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In this week's issue:
Research Summaries
This Week in Science
Editor summaries of this week papers.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol335/issue6070/twis.dtl
Editors' Choice
Highlights of the recent literature.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol335/issue6070/twil.dtl
Editorial
Science and Diplomacy
E. William Colglazier
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/775
News of the Week
This Week's Section
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/780-a
Around the World
In science news around the world this week, the World Bank is fretting over urban flooding in Asia, a synthetic biology report is being ignored, and the inaugural flight of Europe's new Vega rocket went off without a hitch.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/780-b
Newsmakers
This week's Newsmakers are Ed Weiler, who says the Obama Administration's attacks on a Mars mission led to his resignation as head of NASA's science mission last September; Scottish microbiologist Anne Glover, who took office as the first European Chief Scientific Advisor; and Barbara Cannon, the first non-Swedish president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/780-c
Random Sample
A 93-kilogram meteorite recovered from musician Sting's Lake House estate in the United Kingdom's rural Wiltshire may shed some light on ice-age Britain. Lonely Chinese researchers isolated by shyness and long lab hours now have an online dating service designed just for them. And this week's numbers quantify meters of Antarctic ice drilled, the percentage of fresh water used agriculturally, and the amount donated to launch two postdoctoral fellowships in developmental health.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/781
Findings
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol335/issue6070/findings.dtl
News & Analysis
Science Spared Brunt of Ax in Budget Request
Jeffrey Mervis
While legislators are demanding big cuts in federal spending, President Barack Obama sent Congress a clear message in the 2013 budget he submitted this week: Don't cut research.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/783
Hard Times for OSTP
Jeffrey Mervis
The Office of Science and Technology Policy is facing its own tough budget choices this year as it tries to coordinate research activities across the government.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/784
Does Forewarned = Forearmed With Lab-Made Avian Influenza Strains?
Jon Cohen
The debate over whether journals should publish the full details of how two labs engineered the deadly avian influenza strain H5N1 so that it spreads more easily among ferrets, and presumably humans, shows that knowledge cuts both ways.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/785
Dead Reckoning the Lethality of Bird Flu
Jon Cohen
On 2 February at the New York Academy of Sciences, Michael Osterholm and Peter Palese, both prominent influenza researchers, debated just how deadly the avian virus known as H5N1 is to humans.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/786
Marriage Decision Highlights Same-Sex Studies
David Malakoff
The legal jousting over California's Proposition 8 has helped highlight a growing body of research on the psychological and socioeconomic aspects of same-sex relationships.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/787
A Tiny Window Opens Into Lake Vostok, While a Vast Continent Awaits
Carolyn Gramling
On 8 February, the Russian Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute announced that a team of its engineers and scientists had drilled through nearly 4 kilometers of Antarctic ice to Lake Vostok.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/788
News Focus
Uncovering Civilization's Roots
Andrew Lawler
What sparked the first cities? Digs in Kuwait and Syria are reshaping how archaeologists see the first stirrings of urban life.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/790
Letters
Bad Advice, Not Young Scientists, Should Hit the Road
Mark S. Cohen
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/794-a
Rescuing Wolves: Threat of Misinformation
L. David Mech
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/794-b
Rescuing Wolves: States Not Immune to Politics
David Johns
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/795-a
Rescuing Wolves: Threat of Misinformation-Response
Jeremy T. Bruskotter et al.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/795-b
Bad Advice?
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/795-c
Corrections and Clarifications
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/796-a
Technical Comments
Comment on "A Diverse Assemblage of Late Cretaceous Dinosaur and Bird Feathers from Canadian Amber"
Carla J. Dove et al.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/796-b
Response to Comment on "A Diverse Assemblage of Late Cretaceous Dinosaur and Bird Feathers from Canadian Amber"
Ryan C. McKellar et al.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/796-c
Books et al.
Learning Ecological Ethics from Plato
Saleem H. Ali
The books by Ophuls and Lane offer two perspectives on how Plato might help us develop an ecologically sustainable society.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/797
Science and the Ontology of Belief
P. William Hughes
Engaging both the history of philosophy and the development of science, Matson focuses on how we differentiate sense and nonsense.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/798-a
Books Received
A listing of books received at Science during the week ending 10 February 2012.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/798-b
Policy Forum
H5N1 Debates: Hung Up on the Wrong Questions
Daniel R. Perez
Information related to influenza transmissibility should be published in its entirety.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/799
Life Sciences at a Crossroads: Respiratory Transmissible H5N1
Michael T. Osterholm et al.
Release of details of recent research on affecting influenza transmissibility poses far more risk than any good that might occur.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/801
The Obligation to Prevent the Next Dual-Use Controversy
Ruth R. Faden et al.
The recent debates over H5N1 experiments highlight current shortcomings in oversight of potential dual-use research.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/802
Perspectives
A Cold Editor Makes the Adaptation
Marie Öhman
Adaptation to cold temperature is mediated by RNA editing of a potassium channel in octopus neurons.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/805
Gene Losses in the Human Genome
Lluis Quintana-Murci
A comprehensive survey of the human genome reveals variations that disrupt protein-coding genes.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/806
Adding Aliphatic C-H Bond Oxidations to Synthesis
M. Christina White
Oxidations of aliphatic C-H bonds, known since the 1800s, have only recently been considered for use in organic synthesis.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/807
Contemplating the First Plantae
Frederick W. Spiegel
What characterized the first photosynthetic eukaryotes?
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/809
Mountains, Weathering, and Climate
Adina Paytan
Changes in the lithium isotope composition of seawater over the past 70 million years elucidate the links between weathering and climate.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/810
James F. Crow (1916-2012)
William Dove et al.
A population geneticist is remembered by colleagues for his generosity, clarity, and influence in the field, as well as in policy matters involving genetics.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/812
Reviews
Functional Supramolecular Polymers
T. Aida et al.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/813
Research Articles
Lithium Isotope History of Cenozoic Seawater: Changes in Silicate Weathering and Reverse Weathering
Sambuddha Misra et al.
Historical changes in the lithium isotope ratio in seawater imply episodes of tectonic uplift and carbon dioxide drawdown.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/818
A Systematic Survey of Loss-of-Function Variants in Human Protein-Coding Genes
Daniel G. MacArthur et al.
Validation of predicted nonfunctional alleles in the human genome affects the medical interpretation of genomic analyses.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/823
Reports
Unraveling the Spin Polarization of the ν = 5/2 Fractional Quantum Hall State
L. Tiemann et al.
Nuclear magnetic resonance shows that an exotic state of matter may have the properties necessary for error-free quantum computing.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/828
A Logic-Gated Nanorobot for Targeted Transport of Molecular Payloads
Shawn M. Douglas et al.
Cargoes stored in folded DNA origami are released when aptamers in the structure bind target protein molecules.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/831
Supported Iron Nanoparticles as Catalysts for Sustainable Production of Lower Olefins
Hirsa M. Torres Galvis et al.
A class of iron catalysts selectively transforms gasified biomass into the building blocks of common plastics.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/835
Plate Motions and Stresses from Global Dynamic Models
Attreyee Ghosh et al.
Geodynamic modeling predicts where the mantle drives or resists the motion of overlying tectonic plates.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/838
Cyanophora paradoxa Genome Elucidates Origin of Photosynthesis in Algae and Plants
Dana C. Price et al.
An ancient algal genome suggests a unique origin of the plastid in the ancestor to plants, algae, and glaucophytes.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/843
RNA Editing Underlies Temperature Adaptation in K+ Channels from Polar Octopuses
Sandra Garrett et al.
Octopus potassium channels function efficiently at different temperatures due to RNA editing and not genetic differences.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/848
Crystal Structure of a Lipid G Protein-Coupled Receptor
Michael A. Hanson et al.
A channel in a lipid-dependent G protein-coupled receptor allows a ligand to access its binding site from within the plasma membrane.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/851
Epithelial Nitration by a Peroxidase/NOX5 System Mediates Mosquito Antiplasmodial Immunity
Giselle de Almeida Oliveira et al.
Expression of nitric oxide synthase followed by peroxidase activity makes Plasmodium visible to the insect's complement system.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/856
Structural Basis of TLR5-Flagellin Recognition and Signaling
Sung-il Yoon et al.
Bacterially derived flagellin binds to an innate immune receptor to form a tail-to-tail heterodimeric signaling complex.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/859
Survival Analysis of Faculty Retention in Science and Engineering by Gender
Deborah Kaminski et al.
Individual assistant professors hired since 1990 at 14 U.S. universities were tracked from time of hire to time of departure.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/864
Products & Materials
New Products
A weekly roundup of information on newly offered instrumentation, apparatus, and laboratory materials of potential interest to researchers.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/867-a
Podcast
Science Podcast
The show includes the gender breakdown in academic faculty, identifying mutations that give rise to disease, budgeting for science in the United States, and more.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/335/6070/867-b
