The Fight for Yasuni
Ecuador's Yasuni National Park may be the most biodiverse forest on earth. A News Focus and slideshow highlight this ecological treasure trove and the battle to protect it.
Science Podcast
In this week's show: Science in Russia, animal genome plasticity, linking uncertainty with nonlocality in quantum mechanics, and more Listen now.
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In this week's issue:
Editorial
Protect U.S. Science Funding
Alan I. Leshner
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1155
Research Summaries
This Week in Science
Editor summaries of this week's papers.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol330/issue6008/twis.dtl
Editors' Choice
Highlights of the recent literature
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol330/issue6008/twil.dtl
News of the Week
New Republicans Could Revise Party Line on Research Funding
The new Republican leadership of the House of Representatives is quite different from its predecessors. And that difference could put a damper on hopes that the next Congress will deliver on a long-promised expansion of federal spending on research and education.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1162
Roche Exits RNAi Field, Cuts 4800 Jobs
The Swiss drug company Roche announced last week that it is stepping away from research in RNA interference, a popular approach to medical therapies and one that Roche has poured more than $400 million into over 3 years.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1163
From the Science Policy Blog
ScienceInsider reported this week that the British government has apologized for postmortem research done on nuclear plant workers without proper consent in a report that blames British pathologists for ethical lapses in scores of research projects carried out from the 1950s to the early 1990s, among other stories.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1164-a
Excavation Yields Tantalizing Hints of Earliest Marine Reptiles
In September, paleontologists launched the first systematic excavation at Majiashan quarry, north of Chaohu City in central China's Anhui Province. The dig's first fruits—including an ancestor of the plesiosaurs—are already generating a buzz.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1164-b
From Science's Online Daily News Site
ScienceNOW reported this week that a new analysis finds that evolutionary history, not diet, determines the makeup of our intestinal bugs; a spacecraft has successfully returned asteroid dust; and fish sleep soundly in mucous cocoons; among other stories.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1165
Oversight But No Strict Rules for Synthetic Biology
A presidential bioethics commission concluded this week that the U.S. government should not clamp down too hard on research on synthetic biology, a young field that it says doesn't yet pose serious risks.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1166-a
Collins Endorses Merger of U.S. Addiction Research Programs
The National Institutes of Health will likely dissolve its two institutes that study drug and alcohol abuse and combine their programs, according to a statement last week from Director Francis Collins.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1166-b
New Clues About What Makes the Human Brain Special
Researchers who've examined preserved samples of cerebral cortex from humans and several species of ape report that in a particular region of the prefrontal cortex, neurons have more space between them in the human brain than in the brains of apes, allowing more room for connections between neurons.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1167
Random Samples
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/vol330/issue6008/r-samples.dtl
News Focus
Bacteria and Asthma: Untangling the Links
Our guts and airways are awash in bacteria—but people with asthma have a different balance of microbes. Could this be a cause of disease?
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1168
The Fight for Yasuni
A group of scientists is on the verge of winning its battle to protect an Ecuadorian forest containing record biodiversity—but will the world pay to seal the innovative deal?
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1170
Diseases in a Dish Take Off
Reprogrammed cells from hundreds of patients are giving scientists the chance to model disease in new ways and are catching on among big pharma as well.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1172
Stem Cells for Sale
Dozens of biotech companies hope to use stem cell technologies to make products that turn a profit, but very few have. Cellular Dynamics International, which sells cardiomyocytes—heart muscle cells—derived from induced pluripotent stem cells, is an exception.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1173
Archaeologists, or Activists?
Archaeologists who grew up in Africa are often motivated by the need to create jobs for locals and boost national or ethnic pride. At the Preserving African Cultural Heritage meeting, archaeologists called on their colleagues to engage in activist archaeology.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1174-a
Early Dates For Diepkloof
For the researchers who study the famed Diepkloof rock shelter in South Africa, the Preserving African Cultural Heritage meeting was both a coming-out party and a defense. The team suggests that sophisticated behavior there stretches more than twice as far back as was previously believed.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1174-b
Latter-Day Livingstone Digs Along the Congo
Archaeologically, the sediment beneath the lush central African jungle is unexplored territory. At the Preserving African Cultural Heritage meeting, an archaeologist presented results from the first archaeological survey of the center of the continent.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1175
Letters
Make Way for Ethanol
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/330/6008/1176-a
Permafrost and Wetland Carbon Stocks
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/330/6008/1176-b
Permafrost and Wetland Carbon Stocks—Response
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/330/6008/1177-a
Lab Family Feud
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/330/6008/1177-b
Books et al.
Fixing the Planet?
Kevin E. Trenberth
Assigning climate scientists much of the blame for the failure to adequately address the challenges posed by climate change, Pielke argues that we should focus on adapting to the potential shifts. Kintisch discusses the claimed benefits and possible consequences of proposals for radical interventions to engineer the climate while also profiling people promoting or questioning such schemes.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1178
The Structuralist Savant
Paul Shankman
In this first English-language biography of Lévi-Strauss, Shankman focuses more on the subject's experiences and life than on his writings and ideas.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1180-a
Books Received
A listing of books received at Science during the week ended 19 November 2010.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1180-b
Policy Forum
The Energy-Poverty-Climate Nexus
C. E. Casillas and D. M. Kammen
Community-level carbon abatement curves highlight opportunities for increased access to clean, efficient energy for the poor.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1181
Perspectives
Puzzled by PML
B. Culjkovic-Kraljacic and K. L. B. Borden
A tumor suppressor protein may regulate cell survival by controlling the release of calcium from intracellular stores.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1183
Cosmic Rays from Cosmic Birth
Tom Ray
Observations of radio emission from young stellar objects provide key information to help us unravel the formation mechanism of astrophysical jets.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1184
The Case for RNA
C. C. Liu and A. P. Arkin
RNA shows promise for engineering synthetic systems for controlling gene expression.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1185
Intermediate Steps
D. P. Devos and E. G. Reynaud
Bacteria that also have features typical of eukaryotes and archaea may reflect a possible pathway in ancient cellular evolution.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1187
Quantum Measurement and Control of Single Spins in Diamond
Gerard J. Milburn
Changes in the state of a single spin at a defect in diamond, read out from optical measurements, could be used in quantum sensing and computing.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1188
Lynx for Braking Plasticity
M. J. Higley and S. M. Strittmatter
Knocking out the Lynx1 gene restores plasticity in the visual cortex of adult mice.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1189
Paul F. Barbara (1953–2010)
P. J. Rossky and G. C. Walker
A chemical physicist who developed methods to study elementary reactions also explored the dynamics of complex polymers and biomolecules.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1191
Review Articles
From the Connectome to the Synaptome: An Epic Love Story
Javier DeFelipe
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/330/6008/1198
Research Articles
Crystal Structure of the Eukaryotic Ribosome
A. Ben-Shem et al.
The structure of the 80S ribosome from yeast has been determined at 4.15 angstrom resolution.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/330/6008/1203
Reports
A Magnetized Jet from a Massive Protostar
C. Carrasco-González et al.
Observations reveal polarized synchrotron emission from the jet of a young stellar object.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/330/6008/1209
Spin-Light Coherence for Single-Spin Measurement and Control in Diamond
B. B. Buckley et al.
Optical pulses were used to nondestructively probe and manipulate the spin state of nitrogen vacancy defects in diamond.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/330/6008/1212
The Evolution of Maximum Body Size of Terrestrial Mammals
F. A. Smith et al.
Maximum mammal size increased at the beginning of the Cenozoic, then leveled off after about 25 million years.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/330/6008/1216
Modular Organic Structure-Directing Agents for the Synthesis of Zeolites
R. Simancas et al.
Phosphazene molecules enable the synthesis of a rare naturally occurring zeolite.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/330/6008/1219
Renewable Chemical Commodity Feedstocks from Integrated Catalytic Processing of Pyrolysis Oils
T. P. Vispute et al.
The addition of hydrogen helps boost the yield of useful commodity compounds from pyrolized biomass.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/330/6008/1222
The Core Structure of Basal Dislocations in Deformed Sapphire (
-Al2O3)
A. H. Heuer et al.
Sophisticated imaging is used to determine the behavior of aluminum and oxygen ions in the cores of dislocations in sapphire.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/330/6008/1227
How Cats Lap: Water Uptake by Felis catus
P. M. Reis et al.
Cats use fluid inertia to generate a liquid column that they catch in their mouths before gravity destroys it.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/330/6008/1231
Reducing the Gender Achievement Gap in College Science: A Classroom Study of Values Affirmation
A. Miyake et al.
A writing exercise improves the performance of female physics students.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/330/6008/1234
Lynx1, a Cholinergic Brake, Limits Plasticity in Adult Visual Cortex
H. Morishita et al.
A gene identified in the mouse may show the way to improved treatments for amblyopia, a condition of indistinct vision.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/330/6008/1238
Motor Control by Sensory Cortex
F. Matyas et al.
Mouse whisker movements are controlled by both the sensory and motor cortex for navigation in complex environments.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/330/6008/1240
Poly(A) Tail Recognition by a Viral RNA Element Through Assembly of a Triple Helix
R. M. Mitton-Fry et al.
A hairpin structure within a viral noncoding RNA protects its poly(A) tail from degradation.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/330/6008/1244
PML Regulates Apoptosis at Endoplasmic Reticulum by Modulating Calcium Release
C. Giorgi et al.
The promyelocytic leukemia protein likely influences apoptosis by influencing a calcium channel in the endoplasmic reticulum.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/330/6008/1247
Reprogramming Cellular Behavior with RNA Controllers Responsive to Endogenous Proteins
S. J. Culler et al.
Cells engineered to detect a cancer-associated marker produce a protein that sensitizes them to an anticancer drug.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/330/6008/1251
Departments
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/330/6008/1256-a
Science Podcast
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1256-b
AAAS News and Notes
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/330/6008/1195
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