Contents
20 November 2020
Vol 370, Issue 6519
Vol 370, Issue 6519
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
- Vaccine wagers on coronavirus surface protein pay off
Moderna reports early evidence of excellent efficacy, moving its mRNA candidate closer to widespread use.
- Reinfections, still rare, provide clues on immunity
The growing group of people who get sick twice suggests protection can wane relatively quickly.
- ‘Magic angle’ graphene's next trick: superconducting devices
Twisted carbon sheets turned into switches that could make quantum computers smaller and more controllable.
- Like CRISPR, mystery gene editor began as a virus fighter
The genetic elements called retrons can only edit single-cell organisms, so far.
- China set to bring back rocks from the Moon
Chang'e-5's lunar samples could firm up shaky crater count dating system for the rocky planets.
- Seas are rising faster than ever
A new satellite will monitor coastal hot spots, where currents amplify global trends.
Feature
- Tomorrow's catch
Genomic technologies promise dramatic gains for aquaculture by accelerating the breeding of better strains.
Working Life
Letters
Books et al.
- Alphabets and their origins
A new documentary series surveys the inception and evolution of the written word
- Probing COVID's complexity in real time
The pandemic is as much about society, leaders, and values as it is about a pathogen
Essays on Science and Society
- Tracking development at the cellular level
Single-cell genomic methods enable developmental mapping of entire organisms
- Losing Australia's native gardeners
The loss of the country's digging mammals compromises the continent's arid soil health
- Engineering near-infrared vision
An optogenetic technology inspired by snakes could aid those with incomplete blindness
- Brain mapping, from molecules to networks
Bridging multiple levels of brain function reveals the neural basis of thirst motivation
Policy Forum
- Community-led governance for gene-edited crops
A post–market certification process could promote transparency and trust
Perspectives
- Drugs from bugs in creatures of the sea
A bacterium from the sea squirt microbiome makes a natural product with antifungal activity
- Transferring allergies in the womb
Maternal antibodies prime fetal mast cells in utero for subsequent postnatal allergy responses
- The origin of diarrhea in rotavirus infection
Messengers from rotavirus-infected cells induce pathogenic signaling in neighboring cells
- The more and less of electronic-skin sensors
Sensors can measure both strain and temperature or measure force without affecting touch
- The molecular wagon that stays on track
Single molecules are sent and received accurately over long distances across a surface
- Advancing new tools for infectious diseases
Therapeutics and vaccine development for infectious diseases could be transformed
- Georgina Mace (1953–2020)
Pioneering conservation biologist and sustainability scientist
Review
Research Articles
- Divergent impacts of warming weather on wildlife disease risk across climates
Climate change may increase disease risk for many wildlife hosts from cooler climates, in contrast to hosts from warmer climates.
- Rotavirus induces intercellular calcium waves through ADP signaling
Rotavirus, responsible for severe diarrhea in children, triggers extracellular release of ADP from infected cells, which dysregulates nearby uninfected cells.
- Architecture of the photosynthetic complex from a green sulfur bacterium
The structure of a photosynthetic reaction center reveals insights into its evolution and energy-transfer mechanism.
- Gene regulatory networks controlling vertebrate retinal regeneration
In multiple organisms from fish to mammals, gene regulatory networks control proliferative and neurogenic competence of retinal glial cells.
- Autosomal dominant VCP hypomorph mutation impairs disaggregation of PHF-tau
An autosomal dominant genetic mutation associated with neurofibrillary degeneration reduces tau disaggregation.
- A human tissue screen identifies a regulator of ER secretion as a brain-size determinant
A loss-of-function screen in human cerebral organoids identifies genes for brain-size control and microcephaly.
- Fetal mast cells mediate postnatal allergic responses dependent on maternal IgE
Maternally derived immunoglobulin E can predispose offspring for allergic disease in neonatal and early life upon allergen exposure.
- Ultrapotent human antibodies protect against SARS-CoV-2 challenge via multiple mechanisms
A potent antibody cocktail blocks attachment of SARS-CoV-2 to the host receptor and activates a protective immune response.
Retraction
Reports
- Control of long-distance motion of single molecules on a surface
Single molecules are sent and received over relatively large distances on precisely defined tracks across a flat metal surface.
- Artificial multimodal receptors based on ion relaxation dynamics
Real-time acquisition of ion relaxation time enables sensing of strain and temperature in stretchable artificial receptors.
- Nanomesh pressure sensor for monitoring finger manipulation without sensory interference
Human skin can be electrically functionalized with sensors, without affecting human sensation.
- An extremely metal-deficient globular cluster in the Andromeda Galaxy
A globular cluster in the Andromeda Galaxy has an unexpectedly low abundance of heavy elements.
- A marine microbiome antifungal targets urgent-threat drug-resistant fungi
A natural product from a marine bacterium shows selective activity against fungal pathogens.
- Experimental observation of the liquid-liquid transition in bulk supercooled water under pressure
The transition of rapidly-formed compressed high-density liquid water layers into low-density water domains was followed.
- Oceanic plateau of the Hawaiian mantle plume head subducted to the uppermost lower mantle
The plume head of the Hawaiian-Emperor volcano seamount chain was subducted into Earth’s mantle 20 million to 30 million years ago.
- Tissue topography steers migrating Drosophila border cells
Cells integrate and prioritize topographical, adhesive, and chemoattractant cues to choose one path among many.
- Enhanced Zika virus susceptibility of globally invasive Aedes aegypti populations
“Domestication” of mosquitoes was accompanied by an increase in their innate ability to acquire and transmit Zika virus.
From the AAAS Office of Publishing
Technical Comments
About The Cover
COVER Spatial control over molecular movement is typically limited because motion at the atomic scale follows stochastic processes. When single dibromoterfluorene molecules are aligned along a specific direction on a silver surface, they become highly mobile and can be controllably transferred between two sharp probes, as illustrated here. Such a sender-receiver experiment enables transport of information, encoded in individual molecular entities, between precisely defined locations. See pages 912 and 957.
Illustration: C. Bickel/Science
