Breakthrough of the Year

News

BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR: Human Genetic Variation

Elizabeth Pennisi
Science 21 December 2007: 1842-1843.
Equipped with faster, cheaper technologies for sequencing DNA and assessing variation in genomes on scales ranging from one to millions of bases, researchers are finding out how truly different we are from one another. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR: It's All About Me

Jocelyn Kaiser
Science 21 December 2007: 1843.
Along with the flood of discoveries in human genetics, 2007 saw the birth of a new industry: personal genomics. But researchers worry that these services open up a Pandora's box of ethical issues. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR: The Runners-Up

The News Staff
Science 21 December 2007: 1844-1849.
The runners-up for 2007's Breakthrough of the Year include advances in cellular and structural biology, astrophysics, physics, immunology, synthetic chemistry, neuroscience, and computer science. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR: How'd We Do?

Science 21 December 2007: 1844-1845.
Some of last year's predictions panned out this year, especially the work that led to the Breakthrough of the Year, but other areas are progressing more slowly. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR: Global Warming, Hotter Than Ever

Eli Kintisch and Richard A. Kerr
Science 21 December 2007: 1846-1847.
Climate change, a perennial runner-up for Breakthrough of the Year, broke from the pack this year--both in the pages of this section and in the public arena. Full Text »|  

BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR: Areas to Watch

Science 21 December 2007: 1848-1849.
Science's editors will be watching Europe's Large Hadron Collider, microRNAs, humanmade microbes, paleogenomics, multiferroics, the human microbiome, and neural circuits in 2008. Full Text »|  

This Week in Science

Editor summaries of this week's papers.
Science 21 December 2007: 1829.
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Editorial:
Breakthrough of the Year

Donald Kennedy
Science 21 December 2007: 1833.
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Editors' Choice

Highlights of the recent literature.
Science 21 December 2007: 1835.
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Science Podcast

Science 21 December 2007: 1941.
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NEW PRODUCTS

Science 21 December 2007: 1941.
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News of the Week

CLIMATE CHANGE: Grassroots Effort Pays Dividends on Presidential Campaign Trail

Eli Kintisch
Science 21 December 2007: 1850-1851.
The run-up to the 2008 U.S. presidential election campaign--which kicks off with the Iowa caucuses on 3 January and the New Hampshire primary 5 days later--has been a coming-out party for climate change. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

RESEARCH FUNDING: U.K. Cutbacks Rattle Physics, Astronomy

Daniel Clery
Science 21 December 2007: 1851.
A change to the funding arrangements for U.K. physics and astronomy has led to the axing of a number of key projects and a likely cut of 25% in their grants pot for the next 3 years. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

AIDS RESEARCH: Trials of NIH's AIDS Vaccine Get a Yellow Light

Jon Cohen and Benjamin Lester
Science 21 December 2007: 1852.
Last week, the U.S. National Institutes of Health's AIDS Vaccine Research Subcommittee met here to discuss the future of an AIDS vaccine made by NIH after a test of a similar vaccine found that it may have actually increased some people's risk of becoming infected with HIV. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING: Bruce Alberts Named Science Editor-in-Chief

Science 21 December 2007: 1852.
Bruce Alberts, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, and president emeritus of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, has been named the next editor-in-chief of Science. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

MICROBIOLOGY: Detoxifying Enzyme Helps Animals Stomach Bacteria

Evelyn Strauss
Science 21 December 2007: 1853-1854.
Last week, microbiologists reported that when bacteria colonize vertebrate intestines, the tissue produces an enzyme that appears to defuse a dangerous toxin the microbes wield, helping to explain how we can live in peaceful coexistence with the scads of potentially noxious bacteria in our guts. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

EVOLUTION: Did an Asteroid Shower Kick-Start the Great Diversification?

Richard A. Kerr
Science 21 December 2007: 1854.
This week, a team of geologists and paleontologists reports that a collision in the asteroid belt showered Earth with debris just when the Ordovician diversification was getting started, suggesting a cause-and-effect connection. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

UNIVERSITIES: Questions Swirl Around Kessler's Abrupt Dismissal From UCSF

Greg Miller
Science 21 December 2007: 1855.
David Kessler, the high-profile dean of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), School of Medicine, was fired last week, for reasons that have so far not been disclosed by the university. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ScienceScope

Science 21 December 2007: 1853.
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Random Samples

Science 21 December 2007: 1839.
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Newsmakers

Science 21 December 2007: 1841.
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News Focus

SCIENCE AND THE PUBLIC: Animal Extremists Get Personal

Greg Miller
Science 21 December 2007: 1856-1858.
As animal-rights extremism wanes in the United Kingdom, U.S. researchers have faced increasing threats and harassment. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

CLIMATE CHANGE: Global Warming Coming Home to Roost in the American West

Richard A. Kerr
Science 21 December 2007: 1859.
Assigning blame for regional climate disasters is hard, but scientists have finally implicated the greenhouse in a looming water crisis. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Chikungunya: No Longer a Third World Disease

Martin Enserink
Science 21 December 2007: 1860-1861.
An explosive outbreak in a remote corner of France--and fears that it may threaten Europe and the United States--have brought fresh attention to an exotic virus. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

DAVID KING INTERVIEW: U.K. Science Adviser Offers Some Parting Shots

Daniel Clery
Science 21 December 2007: 1862-1863.
As he ends a roller-coaster 7-year term, the U.K. government's chief science adviser ponders the highs and lows and offers some sage advice. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Letters

This Week's Letters

Science 21 December 2007: 1864.
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 Cancer Filter Déjà Vu

Robert L. Fleischer;, Leopold G. Koss, and Myron R. Melamed
Science 21 December 2007: 1864.
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 One Woman's Balancing Act

Jean Mercer
Science 21 December 2007: 1864-1865.
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 Stem Cell Breakthrough: Don't Forget Ethics

Robert Lanza
Science 21 December 2007: 1865.
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 CO₂ Emissions: Getting Bang for the Buck

Brendan Fisher;, Richard B. Howarth, Richard B. Norgaard;, and William D. Nordhaus
Science 21 December 2007: 1865-1868.
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 Corrections and Clarifications

Science 21 December 2007: 1866.
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Books et al.

FICTION: Virtual Reality, Identity Imposters

Carol W. Berman
Science 21 December 2007: 1870.
The protagonist of this award-winning novel emerges from a coma suffering from Capgras believing that those around him are all impostors, and his condition attracts the attention of a neuroscientist-author. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

GALLERIES: SCIENCE AND THE ARTS: Incubating Inspiration?

Louise Whiteley
Science 21 December 2007: 1871.
David Edwards established this new cultural center in Paris to show case and facilitate creativity that flows from combinations of art and science. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Books Received

Science 21 December 2007: 1871.
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Policy Forum

ETHICS: The Ethics of International Research with Abandoned Children

Joseph Millum and Ezekiel J. Emanuel
Science 21 December 2007: 1874-1875.
Research with abandoned children does not necessarily involve exploitation. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Education Forum

MENTORING: Linking Student Interests to Science Curricula

Lauren A. Denofrio, Brandy Russell, David Lopatto, and Yi Lu
Science 21 December 2007: 1872-1873.
Explicit networking helps undergraduates get the most out of the diverse curriculum available at a large university. Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Perspectives

HISTORY OF SCIENCE: Hoyle's Equation

Donald D. Clayton
Science 21 December 2007: 1876-1877.
The paper that first explained how the elements form in stars did not receive the acclaim it deserved because it did not display its key equation. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

MOLECULAR BIOLOGY: The Two Faces of miRNA

J. Ross Buchan and Roy Parker
Science 21 December 2007: 1877-1878.
MicroRNAs can enhance or repress messenger RNA translation, depending on whether cells are proliferating or arrested in the cell cycle. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE: Revisiting Ozone Depletion

Marc von Hobe
Science 21 December 2007: 1878-1879.
New laboratory data imply unknown mechanisms in the formation of the ozone hole, but it is too soon to throw out the old paradigms. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

DEVELOPMENT: Is Therapeutic Cloning Dead?

Jose Cibelli
Science 21 December 2007: 1879-1880.
The ability to generate pluripotent stem cells directly from skin fibroblasts may render ethical debates over the use of human oocytes to create stem cells irrelevant. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

MATERIALS SCIENCE: The Flow of Glass

Michael L. Falk
Science 21 December 2007: 1880-1881.
Experiments on colloidal glasses quantify how glass structure accommodates flow. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Association Affairs

AAAS News and Notes

Science 21 December 2007: 1886-1887.
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Review

Sexual Selection in Males and Females

Tim Clutton-Brock
Science 21 December 2007: 1882-1885.
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Brevia

Combinatorial Synthesis of Peptide Arrays onto a Microchip

Mario Beyer, Alexander Nesterov, Ines Block, Kai König, Thomas Felgenhauer, Simon Fernandez, Klaus Leibe, Gloria Torralba, Michael Hausmann, Ulrich Trunk, Volker Lindenstruth, F. Ralf Bischoff, Volker Stadler, and Frank Breitling
Science 21 December 2007: 1888.
A method of electrically directing amino acids one at a time to precise spots on a microchip can be used for combinatorial in situ synthesis of 40,000 peptides per square centimeter. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Reports

Observation of Berry's Phase in a Solid-State Qubit

P. J. Leek, J. M. Fink, A. Blais, R. Bianchetti, M. Göppl, J. M. Gambetta, D. I. Schuster, L. Frunzio, R. J. Schoelkopf, and A. Wallraff
Science 21 December 2007: 1889-1892.
Published online 22 November 2007 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1149858] (in Science Express Reports)
A controllable geometric phase, or Berry’s phase, is produced by moving a superconducting qubit along a path and may provide robust quantum information storage. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

High-Performance Carbon Nanotube Fiber

Krzysztof Koziol, Juan Vilatela, Anna Moisala, Marcelo Motta, Philip Cunniff, Michael Sennett, and Alan Windle
Science 21 December 2007: 1892-1895.
Published online 15 November 2007 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1147635] (in Science Express Reports)
Aerogels of carbon nanotubes can be twisted and compacted to produce fibers of exceptional strength and stiffness. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Structural Rearrangements That Govern Flow in Colloidal Glasses

Peter Schall, David A. Weitz, and Frans Spaepen
Science 21 December 2007: 1895-1899.
Confocal microscopy shows that the large displacement of a few particles stabilizes shear bands in deformed colloidal glasses, a process that may also occur in molecular glasses. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Role of Intermolecular Forces in Defining Material Properties of Protein Nanofibrils

Tuomas P. Knowles, Anthony W. Fitzpatrick, Sarah Meehan, Helen R. Mott, Michele Vendruscolo, Christopher M. Dobson, and Mark E. Welland
Science 21 December 2007: 1900-1903.
Amyloid fibrils self-assemble from a variety of polypeptide molecules, and their rigidity can be tuned over a wide range by controlling hydrogen bonding between strands. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

A Sulfur Dioxide Climate Feedback on Early Mars

Itay Halevy, Maria T. Zuber, and Daniel P. Schrag
Science 21 December 2007: 1903-1907.
Abundant sulfur dioxide, a greenhouse gas, in Mars’ ancient atmosphere could have allowed liquid water to exist, explaining the lack of carbonate minerals. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Coupled ¹⁴²Nd-¹⁴³Nd Isotopic Evidence for Hadean Mantle Dynamics

Vickie C. Bennett, Alan D. Brandon, and Allen P. Nutman
Science 21 December 2007: 1907-1910.
Relics of an isotope with a short half-life in some of Earth’s oldest rocks can date the formation and incomplete remixing of distinct silicate reservoirs in the early Earth. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

High-Pressure Creep of Serpentine, Interseismic Deformation, and Initiation of Subduction

Nadege Hilairet, Bruno Reynard, Yanbin Wang, Isabelle Daniel, Sebastien Merkel, Norimasa Nishiyama, and Sylvain Petitgirard
Science 21 December 2007: 1910-1913.
Experiments on serpentine, a common product of hydration of the ocean crust, show that it deforms easily in subduction zones and may be involved in generation of earthquakes. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

A Comprehensive Phylogeny of Beetles Reveals the Evolutionary Origins of a Superradiation

Toby Hunt, Johannes Bergsten, Zuzana Levkanicova, Anna Papadopoulou, Oliver St. John, Ruth Wild, Peter M. Hammond, Dirk Ahrens, Michael Balke, Michael S. Caterino, Jesús Gómez-Zurita, Ignacio Ribera, Timothy G. Barraclough, Milada Bocakova, Ladislav Bocak, and Alfried P. Vogler
Science 21 December 2007: 1913-1916.
A phylogeny of the beetles, which constitute 20 percent of animal species, redefines major family groups and estimates earlier origins and diversification in the Jurassic. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Lines Derived from Human Somatic Cells

Junying Yu, Maxim A. Vodyanik, Kim Smuga-Otto, Jessica Antosiewicz-Bourget, Jennifer L. Frane, Shulan Tian, Jeff Nie, Gudrun A. Jonsdottir, Victor Ruotti, Ron Stewart, Igor I. Slukvin, and James A. Thomson
Science 21 December 2007: 1917-1920.
Published online 20 November 2007 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1151526] (in Science Express Reports)
Human fibroblasts transfected with four genes exhibit the properties of embryonic stem cells. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Treatment of Sickle Cell Anemia Mouse Model with iPS Cells Generated from Autologous Skin

Jacob Hanna, Marius Wernig, Styliani Markoulaki, Chiao-Wang Sun, Alexander Meissner, John P. Cassady, Caroline Beard, Tobias Brambrink, Li-Chen Wu, Tim M. Townes, and Rudolf Jaenisch
Science 21 December 2007: 1920-1923.
Published online 6 December 2007 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1152092] (in Science Express Reports)
Skin cells from a mouse with sickle cell anemia can be genetically reprogrammed to be pluripotent stem cells, then differentiated and used to treat the diseased mouse. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Structure of G_q-p63RhoGEF-RhoA Complex Reveals a Pathway for the Activation of RhoA by GPCRs

Susanne Lutz, Aruna Shankaranarayanan, Cassandra Coco, Marc Ridilla, Mark R. Nance, Christiane Vettel, Doris Baltus, Chris R. Evelyn, Richard R. Neubig, Thomas Wieland, and John J. G. Tesmer
Science 21 December 2007: 1923-1927.
G protein–coupled receptors activate the small GTPase Rho through interaction of the Gaq subunit of the receptor with the exchange factor GEF to relieve inhibition of Rho. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Regulation of Replication Fork Progression Through Histone Supply and Demand

Anja Groth, Armelle Corpet, Adam J. L. Cook, Daniele Roche, Jiri Bartek, Jiri Lukas, and Geneviève Almouzni
Science 21 December 2007: 1928-1931.
During chromosome duplication, the chaperone Asf1 coordinates removal of histone proteins from DNA, DNA synthesis, and replacement of histones on the new strands. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Switching from Repression to Activation: MicroRNAs Can Up-Regulate Translation

Shobha Vasudevan, Yingchun Tong, and Joan A. Steitz
Science 21 December 2007: 1931-1934.
Published online 29 November 2007 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1149460] (in Science Express Reports)
Although they inhibit translation in dividing cells, eukaryotic microRNAs can bind to the 3’-untranslated region of messenger RNAs and activate translation upon cell cycle arrest. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Rapid Changes in Throughput from Single Motor Cortex Neurons to Muscle Activity

Adam G. Davidson, Vanessa Chan, Ryan O'Dell, and Marc H. Schieber
Science 21 December 2007: 1934-1937.
As a result of subcortical processes, individual neurons in the motor cortex can quickly switch from controlling motoneurons in the spinal cord to having no effect on them. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Cognitive Recovery in Socially Deprived Young Children: The Bucharest Early Intervention Project

Charles A. Nelson, III, Charles H. Zeanah, Nathan A. Fox, Peter J. Marshall, Anna T. Smyke, and Donald Guthrie
Science 21 December 2007: 1937-1940.
In a randomized controlled trial, children in Romania who were raised in foster care showed better cognitive development than did children raised in institutions. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|