This Week in Science

Editor summaries of this week's papers.
Science 29 May 2009: 1115.
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Editorial:
New Rules for Biosecurity

Kavita M. Berger and Alan I. Leshner
Science 29 May 2009: 1117.
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Editors' Choice

Highlights of the recent literature.
Science 29 May 2009: 1118.
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Science Podcast

Science 29 May 2009: 1217.
The show includes assessing Arctic oil and gas reserves, bat white-nose syndrome, your letters to Science, and more. Summary »|   Full Text »|   Transcript »|  

New Products

Science 29 May 2009: 1217.
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

Paleontology
Celebrity Fossil Primate: Missing Link or Weak Link?

Ann Gibbons
Science 29 May 2009: 1124-1125.
A 47-million-year-old fossil primate has been touted as the "missing link" between humans and all other mammals. But many of the leading scientists who study primate evolution don't think Ida lives up to her billing as a human ancestor. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Appointments
Obama Turns to NASA Veterans to Lead Space Agency

Andrew Lawler
Science 29 May 2009: 1125.
On 23 May, President Barack Obama nominated former astronaut Charles Bolden Jr. and Washington lobbyist Lori Garver to take the positions of NASA administrator and deputy administrator, respectively. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Venezuela
As Research Funding Declines, Chávez, Scientists Trade Charges

Barbara Casassus
Science 29 May 2009: 1126-1127.
Tensions are growing between the Venezuelan scientific community and President Hugo Chávez. Critics say that research is being mismanaged, and that the government has fired, demoted, or blacklisted dissidents. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Swine Flu Outbreak
New Details on Virus's Promiscuous Past

Jon Cohen
Science 29 May 2009: 1127.
An international team of scientists working at breakneck speed has provided the most detailed description yet of the origins of the novel H1N1 swine flu virus now causing a global outbreak, published online by Science on 22 May. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

National Science Foundation
The Money to Meet the President's Priorities

Jeffrey Mervis
Science 29 May 2009: 1128-1129.
The National Science Foundation has turned recent actions by Congress and the priorities of a new president into an array of programs to strengthen the scientific work force, tackle pressing societal problems, and foster collaborations across disciplines. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

National Science Foundation
Digging for Fresh Ideas in the Sandpit

Jeffrey Mervis
Science 29 May 2009: 1128-1129.
Does the idea of writing a grant proposal that's been all but approved before it's even sent in sound appealing? Then play in the sandpit. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ScienceInsider
From the Science Policy Blog

Science 29 May 2009: 1129.
News about the impact of the U.S. stimulus funding package on researchers, the ongoing battle against swine flu, and the impact of California's financial troubles on the state's universities were among the headlines on ScienceInsider last week. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Archaeology
Arsenic and Old Mummies: Poison May Have Spurred First Mummies

Heather Pringle
Science 29 May 2009: 1130.
Arsenic-laced drinking water and resulting child mortality may help explain the puzzle of the world's first mummies. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Tropical Meteorology
A Cloudy Crystal Ball for the Coming Season's Hurricanes

Richard A. Kerr
Science 29 May 2009: 1131.
A group of meteorologists that each year for 25 years has tried to decipher what the coming summer and fall have in store for hurricane country has graded itself for the first time. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ScienceNOW.org
From Science's Online Daily News Site

Science 29 May 2009: 1131.
Highlights from Science's online daily news site, ScienceNOW, this week include a way to make compact discs hold 300 movies or 250,000 songs, preventing crashes by shaking, life in hell, and a new clue to cancer protection in Down syndrome. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Whale Stocks
Mystery of the Missing Humpbacks Solved by Soviet Data

Virginia Morell
Science 29 May 2009: 1132.
A paper in Marine Fisheries Review concludes that the high number of unreported catches by Soviet whalers of humpbacks in the Southern Ocean decimated this population so severely that unlike humpback populations elsewhere, it has not yet recovered. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Fisheries
Protecting the Last Great Tuna Stocks

Christopher Pala
Science 29 May 2009: 1133.
Representatives of Western Pacific island nations last week put the finishing touches on a series of bold new measures aimed at saving the world's last great tuna stocks. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Random Samples

Science 29 May 2009: 1123.
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News Focus

Ecology
Biologists Struggle to Solve Bat Deaths

Robert Zimmerman
Science 29 May 2009: 1134-1135.
An epidemic has stricken the northeastern United States for 3 years. As it spreads, researchers wonder whether a white fungus is the real killer. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Podcast Interview »|  

Profile: Ruth Ley
Gut Reactions

Elizabeth Pennisi
Science 29 May 2009: 1136-1137.
A young microbial ecologist is helping to transform medical microbiology into a modern interdisciplinary science. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Environmental Restoration
Obama Moves to Revitalize Chesapeake Bay Restoration

Erik Stokstad
Science 29 May 2009: 1138-1139.
With progress stalled for years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is taking the reins on cleaning up the largest estuary in the United States. It's not going to be easy. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Letters

 "Agriculture" Is Not a Dirty Word

Allen S. Levine
Science 29 May 2009: 1140.
Full Text »|   PDF »|  

 Schools Anxiously Await NRC Program Rankings

Ziv Bar-Joseph
Science 29 May 2009: 1140-1141.
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 Schools Anxiously Await NRC Program Rankings—Response

Jeremiah P. Ostriker and Charlotte Kuh
Science 29 May 2009: 1141.
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 White Wolves Can Stand the Heat

Alexander H. Harcourt
Science 29 May 2009: 1141-1143.
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 Corrections and Clarifications

Science 29 May 2009: 1143.
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Books et al.

Anthropology
Debating Reality and Relevance

Troy Duster
Science 29 May 2009: 1144-1145.
Anthropologists, historians, geneticists, philosophers, and bioethicists explore what recent and current research on human genetics implies about the concepts of race and racial difference. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Behavior
Under the Influence of Hormones

Elizabeth Adkins-Regan
Science 29 May 2009: 1145-1146.
Besides discussing empirical and theoretical findings on the roles of hormones in casual and crucial social interactions, the contributors link their topics to related fields such as reproductive ecology and life-history theory. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Browsings

Science 29 May 2009: 1146.
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Books Received

Science 29 May 2009: 1146.
A listing of books received at Science during the week ended 22 May 2009. Summary »|  

Education Forum

Infrastructure
Tenure and the Future of the University

Dan Clawson
Science 29 May 2009: 1147-1148.
Tenure has been eroded by structural pressures, but remains vital to universities that value creativity. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Perspectives

Astronomy
Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of Telescope Astronomy

Giovanni F. Bignami
Science 29 May 2009: 1149-1150.
Since Galileo looked skyward 400 years ago, telescopes have evolved to provide a broader and deeper understanding of the universe. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Microbiology
Getting in Touch with Your Friends

Christopher J. Marx
Science 29 May 2009: 1150-1151.
Evolution of complex physical interactions between microbes promotes growth and enables behaviors that neither party can perform alone. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Geophysics
Slabs Do Not Go Gently

Guust Nolet
Science 29 May 2009: 1152-1153.
High-resolution seismic tomography reveals an active vertical tear in a descending ocean plate off the coast of Japan. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Physiology
What Determines Coral Health?

Virginia M. Weis and Denis Allemand
Science 29 May 2009: 1153-1155.
Genomic and cellular studies are revealing the physiological mechanisms of symbiosis and calcification, which are central to coral health. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Cell Biology
Sorting Out Diabetes

Charisse M. Orme and Jonathan S. Bogan
Science 29 May 2009: 1155-1156.
Altered trafficking of storage vesicles that harbor a glucose transport protein in muscle and fat tissue may contribute to diabetes. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Cell Biology
It's the DNA That Counts

Christina D. Smolke
Science 29 May 2009: 1156-1157.
A simple genetic circuit that counts molecular events may be further developed to program complex cell behaviors. Summary »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Association Affairs

AAAS News and Notes

Science 29 May 2009: 1158-1159.
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Review

The Computation of Social Behavior

Timothy E. J. Behrens, Laurence T. Hunt, and Matthew F. S. Rushworth
Science 29 May 2009: 1160-1164.
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Brevia

Entropic Evidence for Linguistic Structure in the Indus Script

Rajesh P. N. Rao, Nisha Yadav, Mayank N. Vahia, Hrishikesh Joglekar, R. Adhikari, and Iravatham Mahadevan
Science 29 May 2009: 1165.
Published online 23 April 2009 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1170391] (in Science Express Brevia)
Analysis of the pattern of symbols confirms the linguistic role of ancient signs. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Reports

Magnetic Field Sensing Beyond the Standard Quantum Limit Using 10-Spin NOON States

Jonathan A. Jones, Steven D. Karlen, Joseph Fitzsimons, Arzhang Ardavan, Simon C. Benjamin, G. Andrew D. Briggs, and John J. L. Morton
Science 29 May 2009: 1166-1168.
Published online 23 April 2009 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1170730] (in Science Express Reports)
Quantum mechanical entanglement of nuclei in a single molecule results in an enhancement of the magnetic field sensitivity. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Two-Quantum 2D FT Electronic Spectroscopy of Biexcitons in GaAs Quantum Wells

Katherine W. Stone, Kenan Gundogdu, Daniel B. Turner, Xiaoqin Li, Steven T. Cundiff, and Keith A. Nelson
Science 29 May 2009: 1169-1173.
Controlling the phase and timing of four optical pulses enables measurement of correlations between the electronic semiconductor carriers. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Tearing of Stagnant Slab

Masayuki Obayashi, Junko Yoshimitsu, and Yoshio Fukao
Science 29 May 2009: 1173-1175.
A tear in the plate in the mantle provides information on the subduction history of the western Pacific. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas in the Arctic

Donald L. Gautier, Kenneth J. Bird, Ronald R. Charpentier, Arthur Grantz, David W. Houseknecht, Timothy R. Klett, Thomas E. Moore, Janet K. Pitman, Christopher J. Schenk, John H. Schuenemeyer, Kai Sørensen, Marilyn E. Tennyson, Zenon C. Valin, and Craig J. Wandrey
Science 29 May 2009: 1175-1179.
About 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered gas and 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil probably exist north of the Arctic Circle. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  Podcast Interview »|  

Volcanism, Mass Extinction, and Carbon Isotope Fluctuations in the Middle Permian of China

Paul B. Wignall, Yadong Sun, David P. G. Bond, Gareth Izon, Robert J. Newton, Stéphanie Védrine, Mike Widdowson, Jason R. Ali, Xulong Lai, Haishui Jiang, Helen Cope, and Simon H. Bottrell
Science 29 May 2009: 1179-1182.
Fossiliferous rocks from southwest China show that a major extinction in the Middle Permian coincided with extensive volcanic eruptions. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Implications of Limiting CO₂ Concentrations for Land Use and Energy

Marshall Wise, Katherine Calvin, Allison Thomson, Leon Clarke, Benjamin Bond-Lamberty, Ronald Sands, Steven J. Smith, Anthony Janetos, and James Edmonds
Science 29 May 2009: 1183-1186.
Technologies for growing crops are potentially as important for limiting the concentration of atmospheric CO₂ as are those for capture and storage. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Penultimate Deglacial Sea-Level Timing from Uranium/Thorium Dating of Tahitian Corals

Alex L. Thomas, Gideon M. Henderson, Pierre Deschamps, Yusuke Yokoyama, Andrew J. Mason, Edouard Bard, Bruno Hamelin, Nicolas Durand, and Gilbert Camoin
Science 29 May 2009: 1186-1189.
Published online 23 April 2009 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1168754] (in Science Express Reports)
Sea levels rose during the penultimate deglaciation while Northern Hemisphere insolation was at a minimum. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Topographical and Temporal Diversity of the Human Skin Microbiome

Elizabeth A. Grice, Heidi H. Kong, Sean Conlan, Clayton B. Deming, Joie Davis, Alice C. Young, NISC Comparative Sequencing Program, Gerard G. Bouffard, Robert W. Blakesley, Patrick R. Murray, Eric D. Green, Maria L. Turner, and Julia A. Segre
Science 29 May 2009: 1190-1192.
The human skin provides a landscape of dry, damp, and greasy niches for a diversity of symbiotic microorganisms. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

A Role for the CHC22 Clathrin Heavy-Chain Isoform in Human Glucose Metabolism

Stéphane Vassilopoulos, Christopher Esk, Sachiko Hoshino, Birgit H. Funke, Chih-Ying Chen, Alex M. Plocik, Woodring E. Wright, Raju Kucherlapati, and Frances M. Brodsky
Science 29 May 2009: 1192-1196.
A human-specific vesicle-forming protein regulates relocation of a glucose transporter to the cell membrane. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Proteasomal Regulation of the Hypoxic Response Modulates Aging in C. elegans

Ranjana Mehta, Katherine A. Steinkraus, George L. Sutphin, Fresnida J. Ramos, Lara S. Shamieh, Alexander Huh, Christina Davis, Devon Chandler-Brown, and Matt Kaeberlein
Science 29 May 2009: 1196-1198.
Published online 16 April 2009 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1173507] (in Science Express Reports)
Induction of the hypoxic response in a worm slows aging and enhances resistance to proteotoxicity. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Synthetic Gene Networks That Count

Ari E. Friedland, Timothy K. Lu, Xiao Wang, David Shi, George Church, and James J. Collins
Science 29 May 2009: 1199-1202.
Genetic counters with the ability to count up to three induction events are constructed in Escherichia coli. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Structural Basis of Transcription: Backtracked RNA Polymerase II at 3.4 Angstrom Resolution

Dong Wang, David A. Bushnell, Xuhui Huang, Kenneth D. Westover, Michael Levitt, and Roger D. Kornberg
Science 29 May 2009: 1203-1206.
A backtracked RNA polymerase II reveals how the enzyme proofreads the RNA transcript. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

High-Frequency, Long-Range Coupling Between Prefrontal and Visual Cortex During Attention

Georgia G. Gregoriou, Stephen J. Gotts, Huihui Zhou, and Robert Desimone
Science 29 May 2009: 1207-1210.
Synchrony in neuronal firing within a specific frequency range may regulate interactions between brain structures. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Genome-Wide Identification of Human RNA Editing Sites by Parallel DNA Capturing and Sequencing

Jin Billy Li, Erez Y. Levanon, Jung-Ki Yoon, John Aach, Bin Xie, Emily LeProust, Kun Zhang, Yuan Gao, and George M. Church
Science 29 May 2009: 1210-1213.
Hundreds of new RNA editing sites are identified in the human genome. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Unstable Tandem Repeats in Promoters Confer Transcriptional Evolvability

Marcelo D. Vinces, Matthieu Legendre, Marina Caldara, Masaki Hagihara, and Kevin J. Verstrepen
Science 29 May 2009: 1213-1216.
Unstable repetitive DNA in the control regions of yeast genes modulates the evolution of chromatin structure and gene expression. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Technical Comments

Comment on "A Large Excess in Apparent Solar Oblateness Due to Surface Magnetism"

J. R. Kuhn, M. Emilio, and R. Bush
Science 29 May 2009: 1143.
Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Response to Comment on "A Large Excess in Apparent Solar Oblateness Due to Surface Magnetism"

M. D. Fivian, H. S. Hudson, R. P. Lin, and H. J. Zahid
Science 29 May 2009: 1143.
Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|