Contents
04 March 2016
Vol 351, Issue 6277
Vol 351, Issue 6277
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
Products & Materials
- New Products
A weekly roundup of information on newly offered instrumentation, apparatus, and laboratory materials of potential interest to researchers.
In Brief
In Depth
- Fast radio bursts tease astronomers
Conflicting results suggest the potent blasts come in two flavors.
- Survey fraud test sparks battle
Pew Research Center challenges statistical test.
- Scientists to drill into dinosaur-killing blast
Cores from Chicxulub crater could illuminate how life returned after the cataclysm.
- NSF makes a new bid to boost diversity
Initiative aims for fresh answers, but researchers are still framing the questions.
Feature
- Trial by meltdown
At Fukushima, robots performed poorly at first but are now critical players in the cleanup.
- Epidemic of fear
A bumper crop of thyroid abnormalities in Fukushima children, including cancer, has perplexed scientists and alarmed locals.
Working Life
Letters
Books et al.
- The future of memory
A deluge of digital data threatens to destroy our collective identity
- Risky business
Hard-won lessons shed light on the promise and perils of radiation and nuclear power
Policy Forum
- Liberating field science samples and data
Promote reproducibility by moving beyond “available upon request”
Perspectives
- Electrons go with the flow in exotic material systems
Electronic hydrodynamic flow—making electrons flow like a fluid—has been observed
- Wiring the altruistic brain
Communication between brain regions uncovers hidden motives for generous behavior
- A copy-and-paste gene regulatory network
Transposable elements provide a ready-made route to regulate complex gene networks
- Surprised by selectivity
A bifunctional catalyst enables olefin synthesis from carbon monoxide and hydrogen at high selectivity
- An RNA twist to TH17 cells
A long noncoding RNA and RNA helicase constitute a new layer of T cell control
Research Articles
- Activation of PKA leads to mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition and loss of tumor-initiating ability
Tumor-initiating cells differentiate to a more benign state when treated with drugs that activate protein kinase A.
- Spiking neurons can discover predictive features by aggregate-label learning
Neurons learn to associate related sensory stimuli even when they are dispersed across time and in space.
- Cryo-EM structure of a native, fully glycosylated, cleaved HIV-1 envelope trimer
Interactions between the membrane proximal regions of the HIV-1 glycoprotein and two neutralizing antibodies are visualized.
- Visualizing antibody affinity maturation in germinal centers
Germinal center B cells are clonally diverse, and the antibodies these cells express mature at different rates.
Reports
- Negative local resistance caused by viscous electron backflow in graphene
Proximity transport measurements find evidence of whirlpools of graphene’s viscous electronic fluid.
- Observation of the Dirac fluid and the breakdown of the Wiedemann-Franz law in graphene
Thermal transport is enhanced near the charge-neutrality point in graphene, owing to the dominant interelectron interactions.
- Evidence for hydrodynamic electron flow in PdCoO2
Transport measurements in thin wires of PdCoO2 reveal a regime wherein electron-electron collisions play a major role.
- Selective conversion of syngas to light olefins
A composite catalyst circumvents conventional limitations on the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis of light olefins from syngas.
- Realization of a scalable Shor algorithm
Integer factorization is implemented in a scalable trapped-ion–based quantum computer.
- Highly stretchable electroluminescent skin for optical signaling and tactile sensing
Light emission, actuation, and sensing are combined in a stretchable electronic material suitable for soft robotics.
- The brain’s functional network architecture reveals human motives
Connectivity patterns in human brain circuits can predict distinct motivations for similar observed behaviors.
- Isolation of potent neutralizing antibodies from a survivor of the 2014 Ebola virus outbreak
Antibodies from a survivor of the 2014 outbreak bind to the membrane proximal region of the Ebola virus glycoprotein.
- Regulatory evolution of innate immunity through co-option of endogenous retroviruses
Endogenous retroviruses have sculpted the gene networks involved in the innate immune response.
- Expression homeostasis during DNA replication
Potential gene expression changes caused by DNA replication–driven gene dosage effects are buffered by histone acetylation.
- Multiplexed protein-DNA cross-linking: Scrunching in transcription start site selection
RNA polymerase uses a “discriminator” element and promoter “scrunching” to help choose where to start transcription.
- Stochastic activation of a DNA damage response causes cell-to-cell mutation rate variation
Nongenetic heterogeneity can lead to genetic variation.
Technical Comments
Erratum
From the AAAS Office of Publishing and Member Services
About The Cover
COVER Japanese media tour the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (Unit 4 reactor building shown here). On 11 March, Japan marks the fifth anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that triggered meltdowns at this site. Tokyo Electric Power Company is in the early stages of a decades-long, $9 billion decommissioning effort that is spurring advances in robotics. Area residents, meanwhile, are wrestling with the possible health effects of long-term exposure to low doses of radiation. See page 1018.
Photo: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images
