This Week in Science

Editor summaries of this week's papers.
Science 20 February 2009: 979.
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Editorial:
Beyond the Stimulus

Elias A. Zerhouni
Science 20 February 2009: 983.
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Editors' Choice

Highlights of the recent literature.
Science 20 February 2009: 984.
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Gordon Research Conferences

Science 20 February 2009: 1084-1109.
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Science Podcast

Science 20 February 2009: 1083.
Summary: The 20 February 2009 show includes open access and global participation in science, the role of water vapor in global warming, microchips sans silicon, and more. Full Text »|   Transcript »|  

NEW PRODUCTS

Science 20 February 2009: 1083.
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News of the Week

U.S. BUDGET: Science Wins $21 Billion Boost as Stimulus Package Becomes Law

Eli Kintisch
Science 20 February 2009: 992-993.
Summary: This week, a historic $787 billion economic stimulus package was signed into law that provides more than $21 billion for research and scientific infrastructure, including $10 billion for the National Institutes of Health, $3 billion for the National Science Foundation, and $1.6 billion for the Department of Energy's Office of Science. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

PARTICLE PHYSICS: LHC Delays Give Tevatron a Shot at Higgs Boson

Adrian Cho
Science 20 February 2009: 993-995.
Summary: With Europe's Large Hadron Collider now out of commission until late September, the older Tevatron collider at Fermilab may be gaining the edge in the race to spot the Higgs boson, the last missing piece in the standard model of fundamental particles. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: No News Is Good News for Holdren, Lubchenco at Confirmation Hearing

Jeffrey Mervis
Science 20 February 2009: 995.
Summary: Not surprisingly, environmental issues dominated the discussion at the joint confirmation hearing last week for John Holdren to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Jane Lubchenco to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But the tone was conversational rather than confrontational. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

RETROVIRUS MEETING: HIV/AIDS Researchers Reach for High-Hanging Fruit

Jon Cohen
Science 20 February 2009: 996-997.
Summary: The 4200 researchers who attended the 16th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections last week heard about steady progress on several fronts, but unlike in years past, there was hardly a peep about new anti-HIV drugs and no major surprises surfaced about existing treatment or prevention strategies. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

SCIENCEINSIDER: From the Science Policy Blog

Science 20 February 2009: 997.
Summary: Lifestyles of the rich and famous. That's one way to describe the world of science this week as seen in our science policy blog, ScienceInsider. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

AAAS ANNUAL MEETING: Al Gore to Scientists: 'We Need You'

David Grimm
Science 20 February 2009: 998.
Summary: At the AAAS meeting, former vice president Al Gore asked all the scientists in the audience to get involved in politics. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

AAAS ANNUAL MEETING: Will Many Endangered Species Recover?

Erik Stokstad
Science 20 February 2009: 998-999.
Summary: At the AAAS meeting, conservation scientists reported that 80% of listed species are conservation reliant and will need to remain on the endangered species list. And the situation is likely to get worse. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

AAAS ANNUAL MEETING: Time Traveling at AAAS

Science 20 February 2009: 998.
Summary: The news staff offers some highlights of other stories filed by Science reporters at the AAAS meeting. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

AAAS ANNUAL MEETING: First Globetrotters Had Primitive Toolkits

Ann Gibbons
Science 20 February 2009: 999.
Summary: The earliest members of the human family known outside Africa managed to trek all the way across Africa and the Middle East with the most primitive kind of stone tools known rather than with more sophisticated stone hand axes that were thought to be essential for intercontinental travel, it was announced at the AAAS meeting. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ECOLOGY: Tree Rings Tell of Angkor's Dying Days

Richard Stone
Science 20 February 2009: 999.
Summary: Archaeologists have long puzzled over the collapse of the mighty medieval Khmer kingdom in Southeast Asia best known for its resplendent capital, Angkor. New findings suggest that a decades-long drought at about the time the kingdom began fading away in the 14th century may have been a major culprit. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Random Samples

Science 20 February 2009: 989.
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Newsmakers

Science 20 February 2009: 991.
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News Focus

MATERIALS SCIENCE: Is Silicon's Reign Nearing Its End?

Robert F. Service
Science 20 February 2009: 1000-1002.
Summary: Silicon is almost synonymous with computer chips. But as the semiconductor struggles at the minute scales of today's devices, chipmakers are being forced to consider other materials. Full Text »|   PDF »|   Podcast Interview »|  

APPLIED PHYSICS: New Facility Propels Korea to the Fusion Forefront

Dennis Normile
Science 20 February 2009: 1003-1004.
Summary: Using innovative magnets that should confine plasmas for minutes rather than seconds, KSTAR is poised to become a premier testbed for fusion research. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

RICHARD RICHARDS PROFILE: Making Every Drop Count in the Buildup to a Blue Revolution

Elizabeth Finkel
Science 20 February 2009: 1004-1005.
Summary: Richard Richards, a geneticist at CSIRO Plant Industry, is breeding wheat varieties that can tough out prolonged droughts--and keep people fed. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

GENETICS: Rooting Around the Truffle Genome

John Bohannon
Science 20 February 2009: 1006-1007.
Summary: A favorite of gourmets, truffles are revealing their delicious secrets to the biologists studying the mysterious fungi. (You can join Science on a truffle hunt and an unusual taste test in the latest episode of the Gonzo Scientist.) Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Letters

 For Teachers, All the Classroom's a Stage

Michael Hadjiargyrou
Science 20 February 2009: 1009.
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 Earlier Treatment May Explain Diabetes Data

David M. Abbey
Science 20 February 2009: 1009.
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 The Vital Role of ORWH

Scott Hultgren, Jill M. Goldstein, John O. L. Delancey, Emmalee S. Bandstra, Kathleen T. Brady, Jeanette S. Brown, Hong-Wen Deng, Andrea Dunaif, David A. Ehrmann, Emeran A. Mayer, Rajita Sinha, Stuart Tobet, and Jon E. Levine
Science 20 February 2009: 1009-1010.
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 The Nonscientist Science Adviser

Roger A. Pielke
Science 20 February 2009: 1010.
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 The Enduring Spoken Word

Mark Dingemanse; and Douglas W. Oard
Science 20 February 2009: 1010-1011.
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 Corrections and Clarifications

Science 20 February 2009: 1011.
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Books et al.

HISTORY OF SCIENCE: What Scientists Caught from Kuru

M. Susan Lindee
Science 20 February 2009: 1012-1013.
Summary: Anderson weaves together stories of kuru, the Fore people it afflicted, and the biomedical researchers and anthropologists the disease and its victims attracted to the highlands of New Guinea. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

EDUCATION: A Foundation, But Can We Use It?

James V. Wertsch
Science 20 February 2009: 1013.
Summary: Egan argues that the three principal goals of current education--academic, social, and developmental growth--are fundamentally incompatible and therefore "destined to defeat our best efforts." He proposes a complete overhaul of teaching and the curriculum and presents a speculative account of the next half-century to describe how we might achieve that. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Books Received

Science 20 February 2009: 1013.
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Policy Forum

ECOLOGY: Controlling Eutrophication: Nitrogen and Phosphorus

Daniel J. Conley, Hans W. Paerl, Robert W. Howarth, Donald F. Boesch, Sybil P. Seitzinger, Karl E. Havens, Christiane Lancelot, and Gene E. Likens
Science 20 February 2009: 1014-1015.
Summary: Improvements in the water quality of many freshwater and most coastal marine ecosystems requires reductions in both nitrogen and phosphorus inputs. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Perspectives

SYSTEMS BIOLOGY: Attractors and Democratic Dynamics

Yaneer Bar-Yam, Dion Harmon, and Benjamin de Bivort
Science 20 February 2009: 1016-1017.
Summary: Cellular transcription networks are conceptualized as distributed control systems that regulate gene expression. Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

GEOCHEMISTRY: Making a Crust

Peter J. Michael and Michael J. Cheadle
Science 20 February 2009: 1017-1018.
Summary: Dating zircons from the mid-Atlantic ridge provides clues about how the oceanic crust is formed. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

MATERIALS SCIENCE: Atomically Engineered Oxide Interfaces

J. W. Reiner, F. J. Walker, and C. H. Ahn
Science 20 February 2009: 1018-1019.
Summary: New solid-state phenomena emerge when interfaces between different oxides are created with atomic-scale precision. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE: A Matter of Humidity

Andrew E. Dessler and Steven C. Sherwood
Science 20 February 2009: 1020-1021.
Summary: How strong a part does water vapor play in global warming? Full Text »|   PDF »|   Podcast Interview »|  

CELL BIOLOGY: Stress Response and Aging

Laura R. Saunders and Eric Verdin
Science 20 February 2009: 1021-1022.
Summary: Transcriptional regulators that respond to stress also influence life span. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ECOLOGY: Peter Principle Packs a Peck of Phytoplankton

Daniel Grünbaum
Science 20 February 2009: 1022-1023.
Summary: Biomechanical interactions between motile cells and environmental flows may cause the rapid formation of ecologically important phytoplankton patches. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Brevia

Open Access and Global Participation in Science

James A. Evans and Jacob Reimer
Science 20 February 2009: 1025.
Making articles available free online increases the rate at which they are cited, especially by authors in poorer countries. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  Podcast Interview »|  

Research Article

Oxide Nanoelectronics on Demand

Cheng Cen, Stefan Thiel, Jochen Mannhart, and Jeremy Levy
Science 20 February 2009: 1026-1030.
An atomic force microscope is used to pattern and fabricate devices created at the interface between different oxides. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Reports

Macroscopic 10-Terabit–per–Square-Inch Arrays from Block Copolymers with Lateral Order

Soojin Park, Dong Hyun Lee, Ji Xu, Bokyung Kim, Sung Woo Hong, Unyong Jeong, Ting Xu, and Thomas P. Russell
Science 20 February 2009: 1030-1033.
The sawtooth topography of annealed sapphire wafers guides the phase separation of a block copolymer to create a nearly defect-free patterned film. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

The Formation of Warm Dense Matter: Experimental Evidence for Electronic Bond Hardening in Gold

Ralph Ernstorfer, Maher Harb, Christoph T. Hebeisen, Germán Sciaini, Thibault Dartigalongue, and R. J. Dwayne Miller
Science 20 February 2009: 1033-1037.
Published online 22 January 2009 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1162697] (in Science Express Reports)
Injecting energy into a gold film can create a transient excited state with stronger bonds prior to melting. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Switching Off Hydrogen Peroxide Hydrogenation in the Direct Synthesis Process

Jennifer K. Edwards, Benjamin Solsona, Edwin Ntainjua N, Albert F. Carley, Andrew A. Herzing, Christopher J. Kiely, and Graham J. Hutchings
Science 20 February 2009: 1037-1041.
Unwanted product hydrogenation was avoided by using a modified catalyst that had smaller gold-palladium nanoparticles. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Strong Release of Methane on Mars in Northern Summer 2003

Michael J. Mumma, Geronimo L. Villanueva, Robert E. Novak, Tilak Hewagama, Boncho P. Bonev, Michael A. DiSanti, Avi M. Mandell, and Michael D. Smith
Science 20 February 2009: 1041-1045.
Published online 15 January 2009 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1165243] (in Science Express Reports)
Earth-based spectrometers have detected seasonal variations of methane emissions from certain locations on Mars in 2003. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Isotopic Evidence for an Aerobic Nitrogen Cycle in the Latest Archean

Jessica Garvin, Roger Buick, Ariel D. Anbar, Gail L. Arnold, and Alan J. Kaufman
Science 20 February 2009: 1045-1048.
A modern nitrogen cycle developed and microbial metabolisms evolved as soon as some free oxygen was present. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Zircon Dating of Oceanic Crustal Accretion

C. Johan Lissenberg, Matthew Rioux, Nobumichi Shimizu, Samuel A. Bowring, and Catherine Mével
Science 20 February 2009: 1048-1050.
Published online 29 January 2009 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1167330] (in Science Express Reports)
Zircon dates from the slow-spreading mid-Atlantic Ridge show that magmatic intrusions formed new oceanic crust regularly and evenly, thereby providing cooling times. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

A Self-Regulatory System of Interlinked Signaling Feedback Loops Controls Mouse Limb Patterning

Jean-Denis Bénazet, Mirko Bischofberger, Eva Tiecke, Alexandre Gonçalves, James F. Martin, Aimée Zuniga, Felix Naef, and Rolf Zeller
Science 20 February 2009: 1050-1053.
Interactions between three signaling pathways allow robust regulation of vertebrate limb development. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Trifurcate Feed-Forward Regulation of Age-Dependent Cell Death Involving miR164 in Arabidopsis

Jin Hee Kim, Hye Ryun Woo, Jeongsik Kim, Pyung Ok Lim, In Chul Lee, Seung Hee Choi, Daehee Hwang, and Hong Gil Nam
Science 20 February 2009: 1053-1057.
A logic circuit involving microRNA and transcription factors ensures the timely demise of plant leaves. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

HIN-200 Proteins Regulate Caspase Activation in Response to Foreign Cytoplasmic DNA

Tara L. Roberts, Adi Idris, Jasmyn A. Dunn, Greg M. Kelly, Carol M. Burnton, Samantha Hodgson, Lani L. Hardy, Valerie Garceau, Matthew J. Sweet, Ian L. Ross, David A. Hume, and Katryn J. Stacey
Science 20 February 2009: 1057-1060.
Published online 8 January 2009 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1169841] (in Science Express Reports)
A family of proteins is identified that binds to foreign cytoplasmic DNA in mammalian cells and regulates the immune response. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

A Genetic Defect Caused by a Triplet Repeat Expansion in Arabidopsis thaliana

Sridevi Sureshkumar, Marco Todesco, Korbinian Schneeberger, Ramya Harilal, Sureshkumar Balasubramanian, and Detlef Weigel
Science 20 February 2009: 1060-1063.
Published online 15 January 2009 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1164014] (in Science Express Reports)
A strain of Arabidopsis provides a plant model for the harmful effects of repeat nucleotide expansions in populations. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Stress-Inducible Regulation of Heat Shock Factor 1 by the Deacetylase SIRT1

Sandy D. Westerheide, Julius Anckar, Stanley M. Stevens, Jr., Lea Sistonen, and Richard I. Morimoto
Science 20 February 2009: 1063-1066.
The longevity factor SIRT1 influences protein stability by keeping heat shock factor 1 in its active state. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Disruption of Vertical Motility by Shear Triggers Formation of Thin Phytoplankton Layers

William M. Durham, John O. Kessler, and Roman Stocker
Science 20 February 2009: 1067-1070.
Extensive sheets of photosynthetic algae accumulate in coastal waters when their upward swimming is disrupted by counter currents in lateral water flow. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Cytosolic Viral Sensor RIG-I Is a 5'-Triphosphate–Dependent Translocase on Double-Stranded RNA

Sua Myong, Sheng Cui, Peter V. Cornish, Axel Kirchhofer, Michaela U. Gack, Jae U. Jung, Karl-Peter Hopfner, and Taekjip Ha
Science 20 February 2009: 1070-1074.
Published online 1 January 2009 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1168352] (in Science Express Reports)
A host protein that recognizes invading viruses activates innate immunity defenses only when it senses both double-stranded RNA and a 5' triphosphate. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Neuronal Activity–Induced Gadd45b Promotes Epigenetic DNA Demethylation and Adult Neurogenesis

Dengke K. Ma, Mi-Hyeon Jang, Junjie U. Guo, Yasuji Kitabatake, Min-lin Chang, Nattapol Pow-anpongkul, Richard A. Flavell, Binfeng Lu, Guo-li Ming, and Hongjun Song
Science 20 February 2009: 1074-1077.
Published online 1 January 2009 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1166859] (in Science Express Reports)
Neural activity induces an immediate early gene that triggers epigenetic modifications needed for neurogenesis. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Harmonic Convergence in the Love Songs of the Dengue Vector Mosquito

Lauren J. Cator, Ben J. Arthur, Laura C. Harrington, and Ronald R. Hoy
Science 20 February 2009: 1077-1079.
Published online 8 January 2009 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1166541] (in Science Express Reports)
Male and female mosquitoes change their wing beat frequencies to match each other as a prelude to mating. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  Podcast Interview »|