This Week in Science

Editor summaries of this week's papers.
Science 24 April 2009: 435.
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Editorial:
How to Keep Science Moving

Ralph J. Cicerone
Science 24 April 2009: 439.
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Editors' Choice

Highlights of the recent literature.
Science 24 April 2009: 440.
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Science Podcast, 04/24/09

Science 24 April 2009: 537.
The 24 April 2009 show includes advances in livestock research including the sequencing of the cattle genome and insights into the history of sheep domestication. Summary »|   Full Text »|   Transcript »|  

New Products

Science 24 April 2009: 537.
A weekly roundup of information on newly offered instrumentation, apparatus, and laboratory materials of potential interest to researchers. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

News of the Week

Biomedical Policy
Draft Stem Cell Guidelines Please Many, Disappoint Some

Constance Holden and Jocelyn Kaiser
Science 24 April 2009: 446.
They are not perfect, but they're a big improvement over what scientists have been living with since 2001. That's how many scientists feel about the draft guidelines on human stem cell research released last week by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Archaeology
Did Humans Learn From Hobbits?

Elizabeth Culotta
Science 24 April 2009: 447.
A detailed new analysis of stone tools unearthed from the cave of the roughly 1-meter-tall ancient human found in Indonesia sheds light on the "hobbit's" technological capabilities and raises a new mystery: Why did the modern humans who arrived later make tools the same way hobbits did? Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Biomedical Research
Genome Scans: Impatient for the Payoff

Robert Koenig
Science 24 April 2009: 448.
A simmering debate in the genomics community about the likely value of genomewide association studies to gauge inherited risks of developing common diseases went public last week in commentaries published online by the New England Journal of Medicine. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Newsmaker Interview
Brilliant Moves to Tackle Global Threats

Greg Miller
Science 24 April 2009: 449.
A new nonprofit foundation started by Jeffrey Skoll, the billionaire founding president of eBay, has lured physician and epidemiologist Larry Brilliant away from Google.org, the Internet company's philanthropic arm. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ScienceNOW.org
From Science's Online Daily News Site

Science 24 April 2009: 449.
Highlights from Science's online daily news site, ScienceNOW, this week include a closer look at Einstein's brain, birthing in Neandertals, the reason leaves turn red in the fall, and a crash of cosmic proportions. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Scientific Misconduct
Science Retracts Discredited Paper; Bitter Patent Dispute Continues

Dennis Normile
Science 24 April 2009: 450-451.
In an unusual decision, Science this week retracted a 2005 report without the agreement of all the authors (see p. 463). The report describes a method, dubbed MAGIC, to identify drug targets by tracking protein movements in live cells. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ScienceInsider
From the Science Policy Blog

Science 24 April 2009: 451.
Science's policy blog, ScienceInsider, reported this week on an innovative approach to provide the best malaria drugs to the world's poor; revising the Clean Water Act to protect seas against ocean acidification from atmospheric carbon dioxide; the nomination of William Brinkman, former head of research at Bell Labs, to run the $4.8 billion Office of Science at the Department of Energy; and other stories. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

German Physical Society
A New Take on Doping in Iron-Based Superconductors

Adrian Cho
Science 24 April 2009: 452-453.
At the German Physical Society meeting, researchers reported on new data suggesting that a key step in making both iron-based and copper-based superconductors--"doping" them with impurities--plays a very different role in each of the two families. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

German Physical Society
Leverage: The Root of All Financial Turmoil

Adrian Cho
Science 24 April 2009: 452-453.
According to a new analysis reported at the German Physical Society meeting, leverage--the practice by hedge funds and other investors of borrowing money to buy investments--is the root of many nettlesome properties of financial markets that classical economics cannot explain, including a propensity to crash. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

German Physical Society
Snapshots from the Meeting

Adrian Cho
Science 24 April 2009: 453.
Snapshots from the German Physical Society meeting include a method for piping in nanotubes, a surprisingly squishy virus, and an analysis showing that as many German university students ended up in their desired program before reforms were made in the system as after. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

German Physical Society
Water Droplets Grow Faster Than Expected

Adrian Cho
Science 24 April 2009: 453.
At the German Physical Society meeting, researchers showed that, paradoxically, whereas water droplets in a crowd grow steadily with time, an isolated droplet grows faster as it gets bigger: Its volume increases in proportion to time raised to the 3/2 power. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Random Samples

Science 24 April 2009: 445.
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News Focus

Archaeology
A New Look at the Mayas' End

Heather Pringle
Science 24 April 2009: 454-456.
Climate reaserchers have fingered drought in the collapse of the great Maya civilization, but many archaeologists say it doesn't fit their data. Ultralocal paleoclimate indicators may spark a resolution Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Newsmaker Interview
Jim Kim on Why He Took the Top Job at Dartmouth

Jon Cohen
Science 24 April 2009: 457.
An Ivy League school has broken new ground by hiring an Asian global health specialist to build its future Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Neuroscience
A Quest for Compassion

Greg Miller
Science 24 April 2009: 458-459.
Guided by a passionate leader, a new research institute hopes to draw lessons from Buddhism to study altruism and make the world a better place Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Astronomy
Stars in Dusty Filing Cabinets

Yudhijit Bhattacharjee
Science 24 April 2009: 460-461.
A campaign to digitize old sky photographs is squeezing new discoveries out of observations dating back to the mid-19th century. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Letters

 Retraction

Bruce Alberts
Science 24 April 2009: 463.
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 Opportunity in the Wake of Natural "Disasters"

David B. Lindenmayer, Gene E. Likens, Jerry F. Franklin, and Rachel Muntz
Science 24 April 2009: 463.
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 The Hard Problem

Edward J. Neafsey
Science 24 April 2009: 463.
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 The Way Forward in the World of Robotics

Kenneth W. Goodman and Norman G. Einspruch
Science 24 April 2009: 463-464.
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 The Way Forward in the World of Robotics—Response

Noel Sharkey
Science 24 April 2009: 464.
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 Culling Whales: Ethically and Ecologically Wrong

David Balata and Stefano Mariani
Science 24 April 2009: 464.
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 Linguistics More Robust Than Genetics

Jonathan Friedlaender, Keith Hunley, Michael Dunn, Angela Terrill, Eva Lindström, Ger Reesink, and Françoise Friedlaender
Science 24 April 2009: 464-465.
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 Corrections and Clarifications

Science 24 April 2009: 465.
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Books et al.

Bioethics
Early Steps Toward Animal Rights

Charles G. Gross
Science 24 April 2009: 466-467.
Combining a cast of colorful reformers and vivid anecdotes about animals in British life of the 18th and early 19th centuries, Shevelow describes the development of the earliest animal welfare legislation. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Multicellular Organization
Hows and Whys of Coming Together

Rex L. Chisholm
Science 24 April 2009: 467.
Bonner's brief but wide-ranging introduction to the biology of cellular slime mold (an organism he has studied for over six decades) covers such topics as life cycle, evolution, ecology, behavior, development, and differentiation. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Books Received

Science 24 April 2009: 467.
A listing of books received at Science during the week ended 17 April 2009. Summary »|  

Policy Forum

Research Priorities
Farm Animal Research in Crisis

R. M. Roberts, G. W. Smith, F. W. Bazer, J. Cibelli, G. E. Seidel, Jr., D. E. Bauman, L. P. Reynolds, and J. J. Ireland
Science 24 April 2009: 468-469.
Inadequate funding threatens vital agricultural and biomedical research with farm animals. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Podcast Interview »|  

Education Forum

Professional Development
Summer Institute to Improve University Science Teaching

Christine Pfund, Sarah Miller, Kerry Brenner, Peter Bruns, Amy Chang, Diane Ebert-May, Adam P. Fagen, Jim Gentile, Sandra Gossens, Ishrat M. Khan, Jay B. Labov, Christine Maidl Pribbenow, Millard Susman, Lillian Tong, Robin Wright, Robert T. Yuan, William B. Wood, and Jo Handelsman
Science 24 April 2009: 470-471.
The goal of the National Academies Summer Institute is to change teaching practices in introductory, undergraduate biology courses. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Perspectives

Plant Science
Exploring Terra Incognita

David J. Mabberley
Science 24 April 2009: 472.
A tree new to science dominates the vegetation over an area of at least 8000 km² in an African war zone. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Physics
Where Is My Quantum Computer?

P. Hemmer and J. Wrachtrup
Science 24 April 2009: 473-474.
With applications in quantum cryptography, rudimentary quantum computers already exist. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Geophysics
The Thickness of Tectonic Plates

Barbara Romanowicz
Science 24 April 2009: 474-476.
Seismic studies continue to refine the elusive boundary that defines the depth at which the lithosphere ends. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Cell Signaling
To Divide or Not to Divide

Jan M. Skotheim
Science 24 April 2009: 476-477.
The analysis of signaling circuits governed by threshold-sensitive switches may reveal why a particular network architecture is selected to control a biological process. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Atmospheric Science
Shifting Gear, Quickly

E. G. Nisbet and J. Chappellaz
Science 24 April 2009: 477-478.
Methane bursts during a past warming transition may provide a guide to future Arctic climate change. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Genetics
It's a Bull's Market

Harris A. Lewin
Science 24 April 2009: 478-479.
Research on domesticated livestock heralds new advances in evolutionary biology, animal breeding, and animal models for human diseases. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Podcast Interview »|  

Association Affairs

AAAS News and Notes

Science 24 April 2009: 480.
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Review

Fire in the Earth System

David M. J. S. Bowman, Jennifer K. Balch, Paulo Artaxo, William J. Bond, Jean M. Carlson, Mark A. Cochrane, Carla M. D’Antonio, Ruth S. DeFries, John C. Doyle, Sandy P. Harrison, Fay H. Johnston, Jon E. Keeley, Meg A. Krawchuk, Christian A. Kull, J. Brad Marston, Max A. Moritz, I. Colin Prentice, Christopher I. Roos, Andrew C. Scott, Thomas W. Swetnam, Guido R. van der Werf, and Stephen J. Pyne
Science 24 April 2009: 481-484.
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Brevia

Coat Color Variation at the Beginning of Horse Domestication

Arne Ludwig, Melanie Pruvost, Monika Reissmann, Norbert Benecke, Gudrun A. Brockmann, Pedro Castaños, Michael Cieslak, Sebastian Lippold, Laura Llorente, Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas, Montgomery Slatkin, and Michael Hofreiter
Science 24 April 2009: 485.
As part of the domestication process, humans appear to have selectively bred color variants of horses. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Reports

The Disappearance of the Progenitors of Supernovae 1993J and 2003gd

Justyn R. Maund and Stephen J. Smartt
Science 24 April 2009: 486-488.
Published online 19 March 2009 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1170198] (in Science Express Reports)
The presumed progenitor stars of supernovae are indeed absent in later images from these sites. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Greatly Increased Toughness of Infiltrated Spider Silk

Seung-Mo Lee, Eckhard Pippel, Ulrich Gösele, Christian Dresbach, Yong Qin, C. Vinod Chandran, Thomas Bräuniger, Gerd Hause, and Mato Knez
Science 24 April 2009: 488-492.
Infiltration of spider silk with impurities enhances the mechanical performance. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Asymmetric Autocatalysis Triggered by Carbon Isotope (¹³C/¹²C) Chirality

Tsuneomi Kawasaki, Yukari Matsumura, Takashi Tsutsumi, Kenta Suzuki, Masateru Ito, and Kenso Soai
Science 24 April 2009: 492-495.
Published online 26 March 2009 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1170322] (in Science Express Reports)
The origin of chirality in asymmetric autocatalysis is due to carbon isotope substitution. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

A Global View of the Lithosphere-Asthenosphere Boundary

Catherine A. Rychert and Peter M. Shearer
Science 24 April 2009: 495-498.
Seismic imaging reveals a global velocity anomaly at depths of 70 to 100 kilometers that may be from some melt or a strong fabric in Earth’s mantle. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Seismic Evidence for Sharp Lithosphere-Asthenosphere Boundaries of Oceanic Plates

Hitoshi Kawakatsu, Prakash Kumar, Yasuko Takei, Masanao Shinohara, Toshihiko Kanazawa, Eiichiro Araki, and Kiyoshi Suyehiro
Science 24 April 2009: 499-502.
Detection of the presence of melt at variable depth beneath two oceanic plates reveals the vertical extent of old oceanic plates. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Subducting Slab Ultra-Slow Velocity Layer Coincident with Silent Earthquakes in Southern Mexico

Teh-Ru Alex Song, Donald. V. Helmberger, Michael R. Brudzinski, Robert W. Clayton, Paul Davis, Xyoli Pérez-Campos, and Shri K. Singh
Science 24 April 2009: 502-506.
Seismic mapping suggests that silent earthquakes may be related to an ultralow velocity layer on top of a subducting slab. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

¹⁴CH₄ Measurements in Greenland Ice: Investigating Last Glacial Termination CH₄ Sources

Vasilii V. Petrenko, Andrew M. Smith, Edward J. Brook, Dave Lowe, Katja Riedel, Gordon Brailsford, Quan Hua, Hinrich Schaefer, Niels Reeh, Ray F. Weiss, David Etheridge, and Jeffrey P. Severinghaus
Science 24 April 2009: 506-508.
Radiocarbon measurements show that wetlands were responsible for the rapid increase of atmospheric methane concentration during the last deglaciation. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Tuning the Activation Threshold of a Kinase Network by Nested Feedback Loops

Quincey A. Justman, Zach Serber, James E. Ferrell, Jr., Hana El-Samad, and Kevan M. Shokat
Science 24 April 2009: 509-512.
Interacting negative feedback loops control the sensitivity of amphibian oocytes to the hormone progesterone. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Catalytic Core of a Membrane-Associated Eukaryotic Polyphosphate Polymerase

Michael Hothorn, Heinz Neumann, Esther D. Lenherr, Mark Wehner, Vladimir Rybin, Paul O. Hassa, Andreas Uttenweiler, Monique Reinhardt, Andrea Schmidt, Jeanette Seiler, Andreas G. Ladurner, Christian Herrmann, Klaus Scheffzek, and Andreas Mayer
Science 24 April 2009: 513-516.
A yeast membrane protein complex contains a domain that generates linear phosphate polymers from adenosine triphosphate. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Homeostatic Sleep Pressure and Responses to Sustained Attention in the Suprachiasmatic Area

Christina Schmidt, Fabienne Collette, Yves Leclercq, Virginie Sterpenich, Gilles Vandewalle, Pierre Berthomier, Christian Berthomier, Christophe Phillips, Gilberte Tinguely, Annabelle Darsaud, Steffen Gais, Manuel Schabus, Martin Desseilles, Thien Thanh Dang-Vu, Eric Salmon, Evelyne Balteau, Christian Degueldre, André Luxen, Pierre Maquet, Christian Cajochen, and Philippe Peigneux
Science 24 April 2009: 516-519.
After prolonged wakefulness, people who are "night owls" do better at mental tests than those who are "early birds." Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Intuition and Deliberation: Two Systems for Strategizing in the Brain

Wen-Jui Kuo, Tomas Sjöström, Yu-Ping Chen, Yen-Hsiang Wang, and Chen-Ying Huang
Science 24 April 2009: 519-522.
Optimal gaming requires matching the type of neural circuitry (intuitive versus deliberative) to the type of game. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

The Genome Sequence of Taurine Cattle: A Window to Ruminant Biology and Evolution

The Bovine Genome Sequencing and Analysis Consortium, Christine G. Elsik, Ross L. Tellam, Kim C. Worley
Science 24 April 2009: 522-528.
A survey of genetic diversity of cattle suggests two domestication events in Asia and selection by husbandry. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  Podcast Interview »|  

Genome-Wide Survey of SNP Variation Uncovers the Genetic Structure of Cattle Breeds

The Bovine HapMap Consortium
Science 24 April 2009: 528-532.
A survey of genetic diversity of cattle suggests two domestication events in Asia and selection by husbandry. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  Podcast Interview »|  

Revealing the History of Sheep Domestication Using Retrovirus Integrations

Bernardo Chessa, Filipe Pereira, Frederick Arnaud, Antonio Amorim, Félix Goyache, Ingrid Mainland, Rowland R. Kao, Josephine M. Pemberton, Dario Beraldi, Michael J. Stear, Alberto Alberti, Marco Pittau, Leopoldo Iannuzzi, Mohammad H. Banabazi, Rudovick R. Kazwala, Ya-ping Zhang, Juan J. Arranz, Bahy A. Ali, Zhiliang Wang, Metehan Uzun, Michel M. Dione, Ingrid Olsaker, Lars-Erik Holm, Urmas Saarma, Sohail Ahmad, Nurbiy Marzanov, Emma Eythorsdottir, Martin J. Holland, Paolo Ajmone-Marsan, Michael W. Bruford, Juha Kantanen, Thomas E. Spencer, and Massimo Palmarini
Science 24 April 2009: 532-536.
Sheep retroviruses can be used to map the selective preferences of early farmers and trace livestock movements across Europe. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  Podcast Interview »|  

Technical Comments

Comment on "Colossal Ionic Conductivity at Interfaces of Epitaxial ZrO₂:Y₂O₃/SrTiO₃ Heterostructures"

Xin Guo
Science 24 April 2009: 465.
Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Response to Comment on "Colossal Ionic Conductivity at Interfaces of Epitaxial ZrO₂:Y₂O₃/SrTiO₃ Heterostructures"

J. García-Barriocanal, A. Rivera-Calzada, M. Varela, Z. Sefrioui, E. Iborra, C. Leon, S. J. Pennycook, and J. Santamaría
Science 24 April 2009: 465.
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