In science news around the world, five Asian countries gained observer status to the Arctic Council, the Kepler spacecraft can no longer point in a specified direction, and a new report says that the risk H7N9 avian influenza virus poses to humans is "unusually serious."

Scientists have now confirmed a long-held suspicion: Penguins prefer to swim because being both a diver and a flyer is costly and inefficient. And researchers have determined that French King Louis XVI carried genetic risk factors for diabetes, obesity, and bipolar disorder.

The Institute of Medicine calls into question recommendations advising people to consume less sodium, reviving a passionate debate.

Two researchers who coined the phrase mental time travel, using past memories to construct visions of the future that may never come true, insisted that animals couldn't do it. But now, one of them is changing his tune.

Abundant but mysterious molecules called long noncoding RNAs have long puzzled scientists, but some now think they could be influencing the shape of chromatin.

Analyses of DNA of Latinos in South Florida traced their African, European, and South American ancestries.

The National Science Foundation rebuffed a request from the chairman of the House of Representatives science committee for reviewer comments that helped the agency decide to fund five projects in the social sciences.

The most dramatic progress has been made on the twin prime conjecture and Goldbach's conjecture in more than a century and a half of trying.

The U.S. Department of Energy has funded a series of energy innovation hubs to tackle big energy challenges from start to finish. But their future is uncertain.

Wolves in an iconic predator-prey study are not producing pups, leaving scientists to confront a genetic rescue—or the project's demise.

Vicedo's examination of the history of attachment theory and the concept of "mother love" illustrates the impact prevailing preconceptions have on efforts to draw social lessons from biology.

A listing of books received at Science during the week ending 17 May 2013.

Field-based evidence suggests that guidelines against economic rewards to motivate blood donors should be reconsidered.

Genetic evolution may have been driven by cultural innovations during the emergence of modern humans.

Proteins that take too long to fold are tagged with sugar to stop their failed attempts and remove them from the cell's folding compartment. [Also see Report by Xu et al.]

Accurate distances to compact binary stars help establish a clear understanding of accretion disk evolution. [Also see Report by Miller-Jones et al.]

Geothermal energy production is increasing across the world, but challenges remain.

A chemical method allows the composition of oxide nanocrystals to be changed while maintaining their size and shape uniformity. [Also see Report by Oh et al.]

Identification of a surface protein in Plasmodium falciparum reveals how it can escape detection by the mosquito immune system. [Also see Report by Molina-Cruz et al.]

A vaccine that protects against SIV in monkeys elicits a new kind of T cell response. [Also see Research Article by Hansen et al.]

The French Nobel laureate ushered in the field of molecular genetics by defining the regulated cellular pathway that translates DNA into proteins.

A vaccine that uses one virus to deliver components of a second virus elicits T cells that recognize noncanonical epitopes. [Also see Perspective by Goonetilleke and McMichael]

Climate change triggered by massive volcanism set the stage for the era of dinosaurs.

A record from the Quelccaya ice cap in Peru shows the variability of climate in the tropical Andes.

SS Cygni is much closer than previously thought, removing a major challenge to our understanding of accretion theory. [Also see Perspective by Schreiber]

An active, addressable pressure-sensitive device facilitates high-resolution tactile imaging.

Thermally driven ordering of solute atoms can lead to an unexpected strengthening of a metal alloy.

A porous material shows preliminary promise for enhancing a separations process central to gasoline production.

Hollow mixed-metal oxide nanoparticles can be made by replacing the metal cations through redox reactions in solution. [Also see Perspective by Ibáñez and Cabot]

Natriuretic polypeptide b is the primary neurotransmitter in TRPV1-expressing, itch-sensitive afferent nerve fibers.

Some German cockroaches find glucose both sweet and bitter, which allows them to avoid baited traps.

A rare human disorder, characterized by the absence of a spleen at birth, is associated with mutations in a ribosomal protein.

Proteins that fail to fold up properly after many tries are tagged with mannose and voted off the island. [Also see Perspective by Kleizen and Braakman]

A protein implicated in oncogenesis is found to be critical for DNA replication in plants and animals.

A surface protein of Plasmodium falciparum ookinetes allows them to evade the complement-like responses of Anopheles gambiae. [Also see Perspective by Philip and Waters]

A structural analysis reveals that a wide range of sulfa drugs inhibit neurotransmitter biosynthesis.

A piconewton (pN) tension gauge reveals that less than 12 pN suffices to activate Notch.

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