the intersection of hydrology and volcanology, and the other winners of the MacArthur Fellowships.
Findings
News & Analysis
- Reprogrammed Cells Earn Biologists Top Honor
Work upending the assumption that a cell's differentiation and maturation could not be reversed netted John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka this year's Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.
- Manipulators of the Quantum Realm Lauded
This year's Nobel Prize in physics honors Serge Haroche and David Wineland for creating delicate quantum states of individual particles and doing novel things with them.
- Oh, Baby: Fight Brews Over U.S. Import of Beluga Whales
The Georgia Aquarium's controversial request to import 18 wild beluga whales captured in the Sea of Okhotsk for display and breeding is expected to get its first formal airing on 12 October.
- NIH Funding Shifts With Disease Lobbying, Study Suggests
The growing power and influence of disease lobbying groups over the past 2 decades have dramatically reshaped the priorities of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, according to a new analysis.
- New Arctic Research Vessel Ready to Make a Splash
Polar researchers will soon have their own ride to the icy waters of the Bering Sea and points north: the Sikuliaq, a $200 million, nearly 80-meter ship owned by the U.S. National Science Foundation.
News Focus
- Aftershocks in the Courtroom
An Italian judge will soon decide whether 30 people died because seven experts downplayed the risk of a major earthquake in L'Aquila in 2009.
- Turning Back the Clock: Slowing the Pace of Prehistory
New work suggests that mutations arise more slowly in humans than previously thought, raising questions about the timetable of evolutionary events.
Letters
Books et al.
- Heterodoxy and Its Discontents
Through an examination of the controversies sparked by best-selling author Immanuel Velikovsky (Worlds in Collision), Gordin considers the shifting location of the boundaries of legitimate science.
- To Endow Trust
Synthesizing anthropology and biogeography, Harcourt discusses how geography has affected our anatomy, physiology, cultures, and population densities.
- Books Received
A listing of books received at Science during the week ending 05 October 2012.
Policy Forum
- Standards and Infrastructure for Innovation Data Exchange
Data on the global R&D enterprise are inconsistently structured and shared, which hinders understanding and policy.
Perspectives
- Animal Behavior and the Microbiome
Feedbacks between microbiomes and their hosts affect a range of animal behaviors.
- Putting the Squeeze on Phototransduction
Changes in the physical properties of the lipid bilayer stimulate the opening of ion channels during fly phototransduction.
- Physical Biology Returns to Morphogenesis
Understanding how cells coordinately shape an organism is grounded in a history of biophysical analyses of the molecules, mechanics, and forces that govern cell movements.
- A Golden Spike for Planetary Science
The progression from astronomical observation to geochemical analysis epitomizes advancements in planetary exploration.
- Downsizing the Deep Biosphere
A recent study provides new constraints on the size and distribution of microbial biomass beneath the ocean floor, but key factors remain uncertain.
- Cilia Discern Left from Right
Determination of vertebrate left-right body asymmetry requires immotile cilia that sense fluid flow generated by nearby motile cilia.
- Seeing Is Believing
Satellite data and computational modeling provide evidence for a spheroidal magma body rising within the crust below the Altiplano Plateau in the central Andes.
Brevia
- Genome Sequencing Identifies a Basis for Everolimus Sensitivity
Tumor genome sequencing reveals the molecular basis of a patient’s unexpected and dramatic response to a cancer drug.
Research Articles
- A High-Coverage Genome Sequence from an Archaic Denisovan Individual
A close-up look provides clues to the relationships between modern humans, Denisovans, and Neandertals.
- Cilia at the Node of Mouse Embryos Sense Fluid Flow for Left-Right Determination via Pkd2
A Ca2+ channel implicated in polycystic kidney disease helps to establish the left-right body axis of the mammalian embryo.
Reports
- Strain Tuning of Individual Atomic Tunneling Systems Detected by a Superconducting Qubit
A process responsible for the decoherence of superconducting qubits is controlled using mechanical strain.
- Observation of Resonances in Penning Ionization Reactions at Sub-Kelvin Temperatures in Merged Beams
Minimizing the relative velocity spread among reaction partners in a supersonic beam reveals nonclassical dynamics.
- An Ancient Core Dynamo in Asteroid Vesta
Paleomagnetic studies of a meteorite from asteroid Vesta reveal remanent magnetization produced by an ancient core dynamo.
- Elemental Mapping by Dawn Reveals Exogenic H in Vesta’s Regolith
Analysis of data from the Dawn spacecraft implies that asteroid Vesta is rich in volatiles.
- Pitted Terrain on Vesta and Implications for the Presence of Volatiles
Analysis of data from the Dawn spacecraft implies that asteroid Vesta is rich in volatiles.
- Sombrero Uplift Above the Altiplano-Puna Magma Body: Evidence of a Ballooning Mid-Crustal Diapir
Subsidence accompanies uplift below a massive rising magma body in the central Andes mountains.
- Adhesion Functions in Cell Sorting by Mechanically Coupling the Cortices of Adhering Cells
Cell adhesion provides a mechanical scaffold for cell cortex tension to drive cell sorting during zebrafish gastrulation.
- Forces Driving Epithelial Spreading in Zebrafish Gastrulation
Contraction of an actomyosin ring drives epithelial morphogenesis during embryonic development.
- Photomechanical Responses in Drosophila Photoreceptors
Light sensing involves contraction of the photoreceptor cell membrane physically gating the light-sensitive channels.
- Bacterial Quorum Sensing and Metabolic Incentives to Cooperate
Cooperating groups of bacteria resist infiltration by noncooperating cheats by co-regulating shared and individual products.
- Quantifying the Impact of Human Mobility on Malaria
Geographical information in mobile phone records for 15 million Kenyans is linked to malaria prevalence estimates.
- Preference by Association: How Memory Mechanisms in the Hippocampus Bias Decisions
Remembered links between objects can result in the unintentional linking of their values and can affect choices.
Technical Comments
From the AAAS Office of Publishing and Member Services