Contents
Vol 367, Issue 6485
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
In Brief
In Depth
- Race to find COVID-19 treatments accelerates
WHO launches megatrial to test repurposed drugs and experimental drug candidates.
- Fauci's straight talk
Science interviews the director of NIAID about the coronavirus pandemic.
- With COVID-19, modeling takes on life and death importance
Epidemic simulations shape national responses.
- New mercury compound spotted in mass poisoning
Chemical found in 60-year-old cat brain reopens debate over Minamata disaster.
- Can ‘sentinel trees’ warn of devastating pests?
By planting groves of exotic species, nations hope to identify potential insect invaders.
Feature
- The bias detective
Psychologist Jennifer Eberhardt explores the roots of unconscious bias—and its tragic consequences for U.S. society.
Working Life
Letters
Books et al.
- Evolution gets personal
Engaging anecdotes add intimacy to tales of Earth's 4 billion years of evolution
- Reversing the rise in midlife mortality
Stronger safety nets and health care reform could help mitigate “deaths of despair” in America
Policy Forum
- Leadership to change a culture of sexual harassment
The U.S. National Science Foundation is implementing and refining policies aimed at combatting harassment
Perspectives
- Neanderthal surf and turf
Did our closest relatives adapt to the sea in the same way as early Homo sapiens?
- Deciphering cancer clues from blood
Circulating tumor cells are accessible indicators of real-time cancer biology
- Surprises for climate stability
An ocean sediment record reveals chaotic ocean circulation changes during warm climates
- Quantifying mutations in healthy blood
Mutated clones in healthy tissues may hold clues for the earlier detection of malignancy
- Antisense oligonucleotides for neurodegeneration
Promising clinical results for Huntington's disease give hope for other diseases
Association Affairs
- Steps needed to keep immigrant scientists welcome
Experts discuss importance of foreign-born researchers at AAAS Annual Meeting
Research Articles
- Flux-induced topological superconductivity in full-shell nanowires
Tunneling experiments and theoretical calculations are consistent with the presence of Majorana zero modes.
- Last Interglacial Iberian Neandertals as fisher-hunter-gatherers
The subsistence base of coastal Portugal’s Last Interglacial Neandertals was as broad as that of present-day humans.
- Structural basis for the recognition of SARS-CoV-2 by full-length human ACE2
Insight into how SARS-CoV-2 binds its human receptor could provide a basis for the development of therapeutics.
- The evolutionary dynamics and fitness landscape of clonal hematopoiesis
Blood sequencing data from ~50,000 individuals reveals how mutation, genetic drift, and fitness differences shape the diversity of healthy blood.
Review
Reports
- Type-II Ising pairing in few-layer stanene
Transport measurements reveal a superconductor that is unusually resilient to in-plane magnetic fields.
- Frequency-comb spectroscopy on pure quantum states of a single molecular ion
A broadband optical frequency comb is used to spectroscopically fingerprint a single molecular ion.
- Observation of dynamical fermionization
The momentum distribution of an expanding one-dimensional Bose gas evolves from bosonic to fermionic.
- The dark matter interpretation of the 3.5-keV line is inconsistent with blank-sky observations
X-ray observations of the Milky Way’s halo rule out proposed models of dark matter decay.
- Deregulation of ribosomal protein expression and translation promotes breast cancer metastasis
Circulating breast cancer cells that overexpress certain ribosomal proteins show enhanced metastatic potential in mice.
- Ultrahigh-field 67Zn NMR reveals short-range disorder in zeolitic imidazolate framework glasses
A high degree of short-range structural disorder was detected in melt-quenched metal-organic framework glasses.
- No consistent ENSO response to volcanic forcing over the last millennium
Large volcanic eruptions do not cause El Niño events.
- Peptide signaling for drought-induced tomato flower drop
A protease processes the peptide signal that drives water-deprived tomato plants to jettison their flowers and fruit.
- Interglacial instability of North Atlantic Deep Water ventilation
Large and frequent changes in ocean ventilation during recent interglacial periods were common.
About The Cover

COVER The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2; blue) approaches a human cell (pale pink). The viral spike protein (gray) binds to a receptor (ACE2; dark pink) on the cell surface. This allows SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, to infect human cells. The structures of the viral spike protein, the full-length ACE2, and the complex of ACE2 with the receptor binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 have been elucidated, providing structural basis for development of antiviral drugs and vaccines. See page 1444 and www.sciencemag.org/coronavirus-research-commentary-and-news.
Illustration: V. Altounian/Science; Data: PDB ID 6VSB (viral spike protein), PDB ID 6M17 (ACE2)