Breakthrough of the Year

Video: Reprogramming Cells

Science 19 December 2008: 1766.
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News

BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR: Reprogramming Cells

Gretchen Vogel
Science 19 December 2008: 1766-1767.
Summary: By inserting genes that turn back a cell's developmental clock, researchers are gaining insights into disease and the biology of how a cell decides its fate. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR: The Runners-Up

Science 19 December 2008: 1768.
Summary: The first direct detections of exoplanets topped the list of this year's runners-up for Breakthrough of the Year. Other notable discoveries included cancer genes, new high-temperature superconductors, and a new water-splitting catalyst. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

PHENOMENON OF THE YEAR: European Big Science

Daniel Clery
Science 19 December 2008: 1769.
Summary: By most objective measures, U.S. research still leads the world, but in their ability to pool resources in the pursuit of "big science," European nations are showing increasing ambition and success. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR: Scorecard

Science 19 December 2008: 1770-1771.
Summary: The Large Hadron Collider came on smoothly in just a few hours, in keeping with last year's prediction; unfortunately, our warning that a mishap would take it out of action for months also came true. Last year's other predictions were a mixed bag. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

BREAKDOWN OF THE YEAR: Financial Meltdown

Eliot Marshall
Science 19 December 2008: 1772.
Summary: Luckily, scientific research did not take a direct hit from this fall's global economic crisis, but scientists are feeling the consequences like everyone else, and research budgets could get caught in the fallout next year. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR: Areas to Watch

Science 19 December 2008: 1773.
Summary: In 2009, Science's editors will be watching plant genomics, ocean acidification, neuroscience in court, the next international climate summit, dark-matter annihilations, "speciation genes," and the Tevatron. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

This Week in Science

Editor summaries of this week's papers.
Science 19 December 2008: 1753.
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Editorial:
Celebrating a Year of Science

Bruce Alberts
Science 19 December 2008: 1757.
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Editors' Choice

Highlights of the recent literature.
Science 19 December 2008: 1758.
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Science Podcast

Science 19 December 2008: 1869.
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NEW PRODUCTS

Science 19 December 2008: 1869.
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News of the Week

THE TRANSITION: Nobelist Gets Energy Portfolio, Raising Hopes and Expectations

Eli Kintisch
Science 19 December 2008: 1774-1775.
Summary: Nobel laureate Steven Chu has been tapped to become the first career scientist to run the Department of Energy (DOE). He'll be carrying on his back the hopes of U.S. researchers to jump-start stagnating science budgets at DOE and retain U.S. leadership in the face of rising overseas competition. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

THE TRANSITION: Obama's Choice to Direct EPA Is Applauded

Lila Guterman
Science 19 December 2008: 1775.
Summary: Scientists and environmental activists applauded President-elect Barack Obama's pick for head of the Environmental Protection Agency: 16-year agency veteran Lisa Jackson. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

MALARIA: Signs of Drug Resistance Rattle Experts, Trigger Bold Plan

Martin Enserink
Science 19 December 2008: 1776.
Summary: According to several worrisome studies presented here last week at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, resistance against artemisinin-based combination therapies, the gold standard in fighting malaria, seems to be developing in western Cambodia, along the Thai border. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

NUCLEAR PHYSICS: DOE Picks Michigan State Lab for Rare-Isotope Accelerator

Adrian Cho
Science 19 December 2008: 1777.
Summary: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced last week that it would build the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University instead of at its own Argonne National Laboratory. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ENDANGERED SPECIES: Rangers Assess Toll of Congo Conflict on Threatened Mountain Gorillas

Robert Koenig
Science 19 December 2008: 1778.
Summary: In the wake of severe fighting in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, worried rangers began a painstaking census late last month of the park's highly endangered mountain gorillas, nearly a third of the world's known population. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

SCIENCE POLICY: Report Faults U.S. Strategy for Nanotoxicology Research

Robert F. Service
Science 19 December 2008: 1779.
Summary: The U.S. government lacks an effective plan for ensuring the safety of nanotechnology, a new report by the National Research Council concludes. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

SCIENCE POLICY: From the Science Policy Blog

Science 19 December 2008: 1779.
Summary: Read highlights from Science's new policy blog, ScienceInsider, which provides news and analysis on science policy around the world that doesn't appear in the magazine. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ScienceScope

Science 19 December 2008: 1777.
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Random Samples

Science 19 December 2008: 1763.
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Newsmakers

Science 19 December 2008: 1765.
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News Focus

PLANETARY SCIENCE: Europa vs. Titan

Richard A. Kerr
Science 19 December 2008: 1780-1781.
Summary: Planetary scientists are in the final stretch of a first-time competition designed to get the most science for the buck from the next big planetary mission while avoiding the fiscal debacles of the past. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ZACK BOOTH SIMPSON PROFILE: An Artist Develops a New Image--With Aid of Bacteria

Mitch Leslie
Science 19 December 2008: 1782-1783.
Summary: After dropping out of high school, Zack Booth Simpson became a video game programmer. Now he's at a university working with cutting-edge synthetic biology labs. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

MATERIALS RESEARCH SOCIETY FALL MEETING: Shortfalls in Electron Production Dim Hopes for MEG Solar Cells

Robert F. Service
Science 19 December 2008: 1784.
Summary: At the Materials Research Society Fall Meeting, several teams reported setbacks in efforts to sharply increase the electrical output of future solar cells using light-absorbing nanoparticles that can generate more than one electron for every photon of light they absorb. Full Text »|   PDF »|   Correction »|  

MATERIALS RESEARCH SOCIETY FALL MEETING: Protein Chip Promises Cheaper Diagnostics

Robert F. Service
Science 19 December 2008: 1784-1785.
Summary: At the Materials Research Society Fall Meeting, chemists reported making inexpensive, easy-to-manufacture microfluidic chips that can detect and quantify levels of a dozen different proteins in just a single drop of blood simultaneously, potentially lowering lab costs to just pennies per test. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

MATERIALS RESEARCH SOCIETY FALL MEETING: Graphene Recipe Yields Carbon Cornucopia

Robert F. Service
Science 19 December 2008: 1785.
Summary: Chemists at the Materials Research Society Fall Meeting reported on a cheap, easy way to grow high-quality sheets of carbon just a single atom thick and then transfer them wherever they want, opening the door both to better ways of exploring the new physics of atomically thin materials and to potential applications. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

MARINE MAMMALS: Does 'Junk Food' Threaten Marine Predators in Northern Seas?

John Whitfield
Science 19 December 2008: 1786-1787.
Summary: Some fish-eating birds and mammals have full bellies but poor diets, say biologists puzzling over declines among these high-latitude marine predators. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Letters

 Making Waves with the Clean Water Act

Leska S. Fore, James R. Karr, William S. Fisher, and Wayne S. Davis
Science 19 December 2008: 1788.
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 The State of Global Hunger

Juan Sastre
Science 19 December 2008: 1788-1789.
Full Text »|   PDF »|  

 Bird Brains Key to the Functions of Sleep

Sharon M. H. Gobes and Johan J. Bolhuis
Science 19 December 2008: 1789.
Full Text »|   PDF »|  

 Old Seeds Coming in from the Cold

Felix Gugerli;, Sarah Sallon, Yuval Cohen, Markus Egli, Elaine Solowey, Mordechai Kislev, and Orit Simchoni
Science 19 December 2008: 1789-1790.
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 Corrections and Clarifications

Science 19 December 2008: 1790.
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Books et al.

ENVIRONMENTAL ART: Hejira in a Jetta

Mary Parrish
Science 19 December 2008: 1791.
Summary: Hogan's often humorous narrative of her journey to several monumental earthworks from the 1970s and 1980s interweaves her personal observations and responses with art history and theory. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

BROWSINGS

Mary Parrish
Science 19 December 2008: 1791.
Summary: Full Text »|   PDF »|  

THEATER: To Make Aire Dance

Caroline Ash
Science 19 December 2008: 1792-1793.
Summary: This history play on the emergence of science in the 17th century and the growth of public scientific demonstrations and debate pits the philosopher Hobbes against a group led by Robert Hooke and Robert Boyle. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

BROWSINGS

Science 19 December 2008: 1793-1794.
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Books Received

Science 19 December 2008: 1793.
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Policy Forum

RESEARCH FUNDING: Politics and Funding in the U.S. Public Biomedical R&D System

Deepak Hegde and David C. Mowery
Science 19 December 2008: 1797-1798.
Summary: Research grant allocations can be affected by appropriations committee representation. Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Education Forum

THE PIPELINE: Science Faculty with Education Specialties

S. D. Bush, N. J. Pelaez, J. A. Rudd, M. T. Stevens, K. D. Tanner, and K. S. Williams
Science 19 December 2008: 1795-1796.
Summary: Career dynamics for science faculty with interests in education point the way for developing this nascent career specialty. Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Perspectives

EVOLUTION: Who's Your Daddy?

Richard O. Prum
Science 19 December 2008: 1799-1800.
Summary: The male-only nest care system of some birds may have its evolutionary origins in theropod dinosaur behavior. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

COMPUTER SCIENCE: The Ethical Frontiers of Robotics

Noel Sharkey
Science 19 December 2008: 1800-1801.
Summary: The use of robots to care for the young and the old, and as autonomous agents on the battlefield, raises ethical issues. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

MATERIALS SCIENCE: Now You See Them

Fiona C. Meldrum and Richard P. Sear
Science 19 December 2008: 1802-1803.
Summary: Can new results on calcium carbonate nucleation be reconciled with classical nucleation theory? Full Text »|   PDF »|  

DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY: From Genetic Association to Genetic Switch

Alan M. Michelson
Science 19 December 2008: 1803-1804.
Summary: Human genetic studies have led to the identification of a transcriptional regulator that could serve as a therapeutic target for adult hemoglobin disorders. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

TRANSCRIPTION: Gene Expression--Where to Start?

Stephen Buratowski
Science 19 December 2008: 1804-1805.
Summary: Transcription just got noisier with the discovery of short RNAs that are synthesized at or near DNA regions that also initiate full-length RNAs. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Association Affairs

AAAS News and Notes

Science 19 December 2008: 1806-1810.
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Review

Nuclear Reprogramming in Cells

J. B. Gurdon and D. A. Melton
Science 19 December 2008: 1811-1815.
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Reports

Matching Glass-Forming Ability with the Density of the Amorphous Phase

Y. Li, Q. Guo, J. A. Kalb, and C. V. Thompson
Science 19 December 2008: 1816-1819.
The change in density during crystallization predicts which copper-zirconium alloys can most easily form a metallic glass. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Stable Prenucleation Calcium Carbonate Clusters

Denis Gebauer, Antje Völkel, and Helmut Cölfen
Science 19 December 2008: 1819-1822.
Even unsaturated solutions contain stable neutral clusters of calcium carbonate, which may aid in crystallization and biomineralization. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Shock-Wave Exploration of the High-Pressure Phases of Carbon

M. D. Knudson, M. P. Desjarlais, and D. H. Dolan
Science 19 December 2008: 1822-1825.
A magnetically driven plate shocks diamond to extreme pressures and temperatures, allowing resolution of its melting regime and a possible higher-pressure phase. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Avian Paternal Care Had Dinosaur Origin

David J. Varricchio, Jason R. Moore, Gregory M. Erickson, Mark A. Norell, Frankie D. Jackson, and John J. Borkowski
Science 19 December 2008: 1826-1828.
The large egg clutches of troodontid and oviraptor dinosaurs and evidence that fossils of brooding dinosaurs were males shows that paternal care was ancestral to birds. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Orbital Identification of Carbonate-Bearing Rocks on Mars

Bethany L. Ehlmann, John F. Mustard, Scott L. Murchie, Francois Poulet, Janice L. Bishop, Adrian J. Brown, Wendy M. Calvin, Roger N. Clark, David J. Des Marais, Ralph E. Milliken, Leah H. Roach, Ted L. Roush, Gregg A. Swayze, and James J. Wray
Science 19 December 2008: 1828-1832.
Despite widespread acidic weathering on Mars, detection of carbonate-bearing rocks indicates that nonacidic waters existed in the past. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

The Circadian Clock in Arabidopsis Roots Is a Simplified Slave Version of the Clock in Shoots

Allan B. James, José A. Monreal, Gillian A. Nimmo, Ciarán L. Kelly, Pawel Herzyk, Gareth I. Jenkins, and Hugh G. Nimmo
Science 19 December 2008: 1832-1835.
A simpler plant circadian clock, which normally has three interlocking feedback loops, is used in the roots, with one feedback loop regulating only a few genes. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

A Conserved Molecular Framework for Compound Leaf Development

Thomas Blein, Amada Pulido, Aurélie Vialette-Guiraud, Krisztina Nikovics, Halima Morin, Angela Hay, Ida Elisabeth Johansen, Miltos Tsiantis, and Patrick Laufs
Science 19 December 2008: 1835-1839.
A family of transcription factors controls the formation of leaflets and lobes in complex leaves in distantly related plants by controlling outgrowth from leaf margins. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Human Fetal Hemoglobin Expression Is Regulated by the Developmental Stage-Specific Repressor BCL11A

Vijay G. Sankaran, Tobias F. Menne, Jian Xu, Thomas E. Akie, Guillaume Lettre, Ben Van Handel, Hanna K. A. Mikkola, Joel N. Hirschhorn, Alan B. Cantor, and Stuart H. Orkin
Science 19 December 2008: 1839-1842.
Published online 4 December 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1165409] (in Science Express Reports)
A way to reactivate a fetal form of γ-globin in adults—by releasing it from repression by an inhibitor—may prove useful for treating certain genetic anemias. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

CRISPR Interference Limits Horizontal Gene Transfer in Staphylococci by Targeting DNA

Luciano A. Marraffini and Erik J. Sontheimer
Science 19 December 2008: 1843-1845.
The small CRISPR RNAs in Staphylococci bacteria that protect against phage infection are complementary to foreign phage DNA and target it for destruction. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Nascent RNA Sequencing Reveals Widespread Pausing and Divergent Initiation at Human Promoters

Leighton J. Core, Joshua J. Waterfall, and John T. Lis
Science 19 December 2008: 1845-1848.
Published online 4 December 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1162228] (in Science Express Reports)
RNA sequencing identifies antisense transcription immediately upstream of genes with transcriptionally engaged RNA polymerase. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Divergent Transcription from Active Promoters

Amy C. Seila, J. Mauro Calabrese, Stuart S. Levine, Gene W. Yeo, Peter B. Rahl, Ryan A. Flynn, Richard A. Young, and Phillip A. Sharp
Science 19 December 2008: 1849-1851.
Published online 4 December 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1162253] (in Science Express Reports)
Active genes produce promoter-localized sense and antisense short RNAs, suggesting frequent transcription by divergently oriented RNA polymerase II complexes at mammalian promoters. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

RNA Exosome Depletion Reveals Transcription Upstream of Active Human Promoters

Pascal Preker, Jesper Nielsen, Susanne Kammler, Søren Lykke-Andersen, Marianne S. Christensen, Christophe K. Mapendano, Mikkel H. Schierup, and Torben Heick Jensen
Science 19 December 2008: 1851-1854.
Published online 4 December 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1164096] (in Science Express Reports)
Highly unstable transcripts exist upstream of active human promoters. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

The Antisense Transcriptomes of Human Cells

Yiping He, Bert Vogelstein, Victor E. Velculescu, Nickolas Papadopoulos, and Kenneth W. Kinzler
Science 19 December 2008: 1855-1857.
Published online 4 December 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1163853] (in Science Express Reports)
The abundance and nonrandom genomic origin of antisense transcripts in human cells suggest that these RNAs are an important feature of gene regulation. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Label-Free Biomedical Imaging with High Sensitivity by Stimulated Raman Scattering Microscopy

Christian W. Freudiger, Wei Min, Brian G. Saar, Sijia Lu, Gary R. Holtom, Chengwei He, Jason C. Tsai, Jing X. Kang, and X. Sunney Xie
Science 19 December 2008: 1857-1861.
Three-dimensional imaging based on stimulated Raman scattering can detect lipids in living cells and monitor the movement of drugs through the skin. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Leukemic Cells Create Bone Marrow Niches That Disrupt the Behavior of Normal Hematopoietic Progenitor Cells

Angela Colmone, Maria Amorim, Andrea L. Pontier, Sheng Wang, Elizabeth Jablonski, and Dorothy A. Sipkins
Science 19 December 2008: 1861-1865.
Cancerous immune cells create abnormal microenvironments in bone marrow that attract normal immune precursor cells, disrupting their function and exacerbating disease. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Representation of Geometric Borders in the Entorhinal Cortex

Trygve Solstad, Charlotte N. Boccara, Emilio Kropff, May-Britt Moser, and Edvard I. Moser
Science 19 December 2008: 1865-1868.
A previously unknown cell type in the brain's cortex encodes geometric boundaries of the nearby environment, perhaps providing a frame of reference. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Technical Comments

Comment on "Declining Wild Salmon Populations in Relation to Parasites from Farm Salmon"

Brian E. Riddell, Richard J. Beamish, Laura J. Richards, and John R. Candy
Science 19 December 2008: 1790.
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Response to Comment on "Declining Wild Salmon Populations in Relation to Parasites from Farm Salmon"

Martin Krkosek, Jennifer S. Ford, Alexandra Morton, Subhash Lele, and Mark A. Lewis
Science 19 December 2008: 1790.
Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|