This Week in Science

Editor summaries of this week's papers.
Science 24 October 2008: 501.
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Editorial:
Making One World of Science

Mohamed H. A. Hassan
Science 24 October 2008: 505.
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Editors' Choice

Highlights of the recent literature.
Science 24 October 2008: 506.
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Science Podcast

Science 24 October 2008: 608.
Summary: The 24 October 2008 show includes how physical warmth promotes interpersonal warmth, measuring pulsing stars, science and the U.S. presidential election, and more. Full Text »|   Transcript »|  

NEW PRODUCTS

Science 24 October 2008: 608.
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News of the Week

OCEAN DRILLING: Deep-Sea Scientific Drilling Hit By a Cost Double Whammy

Richard A. Kerr
Science 24 October 2008: 512-513.
Summary: As the oil industry gears up for a new offshore-oil boom, scientists who study the sea floor say competition for scarce drilling resources is leaving them high and dry. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

U.S. SCIENCE AGENCIES: Media Policies Don't Always Square With Reality

Eli Kintisch
Science 24 October 2008: 512-513.
Summary: A new survey finds that most U.S. government agencies don't allow their scientists to talk freely with the media and that their practices don't always square with their policies. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: Cardiologists Come Under the Glare of a Senate Inquiry

Jocelyn Kaiser
Science 24 October 2008: 513.
Summary: Senator Chuck Grassley (R–IA) is investigating potential financial conflicts of interest among cardiologists associated with Columbia University. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

OCEANOGRAPHY: Global Warming Throws Some Curves in the Atlantic Ocean

Richard A. Kerr
Science 24 October 2008: 515.
Summary: A new computer modeling study confirms that global warming is changing the salinity of seawater in the North Atlantic. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ETHICS: Clinical Trials Guidelines at Odds With U.S. Policy

Dennis Normile
Science 24 October 2008: 516.
Summary: The World Medical Association last week reaffirmed its opposition to the use of placebos in clinical trials and urged trial sponsors to provide care for participants after studies are done. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

VIDEO GAMES: 'Spore' Documentary Spawns Protest By Scientists Who Starred in It

John Bohannon
Science 24 October 2008: 517.
Summary: Scientists who appear in a film about the blockbuster video game Spore are criticizing the National Geographic Channel, saying that they believed they were participating in a documentary about evolutionary biology. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ScienceScope

Science 24 October 2008: 515.
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Random Samples

Science 24 October 2008: 509.
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Newsmakers

Science 24 October 2008: 511.
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News Focus

SCIENCE AND THE 2008 CAMPAIGN: In Brief: Where They Stand on Science Policy

Science 24 October 2008: 518-519.
Summary: At the risk of oversimplifying these complex topics, the news staff of Science has boiled down what Senators John McCain and Barack Obama have said during the long campaign about some three dozen important issues. Full Text »|   PDF »|   Podcast Interview »|  

SCIENCE AND THE 2008 CAMPAIGN: A Full Serving of Science Awaits the Next President

Science 24 October 2008: 520-521.
Summary: Many scientific issues are never discussed during the campaign. But ignoring them doesn't make them disappear. Here are 10 meaty topics that we think the 44th president will have to chew on. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

BIOFUELS: Eyeing Oil, Synthetic Biologists Mine Microbes for Black Gold

Robert F. Service
Science 24 October 2008: 522-523.
Summary: Biotechnology researchers want to reengineer microorganisms to turn agricultural products into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

AUSTRALIA: Last-Ditch Effort to Save Center at Vanguard of Stem Cell Research

Elizabeth Finkel
Science 24 October 2008: 524-525.
Summary: After ousting its CEO and board, the Australian Stem Cell Centre hopes to regroup around a plan that rebalances research and commercial goals. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Letters

 Sleepless in the Sea

J. Lee Kavanau
Science 24 October 2008: 527.
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 A Bird's Eye View of Sleep

Niels C. Rattenborg, Dolores Martinez-Gonzalez, John A. Lesku, and Madeleine Scriba
Science 24 October 2008: 527.
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 NSO's Environmental and Cultural Efforts

Stephen L. Keil
Science 24 October 2008: 527-528.
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 A Gradual Peer-Review Process

Simcha Lev-Yadun
Science 24 October 2008: 528.
Full Text »|   PDF »|  

 Optimizing Ecosystem Services in China

William J. Mitsch, Jianjian Lu, Xingzhong Yuan, Wenshan He, and Li Zhang
Science 24 October 2008: 528.
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 Trans-Arctic Invasion in Modern Times

Philip C. Reid, Martin Edwards, and David G. Johns
Science 24 October 2008: 528.
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 Contributions to the Large Area Telescope

Peter F. Michelson
Science 24 October 2008: 529.
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 Corrections and Clarifications

Science 24 October 2008: 529.
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Books et al.

ECONOMICS: To Incubate Progress

Stine Grodal
Science 24 October 2008: 530.
Summary: Kao discusses existing roadblocks to technological innovation (especially in the United States) and suggests actions that he argues will promote the discovery and development of new ideas and thus improve prosperity and economic security. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

OCEANS: Gigantic Losses

Michelle E. Portman
Science 24 October 2008: 531.
Summary: Darby's account of commercial whaling and efforts to save decimated cetacean populations highlights anti-whaling activists and controversies swirling around the International Whaling Commission. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Books Received

Science 24 October 2008: 531.
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Policy Forum

ECONOMICS: Risk Communication on Climate: Mental Models and Mass Balance

John D. Sterman
Science 24 October 2008: 532-533.
Summary: Public confusion about the urgency of reductions in greenhouse gas emissions results from a basic misconception. Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Perspectives

PHYSIOLOGY: CaCl-ing Channels Get the Last Laugh

H. Criss Hartzell
Science 24 October 2008: 534-535.
Summary: A long-sought ion-channel gene with intriguing links to cancer and development has been identified. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ASTRONOMY: Aspects of Our Sun

Gary A. Chapman
Science 24 October 2008: 535-536.
Summary: Accurate determination of the shape of the Sun sheds light on its inner workings. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ASTRONOMY: The Pulse of Distant Stars

M. H. Montgomery
Science 24 October 2008: 536-537.
Summary: Space-based observations can now be used to "see" the pulsations and surface granulations of distant stars similar to those of the Sun. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

GENETICS: GenBank--Natural History in the 21st Century?

Bruno J. Strasser
Science 24 October 2008: 537-538.
Summary: Since its foundation, the nucleic acid sequence database GenBank has merged the values of natural history with those of the experimental sciences. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

CHEMISTRY: Putting Electrowetting to Work

Aaron R. Wheeler
Science 24 October 2008: 539-540.
Summary: Voltage pulses that cause changes in fluid shape or movement can be used to drive optical components and miniaturized assays. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

GEOLOGY: The Story of O₂

Paul G. Falkowski and Yukio Isozaki
Science 24 October 2008: 540-542.
Summary: How did biological, geochemical, and geophysical processes produce an atmosphere that allowed complex animal life to evolve? Full Text »|   PDF »|  

MEDICINE: Can We Nip Obesity in Its Vascular Bud?

C. Ronald Kahn
Science 24 October 2008: 542-543.
Summary: The origin of fat tissues and identity of factors that direct fat development in animals are becoming more clear. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Association Affairs

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: A Global Perspective on Science and Technology

David Baltimore
Science 24 October 2008: 544-551.
Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: Challenges and Prospects of Advancing Science and Technology in Africa: The Case of Rwanda

Paul Kagame
Science 24 October 2008: 545-551.
Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Brevia

Genetic Compatibility Affects Queen and Worker Caste Determination

Tanja Schwander and Laurent Keller
Science 24 October 2008: 552.
Although environmental signals regulate whether female ants become sterile workers or queens, genetic interactions between their parental genomes also influence the phenotype. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Research Article

The Structure of a Transcribing T7 RNA Polymerase in Transition from Initiation to Elongation

Kimberly J. Durniak, Scott Bailey, and Thomas A. Steitz
Science 24 October 2008: 553-557.
In order to accommodate the elongating RNA transcript, a viral RNA polymerase rotates on its DNA binding promoter to expand the active site. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Reports

CoRoT Measures Solar-Like Oscillations and Granulation in Stars Hotter Than the Sun

Eric Michel, Annie Baglin, Michel Auvergne, Claude Catala, Reza Samadi, Frédéric Baudin, Thierry Appourchaux, Caroline Barban, Werner W. Weiss, Gabrielle Berthomieu, Patrick Boumier, Marc-Antoine Dupret, Rafael A. Garcia, Malcolm Fridlund, Rafael Garrido, Marie-Jo Goupil, Hans Kjeldsen, Yveline Lebreton, Benoît Mosser, Arlette Grotsch-Noels, Eduardo Janot-Pacheco, Janine Provost, Ian W. Roxburgh, Anne Thoul, Thierry Toutain, Didier Tiphène, Sylvaine Turck-Chieze, Sylvie D. Vauclair, Gérard P. Vauclair, Conny Aerts, Georges Alecian, Jérôme Ballot, Stéphane Charpinet, Anne-Marie Hubert, François Lignières, Philippe Mathias, Mario J. P. F. G. Monteiro, Coralie Neiner, Ennio Poretti, José Renan de Medeiros, Ignasi Ribas, Michel L. Rieutord, Teodoro Roca Cortés, and Konstanze Zwintz
Science 24 October 2008: 558-560.
Satellite measurements of pulsations in three stars similar to but hotter than the Sun show that they are oscillating more vigorously and have a finer-scale granulation. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  Podcast Interview »|  

A Large Excess in Apparent Solar Oblateness Due to Surface Magnetism

Martin D. Fivian, Hugh S. Hudson, Robert P. Lin, and H. Jabran Zahid
Science 24 October 2008: 560-562.
Published online 2 October 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1160863] (in Science Express Reports)
Satellite measurements indicate that the Sun is more oblate than previous measurements suggested, a shape resulting from the combined effects of rotation and magnetism. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Complete Characterization of Quantum-Optical Processes

Mirko Lobino, Dmitry Korystov, Connor Kupchak, Eden Figueroa, Barry C. Sanders, and A. I. Lvovsky
Science 24 October 2008: 563-566.
Published online 25 September 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1162086] (in Science Express Reports)
A method requiring only the light from a laser as an input yields a full characterization of quantum optical processes by probing its effect on classical states. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Detection of First-Order Liquid/Liquid Phase Transitions in Yttrium Oxide-Aluminum Oxide Melts

G. N. Greaves, M. C. Wilding, S. Fearn, D. Langstaff, F. Kargl, S. Cox, Q. Vu Van, O. Majérus, C. J. Benmore, R. Weber, C. M. Martin, and L. Hennet
Science 24 October 2008: 566-570.
Entropy changes induce a levitated oxide melt to undergo an unusual transition between two disordered liquid states in which atomic rearrangements reflect additional unmixing. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Direct Imaging of Reconstructed Atoms on TiO₂ (110) Surfaces

N. Shibata, A. Goto, S.-Y. Choi, T. Mizoguchi, S. D. Findlay, T. Yamamoto, and Y. Ikuhara
Science 24 October 2008: 570-573.
Profile views of titania, a widely used material, with a transmission electron microscope show that interstitial sites with a lower oxygen stoichiometry produce its reduced surface. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

The Extent of Non–Born-Oppenheimer Coupling in the Reaction of Cl(²P) with para-H₂

Xingan Wang, Wenrui Dong, Chunlei Xiao, Li Che, Zefeng Ren, Dongxu Dai, Xiuyan Wang, Piergiorgio Casavecchia, Xueming Yang, Bin Jiang, Daiqian Xie, Zhigang Sun, Soo-Y. Lee, Dong H. Zhang, Hans-Joachim Werner, and Millard H. Alexander
Science 24 October 2008: 573-576.
The study of controlled collisions between chlorine atoms and molecular hydrogen clarifies that excited electronic states play only a minor role in the formation of hydrochloric acid. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Midbody Targeting of the ESCRT Machinery by a Noncanonical Coiled Coil in CEP55

Hyung Ho Lee, Natalie Elia, Rodolfo Ghirlando, Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, and James H. Hurley
Science 24 October 2008: 576-580.
As daughter cells separate, final cleavage of the membranes requires a protein with a coiled coil built around an unusual charged core, which recruits other constituents. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Functional Traits and Niche-Based Tree Community Assembly in an Amazonian Forest

Nathan J. B. Kraft, Renato Valencia, and David D. Ackerly
Science 24 October 2008: 580-582.
Even in a diverse Amazonian forest, trees show particular leaf characteristics that indicate that they are subtly specialized for habitat and growth strategy. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

White Fat Progenitor Cells Reside in the Adipose Vasculature

Wei Tang, Daniel Zeve, Jae Myoung Suh, Darko Bosnakovski, Michael Kyba, Robert E. Hammer, Michelle D. Tallquist, and Jonathan M. Graff
Science 24 October 2008: 583-586.
Published online 18 September 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1156232] (in Science Express Reports)
Adipocytes (fat cells) originate from precursor cells that reside within the walls of the blood vessels that feed fat tissue. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

H₂S as a Physiologic Vasorelaxant: Hypertension in Mice with Deletion of Cystathionine -Lyase

Guangdong Yang, Lingyun Wu, Bo Jiang, Wei Yang, Jiansong Qi, Kun Cao, Qinghe Meng, Asif K. Mustafa, Weitong Mu, Shengming Zhang, Solomon H. Snyder, and Rui Wang
Science 24 October 2008: 587-590.
Hydrogen sulfide gas regulates blood pressure and blood vessel function in mice. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

TMEM16A, A Membrane Protein Associated with Calcium-Dependent Chloride Channel Activity

Antonella Caputo, Emanuela Caci, Loretta Ferrera, Nicoletta Pedemonte, Cristina Barsanti, Elvira Sondo, Ulrich Pfeffer, Roberto Ravazzolo, Olga Zegarra-Moran, and Luis J. V. Galietta
Science 24 October 2008: 590-594.
Published online 4 September 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1163518] (in Science Express Reports)
A transmembrane protein induced in cytokine-treated bronchial epithelial cells seems to be a long-sought primary carrier of a voltage- and calcium-dependent chloride current. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Receptor-Like Kinase ACR4 Restricts Formative Cell Divisions in the Arabidopsis Root

Ive De Smet, Valya Vassileva, Bert De Rybel, Mitchell P. Levesque, Wim Grunewald, Daniël Van Damme, Giel Van Noorden, Mirande Naudts, Gert Van Isterdael, Rebecca De Clercq, Jean Y. Wang, Nicholas Meuli, Steffen Vanneste, Jirí Friml, Pierre Hilson, Gerd Jürgens, Gwyneth C. Ingram, Dirk Inzé, Philip N. Benfey, and Tom Beeckman
Science 24 October 2008: 594-597.
A membrane kinase regulates the number of stem cells in the main tip of the root, as well as the de novo generation of stem cells in new laterally projecting roots. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Functional Targeting of DNA Damage to a Nuclear Pore-Associated SUMO-Dependent Ubiquitin Ligase

Shigeki Nagai, Karine Dubrana, Monika Tsai-Pflugfelder, Marta B. Davidson, Tania M. Roberts, Grant W. Brown, Elisa Varela, Florence Hediger, Susan M. Gasser, and Nevan J. Krogan
Science 24 October 2008: 597-602.
The damaged regions of DNA are recruited to the periphery of the nucleus by a complex of nuclear-pore and ubiquitin-modifying proteins, where they are repaired. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Splicing Factors Facilitate RNAi-Directed Silencing in Fission Yeast

Elizabeth H. Bayne, Manuela Portoso, Alexander Kagansky, Isabelle C. Kos-Braun, Takeshi Urano, Karl Ekwall, Flavia Alves, Juri Rappsilber, and Robin C. Allshire
Science 24 October 2008: 602-606.
In fission yeast, RNA splicing factors unexpectedly participate in the silencing of centromeric DNA by RNA interference derived from centromeres. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Experiencing Physical Warmth Promotes Interpersonal Warmth

Lawrence E. Williams and John A. Bargh
Science 24 October 2008: 606-607.
When people are given a warm rather than a cold drink, they are more likely to show generous behavior toward others. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  Podcast Interview »|