This Week in Science

Editor summaries of this week's papers.
Science 1 February 2008: 545.
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Editorial:
The Real Debate

Donald Kennedy
Science 1 February 2008: 548.
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Editors' Choice

Highlights of the recent literature.
Science 1 February 2008: 549.
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Science Podcast

Science 1 February 2008: 636.
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Gordon Research Conferences

Science 1 February 2008: 637-661.
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NEW PRODUCTS

Science 1 February 2008: 636.
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News of the Week

ENERGY RESEARCH: DOE's Disappointing Budget Makes It Harder to Stick to the Basics

Adrian Cho
Science 1 February 2008: 554-555.
Summary: An unexpectedly lean 2008 budget for the Department of Energy's Office of Science has forced its Basic Energy Sciences program to cancel a competition that would have given academic and lab-based researchers a chance to apply their knowledge to real-world energy problems. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

NUTRITION SCIENCE: Lancet and MSF Split Over Malnutrition Series

Martin Enserink
Science 1 February 2008: 555.
Summary: In a nasty spat about a series of scientific papers, Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), the international charity, and the medical journal The Lancet are accusing each other of harming the cause of malnourished children. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: Indian Government Hopes Bill Will Stimulate Innovation

Yudhijit Bhattacharjee
Science 1 February 2008: 556.
Summary: The Indian government is preparing to introduce legislation that it hopes will reverse the traditional hands-off attitude at most Indian universities toward commercializing the results of basic research. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

NONPROLIFERATION: Dutch Revise Policy Blocking Iranian Students

Yudhijit Bhattacharjee
Science 1 February 2008: 556.
Summary: The Dutch government this week backed away from an antiterrorism policy that had led one university to reject applications from Iranian students and triggered a loud protest among academics. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

CLINICAL TRIALS: Deaths Prompt a Review of Experimental Probiotic Therapy

Gretchen Vogel
Science 1 February 2008: 557.
Summary: The high death rate in a Dutch clinical trial is raising concerns about the use of friendly bacteria, or probiotics, in some patients. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

CHEMISTRY: DNA Assembles Materials From the Ground Up

Robert F. Service
Science 1 February 2008: 558-559.
Summary: On page 594 of this week's issue of Science, researchers report using DNA as tweezers to pick up compounds and place them where they're wanted. The technique could help researchers put chains of molecules together to answer questions such as how different enzymes work together in a series. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY: Aging of the Ovary Linked to PTEN Pathway

Jean Marx
Science 1 February 2008: 558-559.
Summary: On page 611 of this week's issue of Science, researchers report that in the absence of a gene called Pten, the egg-containing follicles of mice were activated rapidly at an early age, thus causing depletion of the animals' eggs much sooner than is normal--a situation similar to that of premature ovarian failure in humans. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ScienceScope

Science 1 February 2008: 557.
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Random Samples

Science 1 February 2008: 551.
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Newsmakers

Science 1 February 2008: 553.
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News Focus

CELL BIOLOGY: A Seismic Shift for Stem Cell Research

Constance Holden and Gretchen Vogel
Science 1 February 2008: 560-563.
Summary: The development of pluripotent cells from individual skin cells has opened up a new world of research, but scientists say they still need to work with embryonic stem cells. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

CELL BIOLOGY: Shinya Yamanaka: Modest Researcher, Results to Brag About

Dennis Normile
Science 1 February 2008: 562.
Summary: Shinya Yamanaka garnered mainstream press coverage around the world last November when he reprogrammed human skin cells to behave like embryonic stem cells without the use of embryos. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

CELL BIOLOGY: Nuclear Transfer: Still on the Table

Constance Holden and Gretchen Vogel
Science 1 February 2008: 563.
Summary: With so many unknowns about induced pluripotent stem cells (see main text), scientists want all research avenues kept open. So somatic cell nuclear transfer research continues apace. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

NASA: Scientists Hope to Adjust the President's Vision for Space

Andrew Lawler
Science 1 February 2008: 564-566.
Summary: An inadequate budget and daunting technical challenges will force the next U.S. president to rethink current plans for a postshuttle NASA. Space scientists are offering input on what those changes might look like. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

NASA: Getting Up to Speed on Space

Andrew Lawler
Science 1 February 2008: 565.
Summary: Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama's (D-IL) sudden support for the rocket that will replace the space shuttle as the country's new vehicle to explore space demonstrates the surprising success of grassroots and Internet-based space efforts in affecting the course of the 2008 presidential campaign. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

CLIMATE CHANGE: The Big Thaw Reaches Mongolia's Pristine North

John Bohannon
Science 1 February 2008: 567-568.
Summary: As warmer temperatures affect plants, animals, and human society, researchers ask whether ecological changes can be reversed. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Letters

This Week's Letters

Science 1 February 2008: 569.
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 Retraction

Mary A. Dwyer, Loren L. Looger, and Homme W. Hellinga
Science 1 February 2008: 569.
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 Comparing Social Skills of Children and Apes

Frans B. M. De Waal, Christophe Boesch, Victoria Horner, Andrew Whiten;, Esther Herrmann, Josep Call, María Victoria Hernández-Lloreda, Brian Hare, and Michael Tomasello
Science 1 February 2008: 569.
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Books et al.

BIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHY: Drifters Through Time

Robert Riding
Science 1 February 2008: 571-572.
Summary: Approaching the topic from a variety of perspectives--including molecular evolution, phylogenetics, biogeochemistry, marine ecology, and paleontology---the contributors examine the evolution and impact of phytoplankton and the photosynthetic process. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ECOLOGY: Give Way to the Migrants

Thomas Alerstam
Science 1 February 2008: 572.
Summary: The author discusses long-distance movements of animals---in the air, on land, and in the water---as well as the growing threats these migrants face from human activities and environmental changes. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Books Received

Science 1 February 2008: 572.
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Policy Forum

CLIMATE CHANGE: Stationarity Is Dead: Whither Water Management?

P. C. D. Milly, Julio Betancourt, Malin Falkenmark, Robert M. Hirsch, Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz, Dennis P. Lettenmaier, and Ronald J. Stouffer
Science 1 February 2008: 573-574.
Summary: Climate change undermines a basic assumption that historically has facilitated management of water supplies, demands, and risks. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Perspectives

MATERIALS SCIENCE: Sweet, Hairy, Soft, and Slippery

Seunghwan Lee and Nicholas D. Spencer
Science 1 February 2008: 575-576.
Summary: Synthetic polymer lubricants inspired by biological systems may be the key to water-based lubrication. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

IMMUNOLOGY: The Toll of Cathepsin K Deficiency

Arthur M. Krieg and Grayson B. Lipford
Science 1 February 2008: 576-577.
Summary: An enzyme that is important to bone metabolism also acts in immune cell responses to pathogen DNA. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

MATERIALS SCIENCE: Glass Surfaces Not So Glassy

J. R. Dutcher and M. D. Ediger
Science 1 February 2008: 577-578.
Summary: Nanoscale indentations on a polymer glass relax rapidly, indicating the presence of a highly mobile liquid surface layer. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

MOLECULAR BIOLOGY: The Art of Assembly

Francis Szoka
Science 1 February 2008: 578-579.
Summary: Advances in delivering small interfering RNAs to specific tissues may bring these nucleotides closer to reality as therapeutic agents. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

MATERIALS SCIENCE: Nanowires in Nanoelectronics

David K. Ferry
Science 1 February 2008: 579-580.
Summary: Connecting circuit layers with nanowires and nanotransistors may bring about a paradigm shift in microchip design. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

CLIMATE: Food Security Under Climate Change

Molly E. Brown and Christopher C. Funk
Science 1 February 2008: 580-581.
Summary: Food insecurity is likely to increase under climate change, unless early warning systems and development programs are used more effectively. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Review

Insights into Phases of Liquid Water from Study of Its Unusual Glass-Forming Properties

C. Austen Angell
Science 1 February 2008: 582-587.
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Brevia

Languages Evolve in Punctuational Bursts

Quentin D. Atkinson, Andrew Meade, Chris Venditti, Simon J. Greenhill, and Mark Pagel
Science 1 February 2008: 588.
A study of Bantu, Indo-European, Austronesian, and Polynesian languages shows that up to one-third of their words arose in rapid evolutionary bursts from the predecessor tongue. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Research Article

Widespread Genetic Incompatibility in C. Elegans Maintained by Balancing Selection

Hannah S. Seidel, Matthew V. Rockman, and Leonid Kruglyak
Science 1 February 2008: 589-594.
Published online 10 January 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1151107] (in Science Express Research Articles)
Strong natural selection is maintaining multiple alleles of a gene in wild populations of the nematode C. elegans, despite their negative effect on fitness. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Reports

Single-Molecule Cut-and-Paste Surface Assembly

S. K. Kufer, E. M. Puchner, H. Gumpp, T. Liedl, and H. E. Gaub
Science 1 February 2008: 594-596.
An atomic force microscope tip derivatized with DNA can pick up and assemble large molecules bearing DNA handles into specific patterns on a surface in aqueous solution. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Electronic Liquid Crystal State in the High-Temperature Superconductor YBa₂Cu₃O_6.45

V. Hinkov, D. Haug, B. Fauqué, P. Bourges, Y. Sidis, A. Ivanov, C. Bernhard, C. T. Lin, and B. Keimer
Science 1 February 2008: 597-600.
Published online 10 January 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1152309] (in Science Express Reports)
Neutron-scattering measurements suggest that ordering of fluctuating electron spins explains the liquid crystal phases recently seen in some correlated electron systems. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Measuring the Surface Dynamics of Glassy Polymers

Z. Fakhraai and J. A. Forrest
Science 1 February 2008: 600-604.
Removal of gold nanospheres dimpling the surface of a polymer film reveals that polymer chains near the surface relax more rapidly than the bulk. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Abiogenic Hydrocarbon Production at Lost City Hydrothermal Field

Giora Proskurowski, Marvin D. Lilley, Jeffery S. Seewald, Gretchen L. Früh-Green, Eric J. Olson, John E. Lupton, Sean P. Sylva, and Deborah S. Kelley
Science 1 February 2008: 604-607.
The abundance of hydrocarbons and isotopic data imply that hydrocarbons are produced chemically from mantle carbon at a cool Atlantic Ocean hydrothermal system. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Prioritizing Climate Change Adaptation Needs for Food Security in 2030

David B. Lobell, Marshall B. Burke, Claudia Tebaldi, Michael D. Mastrandrea, Walter P. Falcon, and Rosamond L. Naylor
Science 1 February 2008: 607-610.
Analysis of 12 food-insecure regions for vulnerability to crop failure from climate change indicates that those in southern Africa and south Asia are in particular need of attention. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Oocyte-Specific Deletion of Pten Causes Premature Activation of the Primordial Follicle Pool

Pradeep Reddy, Lian Liu, Deepak Adhikari, Krishna Jagarlamudi, Singareddy Rajareddy, Yan Shen, Chun Du, Wenli Tang, Tuula Hämäläinen, Stanford L. Peng, Zi-Jian Lan, Austin J. Cooney, Ilpo Huhtaniemi, and Kui Liu
Science 1 February 2008: 611-613.
In mice, a tumor suppressor commonly mutated in human cancers prevents premature activation of ovarian follicles, allowing them to form oocytes throughout life. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

The Maternal Nucleolus Is Essential for Early Embryonic Development in Mammals

Sugako Ogushi, Chiara Palmieri, Helena Fulka, Mitinori Saitou, Takashi Miyano, and Josef Fulka, Jr.
Science 1 February 2008: 613-616.
After fertilization or somatic cell nuclear transfer, the oocyte’s nucleolus but not the sperm’s is essential for subsequent development. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Profiling Essential Genes in Human Mammary Cells by Multiplex RNAi Screening

Jose M. Silva, Krista Marran, Joel S. Parker, Javier Silva, Michael Golding, Michael R. Schlabach, Stephen J. Elledge, Gregory J. Hannon, and Kenneth Chang
Science 1 February 2008: 617-620.
Systematic inhibition of gene expression with RNA interference screening reveals genes essential for growth and survival of tumor cells, potentially leading to new cancer drugs. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Cancer Proliferation Gene Discovery Through Functional Genomics

Michael R. Schlabach, Ji Luo, Nicole L. Solimini, Guang Hu, Qikai Xu, Mamie Z. Li, Zhenming Zhao, Agata Smogorzewska, Mathew E. Sowa, Xiaolu L. Ang, Thomas F. Westbrook, Anthony C. Liang, Kenneth Chang, Jennifer A. Hackett, J. Wade Harper, Gregory J. Hannon, and Stephen J. Elledge
Science 1 February 2008: 620-624.
Systematic inhibition of gene expression with RNA interference screening reveals genes essential for growth and survival of tumor cells, potentially leading to new cancer drugs. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Cathepsin K-Dependent Toll-Like Receptor 9 Signaling Revealed in Experimental Arthritis

Masataka Asagiri, Toshitake Hirai, Toshihiro Kunigami, Shunya Kamano, Hans-Jürgen Gober, Kazuo Okamoto, Keizo Nishikawa, Eicke Latz, Douglas T. Golenbock, Kazuhiro Aoki, Keiichi Ohya, Yuuki Imai, Yasuyuki Morishita, Kohei Miyazono, Shigeaki Kato, Paul Saftig, and Hiroshi Takayanagi
Science 1 February 2008: 624-627.
A lyosomal enzyme normally associated with osteoclasts of the bone has further function in signaling through an innate receptor in immune cells. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Systemic Leukocyte-Directed siRNA Delivery Revealing Cyclin D1 as an Anti-Inflammatory Target

Dan Peer, Eun Jeong Park, Yoshiyuki Morishita, Christopher V. Carman, and Motomu Shimaoka
Science 1 February 2008: 627-630.
Small RNAs are packaged in lipid nanoparticles with antibodies that direct them to specific gut immune cells, where they suppress inflammation by inhibiting a cell-cycle protein. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Direct Observation of Hierarchical Folding in Single Riboswitch Aptamers

William J. Greenleaf, Kirsten L. Frieda, Daniel A. N. Foster, Michael T. Woodside, and Steven M. Block
Science 1 February 2008: 630-633.
Published online 3 January 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1151298] (in Science Express Reports)
Optical trapping reveals that activation by adenine stabilizes the weakest helix in a riboswitch, after which secondary and tertiary structures are formed sequentially. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Technical Comments

Comment on "Saturation of the Southern Ocean CO₂ Sink Due to Recent Climate Change"

Rachel M. Law, Richard J. Matear, and Roger J. Francey
Science 1 February 2008: 570.
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Comment on "Saturation of the Southern Ocean CO₂ Sink Due to Recent Climate Change"

Kirsten Zickfeld, John C. Fyfe, Michael Eby, and Andrew J. Weaver
Science 1 February 2008: 570.
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Response to Comments on "Saturation of the Southern Ocean CO₂ Sink Due to Recent Climate Change"

Corinne Le Quéré, Christian Rödenbeck, Erik T. Buitenhuis, Thomas J. Conway, Ray Langenfelds, Antony Gomez, Casper Labuschagne, Michel Ramonet, Takakiyo Nakazawa, Nicolas Metzl, Nathan P. Gillett, and Martin Heimann
Science 1 February 2008: 570.
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