This Week in Science

Editor summaries of this week's papers.
Science 30 January 2009: 559.
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Editorial:
U.S.-China S&T at 30

Norman P. Neureiter and Tom C. Wang
Science 30 January 2009: 561.
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Editors' Choice

Highlights of the recent literature.
Science 30 January 2009: 562.
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Science Podcast

Science 30 January 2009: 655.
Summary: The 30 January 2009 show includes the influence of serotonin on swarming behavior, predicting protests in China, your letters to Science, and more. Full Text »|   Transcript »|  

NEW PRODUCTS

Science 30 January 2008: 655.
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News of the Week

BIOTECHNOLOGY: Celebration and Concern Over U.S. Trial of Embryonic Stem Cells

Jennifer Couzin
Science 30 January 2009: 568.
Summary: Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave Geron permission to conduct a safety test of embryonic stem cells in a handful of patients with a recent spinal cord injury. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

HUMAN EVOLUTION: Early Start for Human Art? Ochre May Revise Timeline

Michael Balter
Science 30 January 2009: 569.
Summary: Thirteen engraved ochre pieces from Africa, many dated to 100,000 years ago, may represent an artistic or symbolic tradition, researchers suggest. If so, the timeline for the earliest known symbolic behavior must once again be redrawn. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

RESEARCH FUNDING: European Science Not As Intense As Hoped

Daniel Clery
Science 30 January 2009: 570.
Summary: European research got a mixed report card in an analysis released last week by the European Union. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ARCHAEOLOGY: Iraq Museum May Reopen Amid Controversy

Andrew Lawler
Science 30 January 2009: 570-571.
Summary: A dispute over whether it is safe to reopen Iraq's renowned archaeology museum in Baghdad has cost the head of the country’s archaeology board her job. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

U.S. BUDGET: A Stimulus for Science

Jeffrey Mervis
Science 30 January 2009: 571.
Summary: Academic researchers are on the verge of receiving a major influx of federal funding as part of a 2-year, $825 billion economic stimulus package moving rapidly through Congress. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

INFORMAL EDUCATION: Report Calls for Fresh Look at What Happens Outside School

Jeffrey Mervis
Science 30 January 2009: 572-573.
Summary: A new report from the U.S. National Academies comes to grips with a knotty problem for science educators, namely, tracking the science that people learn when they're not in school. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

NEUROSCIENCE: Fingerprints Enhance the Sense of Touch

Greg Miller
Science 30 January 2009: 572-573.
Summary: Some scientists have argued that the tiny ridges on our fingertips improve our grip on slippery objects; others have suggested that they improve our sense of touch. Online in Science this week, a team of physicists presents circumstantial evidence for the latter theory. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

PLANT GENETICS: How Sorghum Withstands Heat and Drought

Elizabeth Pennisi
Science 30 January 2009: 573.
Summary: Analysis of the genome sequence of sorghum has revealed clues about how this crop plant, a major cereal in many parts of the developing world that is also an important source of U.S. biofuel, toughs out subpar growing conditions. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Random Samples

Science 30 January 2009: 565.
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Newsmakers

Science 30 January 2009: 567.
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News Focus

SOCIAL SCIENCES: Seeds of Discontent

Richard Stone
Science 30 January 2009: 574-575.
Summary: Social scientists blame poor local governance for China’s rising unrest; the global financial crisis, they warn, could make things far worse. Full Text »|   PDF »|   Podcast Interview »|  

SOCIAL SCIENCES: DOD Funds New Views on Conflict With Its First Minerva Grants

Jeffrey Mervis
Science 30 January 2009: 576-577.
Summary: The Pentagon makes a $45 million bet that social scientists can help it understand the world--and protect the United States. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ASTRONOMY: Beset by Delays, U.S. Astronomers Ponder a Better 'To Do' List

Adrian Cho
Science 30 January 2009: 578-579.
Summary: With only five of 20 projects from the last decadal survey completed and only five more started, scientists search for ways to make their list of priorities more effective. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ASTRONOMY: Priorities Nearer to Home in Need of Better Cost Estimates

Richard A. Kerr
Science 30 January 2009: 579.
Summary: Like their colleagues in astronomy (see main text), planetary scientists have seen early cost estimates for two missions blow up, sending shock waves into their next decadal survey due in 2011. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

CANCER: HPV Casts a Wider Shadow

Rachel Zelkowitz
Science 30 January 2009: 580-581.
Summary: Recent studies link certain oral cancers to the virus that causes cervical cancer; some researchers want to vaccinate both men and women against it. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Letters

 Systems Politics and Political Systems

Hutan Ashrafian
Science 30 January 2009: 582.
Full Text »|   PDF »|  

 Scientists Not Immune to Partisanship

David H. Guston, Daniel Sarewitz, and Clark Miller
Science 30 January 2009: 582.
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 Law and Science Not Mutually Exclusive

Donald D. Derosier
Science 30 January 2009: 582-583.
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 Credit for Coauthors

Nils T. Hagen; and Cagan H. Sekercioglu
Science 30 January 2009: 583.
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 Corrections and Clarifications

Science 30 January 2009: 583.
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Books et al.

SCIENCE COMMUNICATION: Faulty Transmission

Audra J. Wolfe
Science 30 January 2009: 584-585.
Summary: LaFollette explores how scientists, journalists, and the conflicting goals of education and entertainment interacted to shape the content and format of science broadcasts from the rise of radio to the early days of television. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

NEUROSCIENCE: Who Are We?

Ralph Adolphs
Science 30 January 2009: 585.
Summary: Writing for the interested public, Gazzaniga marshals recent findings from neuroscience to demonstrate the crucial roles of social interactions and context in the evolution of human mind. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Books Received

Science 30 January 2009: 585.
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Education Forum

PHYSICS: Learning and Scientific Reasoning

Lei Bao, Tianfan Cai, Kathy Koenig, Kai Fang, Jing Han, Jing Wang, Qing Liu, Lin Ding, Lili Cui, Ying Luo, Yufeng Wang, Lieming Li, and Nianle Wu
Science 30 January 2009: 586-587.
Summary: Comparisons of Chinese and U.S. students show that content knowledge and reasoning skills diverge. Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Perspectives

CELL BIOLOGY: The Force Is with Us

Martin A. Schwartz
Science 30 January 2009: 588-589.
Summary: Through changes in protein conformation and interactions, cells sense and respond to forces at their point of attachment to extracellular matrix. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

MATERIALS SCIENCE: Transforming Graphene

Alex Savchenko
Science 30 January 2009: 589-590.
Summary: Synthesis of a new material by the hydrogenation of graphene offers the opportunity for wider device applications. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

PHYSICS: An Abnormal Normal State

Gregory S. Boebinger
Science 30 January 2009: 590-591.
Summary: A metallic phase of a high-temperature superconductor reveals unexpected properties in the zero-temperature limit. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

PLANT SCIENCE: Pores in Place

Fred D. Sack and Jin-Gui Chen
Science 30 January 2009: 592-593.
Summary: Signals that control plant cell division and fate also control epidermal pore development and gas exchange. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

BIOCHEMISTRY: Unfolding the Secrets of Calmodulin

Robert B. Best and Gerhard Hummer
Science 30 January 2009: 593-594.
Summary: Researchers have now observed in real time how a single molecule of calmodulin refolds and how it binds to a ligand. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ECOLOGY: The Key to Pandora's Box

P. A. Stevenson
Science 30 January 2009: 594-595.
Summary: When desert locusts meet up, their nervous systems release serotonin, which causes them to become mutually attracted, a prerequisite for swarming. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Association Affairs

AAAS News and Notes

Science 30 January 2009: 596-597.
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Review

Sudden Death of Entanglement

Ting Yu and J. H. Eberly
Science 30 January 2009: 598-601.
Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Brevia

Facile Synthesis of AsP₃

Brandi M. Cossairt, Mariam-Céline Diawara, and Christopher C. Cummins
Science 30 January 2009: 602.
The question of the stability of solid AsP3, a simple inorganic molecule, has been settled by its synthesis. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Research Article

Anomalous Criticality in the Electrical Resistivity of La_2–xSr_xCuO₄

R. A. Cooper, Y. Wang, B. Vignolle, O. J. Lipscombe, S. M. Hayden, Y. Tanabe, T. Adachi, Y. Koike, M. Nohara, H. Takagi, Cyril Proust, and N. E. Hussey
Science 30 January 2009: 603-607.
Published online 11 December 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1165015] (in Science Express Research Articles)
High magnetic fields can strip away the superconducting regime of a cuprate superconductor, revealing the presence of an enigmatic quantum critical point. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Reports

Revealing the Maximum Strength in Nanotwinned Copper

L. Lu, X. Chen, X. Huang, and K. Lu
Science 30 January 2009: 607-610.
Studies of nanocrystalline copper reveal changes in deformation mechanisms with grain size and the role played by twin boundaries. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Control of Graphene's Properties by Reversible Hydrogenation: Evidence for Graphane

D. C. Elias, R. R. Nair, T. M. G. Mohiuddin, S. V. Morozov, P. Blake, M. P. Halsall, A. C. Ferrari, D. W. Boukhvalov, M. I. Katsnelson, A. K. Geim, and K. S. Novoselov
Science 30 January 2009: 610-613.
Graphene can be transformed from a conductor to an insulator by exposure to hydrogen atoms and reversed by a thermal treatment. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Dynamical Quorum Sensing and Synchronization in Large Populations of Chemical Oscillators

Annette F. Taylor, Mark R. Tinsley, Fang Wang, Zhaoyang Huang, and Kenneth Showalter
Science 30 January 2009: 614-617.
Communication between chemical oscillators in solution can mimic that of large populations of single-celled organisms. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Single Nanocrystals of Platinum Prepared by Partial Dissolution of Au-Pt Nanoalloys

Marc Schrinner, Matthias Ballauff, Yeshayahu Talmon, Yaron Kauffmann, Jürgen Thun, Michael Möller, and Josef Breu
Science 30 January 2009: 617-620.
Gold-platinum nanoparticles, held in polymer networks on latex beads, are converted into platinum nanocrystals. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Cascadia Tremor Located Near Plate Interface Constrained by S Minus P Wave Times

Mario La Rocca, Kenneth C. Creager, Danilo Galluzzo, Steve Malone, John E. Vidale, Justin R. Sweet, and Aaron G. Wech
Science 30 January 2009: 620-623.
A series of microearthquakes near Puget Sound originate near or on the subduction zone fault from a recurrent source. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Divergent Evolution of Duplicate Genes Leads to Genetic Incompatibilities Within A. thaliana

David Bikard, Dhaval Patel, Claire Le Metté, Veronica Giorgi, Christine Camilleri, Malcolm J. Bennett, and Olivier Loudet
Science 30 January 2009: 623-626.
The divergent evolution of a duplicated gene results in genetic incompatibilities between strains of the plant Arabidopsis. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Serotonin Mediates Behavioral Gregarization Underlying Swarm Formation in Desert Locusts

Michael L. Anstey, Stephen M. Rogers, Swidbert R. Ott, Malcolm Burrows, and Stephen J. Simpson
Science 30 January 2009: 627-630.
Serotonin induces the phenotypic switch from solitary to gregarious behavior in desert locusts. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  Podcast Interview »|  

Survival from Hypoxia in C. elegans by Inactivation of Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetases

Lori L. Anderson, Xianrong Mao, Barbara A. Scott, and C. Michael Crowder
Science 30 January 2009: 630-633.
Reduced activity of aminoacyl-transfer RNA synthetases allows for survival from hypoxic insult in the nematode C. elegans. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Ligand-Dependent Equilibrium Fluctuations of Single Calmodulin Molecules

Jan Philipp Junker, Fabian Ziegler, and Matthias Rief
Science 30 January 2009: 633-637.
Single-molecule force spectroscopy reveals the equilibrium dynamics of calmodulin folding and how it is modulated by peptide ligands. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Stretching Single Talin Rod Molecules Activates Vinculin Binding

Armando del Rio, Raul Perez-Jimenez, Ruchuan Liu, Pere Roca-Cusachs, Julio M. Fernandez, and Michael P. Sheetz
Science 30 January 2009: 638-641.
Force-induced stretching of proteins can expose previous cryptic binding sites and promote binding to their ligands. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Mechanically Activated Integrin Switch Controls ₅β₁ Function

Julie C. Friedland, Mark H. Lee, and David Boettiger
Science 30 January 2009: 642-644.
Myosin contraction and extracellular matrix stiffness drive a tension-induced cell-surface integrin switch that regulates cell signaling. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

A Human Telomerase Holoenzyme Protein Required for Cajal Body Localization and Telomere Synthesis

Andrew S. Venteicher, Eladio B. Abreu, Zhaojing Meng, Kelly E. McCann, Rebecca M. Terns, Timothy D. Veenstra, Michael P. Terns, and Steven E. Artandi
Science 30 January 2009: 644-648.
Telomerase Cajal body protein 1 (TCAB1) is the fourth discovered subunit of the chromosome end-capping enzyme telomerase. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

PAN1: A Receptor-Like Protein That Promotes Polarization of an Asymmetric Cell Division in Maize

Heather N. Cartwright, John A. Humphries, and Laurie G. Smith
Science 30 January 2009: 649-651.
Asymmetric cell division in plants is regulated by a receptor-like kinase, implicating a signaling cascade in cell polarization. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Calcineurin/NFAT Signaling Is Required for Neuregulin-Regulated Schwann Cell Differentiation

Shih-Chu Kao, Hai Wu, Jianming Xie, Ching-Pin Chang, Jeffrey A. Ranish, Isabella A. Graef, and Gerald R. Crabtree
Science 30 January 2009: 651-654.
The cell signaling components calcineurin/NFATc and Sox10 control Schwann cell myelination. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Technical Comments

Comment on "Arsenic (III) Fuels Anoxygenic Photosynthesis in Hot Spring Biofilms from Mono Lake, California"

B. Schoepp-Cothenet, S. Duval, J. M. Santini, and W. Nitschke
Science 30 January 2009: 583.
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Response to Comment on "Arsenic(III) Fuels Anoxygenic Photosynthesis in Hot Spring Biofilms from Mono Lake, California"

R. S. Oremland, J. F. Stolz, M. Madigan, J. T. Hollibaugh, T. R. Kulp, S. E. Hoeft, J. Fisher, L. G. Miller, C. W. Culbertson, and M. Asao
Science 30 January 2009: 583.
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