This Week in Science

Editor summaries of this week's papers.
Science 30 May 2008: 1129.
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Editorial:
Education to Protect Humanity

David Hamburg
Science 30 May 2008: 1133.
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Editors' Choice

Highlights of the recent literature.
Science 30 May 2008: 1134.
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Science Podcast

Science 30 May 2008: 1230.
Summary: The 30 May 2008 show includes interviews on the evolution of eusociality, origins of the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant, Fermilab budget cuts, and more. Full Text »|   Transcript »|  

NEW PRODUCTS

Science 30 May 2008: 1230.
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News of the Week

PHYSICS: Energy Department Pulls Plug on Overbudget Fusion Experiment

Adrian Cho
Science 30 May 2008: 1142-1143.
Summary: Fusion may someday yield cheap power, but a troubled experimental reactor has proved too pricey for the U.S. Department of Energy. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

PARKINSON'S DISEASE: Streamlined Clinical Trials, From a Home Computer

Jennifer Couzin
Science 30 May 2008: 1143.
Summary: A Parkinson's research and treatment center and the genetic testing company 23andMe are experimenting with an unusual new approach to clinical trials: have participants assess themselves from their home computers potentially using everything from videos of tremors to a mouse that senses motor abilities. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

WENCHUAN EARTHQUAKE: Damaged University Mourns Its Dead--and Plans Fast Recovery

Richard Stone
Science 30 May 2008: 1145.
Summary: Mianyang, a sprawling science city with a population of 5.2 million, was one of the worst hit by the 12 May rupture of the Longmenshan Fault. As Science went to press, the number of local dead had climbed above 20,000. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

BIOSECURITY: Fate of Plum Island Animal Lab Still Unclear

Constance Holden
Science 30 May 2008: 1146.
Summary: At a hearing last week, officials unveiled a Government Accountability Office report sharply critical of possible plans to move the U.S. government's antiquated Plum Island Animal Disease Center, which does research on highly infectious foot-and-mouth disease, to a mainland location. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

GENETICS: Ancient DNA From Frozen Hair May Untangle Eskimo Roots

Michael Balter
Science 30 May 2008: 1146-1147.
Summary: This week, researchers report online in Science the sequencing of mitochondrial DNA from a male Paleo-Eskimo who lived in western Greenland roughly 4000 years ago--the first near-complete ancient mtDNA genome ever published. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

EPIDEMIOLOGY: Children's Study Needs Pilot Testing, Panel Finds

Jocelyn Kaiser
Science 30 May 2008: 1147.
Summary: An expert panel last week urged that several changes be made in a controversial $2.7 billion health study of 100,000 U.S. children before the first pregnant mothers are enrolled in September. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ScienceScope

Science 30 May 2008: 1145.
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Random Samples

Science 30 May 2008: 1139.
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Newsmakers

Science 30 May 2008: 1141.
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News Focus

PARTICLE PHYSICS: Does Fermilab Have a Future?

Adrian Cho
Science 30 May 2008: 1148-1151.
Summary: The United States's last particle physics lab finds itself in turmoil, with its current experiments soon to wind down and nothing under construction to replace them. Physicists wonder whether the lab--and particle physics in the United States--will survive. Full Text »|   PDF »|   Podcast Interview »|  

PARTICLE PHYSICS: Whither the International Linear Collider?

Adrian Cho
Science 30 May 2008: 1150.
Summary: Efforts to develop the International Linear Collider (ILC), a 40-kilometer-long, straight-shot particle smasher, have taken some thumps in the past 16 months. But like a seasoned pugilist, the ILC has rolled with the blows, project leaders say. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ANTARCTICA: Freeze-Dried Findings Support a Tale of Two Ancient Climates

Douglas Fox
Science 30 May 2008: 1152-1154.
Summary: A surprising cache of ancient plant material adds evidence for divergent climate histories of the East and West Antarctic ice sheets over the past 14 million years. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

MEDICINE: Nothing Rotten About Hydrogen Sulfide's Medical Promise

Mitch Leslie
Science 30 May 2008: 1155-1157.
Summary: Despite its toxicity and famously bad odor, hydrogen sulfide's ability to lower metabolism and create a hibernation-like state has scientists wondering whether the gas can help soldiers and other people withstand injuries or surgeries. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Letters

 Joshua Lederberg's Interest in Ignorance

Marlys Hearst Witte
Science 30 May 2008: 1159.
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 Women in Science: A Top-Down Approach

Donna J. Nelson and Christopher N. Brammer
Science 30 May 2008: 1159-1160.
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 Biological Basis of the Third-Cousin Crush

Johan N. Lundström, Charles J. Wysocki, Mats J. Olsson, George Preti, and Kunio Yamazaki
Science 30 May 2008: 1160-1161.
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Books et al.

SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION: Sharing Data, Constructing Science

Karla L. Hahn
Science 30 May 2008: 1162-1163.
Summary: The author's consideration of the practices and issues affecting scholarly communication highlights the social and political environments rather than the technological aspects of information dissemination. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

EXHIBITIONS: NATURAL HISTORY ART: Paper Museums

Caroline Ash
Science 30 May 2008: 1163.
Summary: This small exhibition highlights natural history drawings and paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, Alexander Marshal, Maria Sibylla Merian, and Mark Catesby and the paper museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Books Received

Science 30 May 2008: 1163.
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Education Forum

DIVERSITY: Culture, Gender, and Math

Luigi Guiso, Ferdinando Monte, Paola Sapienza, and Luigi Zingales
Science 30 May 2008: 1164-1165.
Summary: Analysis of PISA results suggests that the gender gap in math scores disappears in countries with a more gender-equal culture. Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Perspectives

ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE: Whither Geoengineering?

Alan Robock
Science 30 May 2008: 1166-1167.
Summary: Costs, benefits, and harms associated with geoengineering must be assessed before it is used to mitigate climate change. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ASTRONOMY: A Blast from the Past

Andrew C. Fabian
Science 30 May 2008: 1167-1168.
Summary: Echoes of light, reflections from nearby gas and dust clouds, can be used to reconstruct past astronomical events. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

IMMUNOLOGY: Immunity Benefits from a Little Suppression

George Kassiotis and Anne O'Garra
Science 30 May 2008: 1168-1169.
Summary: Regulatory T cells thought to limit the extent of an inflammatory response to viral infection can actually optimize the response by redirecting it to sites of infection. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

MATERIALS SCIENCE: Graphene-Based Materials

Dan Li and Richard B. Kaner
Science 30 May 2008: 1170-1171.
Summary: Advances in synthesizing graphene offer opportunities for making novel materials for nanoelectronics and many other applications. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

PLANETARY SCIENCE: Is Mars Geodynamically Dead?

Matthias Grott
Science 30 May 2008: 1171-1172.
Summary: The observation that Mars' northern polar cap barely deforms its crust implies that its planetary interior is colder than expected. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

MEDICINE: Activating a Repressor

Sonia Cohen, Zhaolan Zhou, and Michael E. Greenberg
Science 30 May 2008: 1172-1173.
Summary: A factor implicated in autism spectrum disorders can both suppress and activate the expression of genes involved in neurodevelopment. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Association Affairs

AAAS News and Notes

Science 30 May 2008: 1174-1176.
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Review

How We See Ourselves and How We See Others

Emily Pronin
Science 30 May 2008: 1177-1180.
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Brevia

Ecosystem Feedbacks and Nitrogen Fixation in Boreal Forests

Thomas H. DeLuca, Olle Zackrisson, Michael J. Gundale, and Marie-Charlotte Nilsson
Science 30 May 2008: 1181.
As burned areas in boreal forests recover, cyanobacteria in moss carpets fix nitrogen as it is lost from dead leaves and litter, ensuring a constant nitrogen supply. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Research Articles

Mars North Polar Deposits: Stratigraphy, Age, and Geodynamical Response

Roger J. Phillips, Maria T. Zuber, Suzanne E. Smrekar, Michael T. Mellon, James W. Head, Kenneth L. Tanaka, Nathaniel E. Putzig, Sarah M. Milkovich, Bruce A. Campbell, Jeffrey J. Plaut, Ali Safaeinili, Roberto Seu, Daniela Biccari, Lynn M. Carter, Giovanni Picardi, Roberto Orosei, P. Surdas Mohit, Essam Heggy, Richard W. Zurek, Anthony F. Egan, Emanuele Giacomoni, Federica Russo, Marco Cutigni, Elena Pettinelli, John W. Holt, Carl J. Leuschen, and Lucia Marinangeli
Science 30 May 2008: 1182-1185.
Published online 15 May 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1157546] (in Science Express Research Articles)
Radar mapping shows that Mars’ thick north polar ice cap contains four dust-rich layers recording variation in the planet’s orbit and only slightly depresses the underlying crust. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Widespread Translational Inhibition by Plant miRNAs and siRNAs

Peter Brodersen, Lali Sakvarelidze-Achard, Marianne Bruun-Rasmussen, Patrice Dunoyer, Yoshiharu Y. Yamamoto, Leslie Sieburth, and Olivier Voinnet
Science 30 May 2008: 1185-1190.
Published online 15 May 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1159151] (in Science Express Research Articles)
Plant microRNAs and small interfering RNAs, thought to inhibit gene expression by cleavage of their RNA targets, also interfere with the translation of these RNAs into protein. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Predicting Human Brain Activity Associated with the Meanings of Nouns

Tom M. Mitchell, Svetlana V. Shinkareva, Andrew Carlson, Kai-Min Chang, Vicente L. Malave, Robert A. Mason, and Marcel Adam Just
Science 30 May 2008: 1191-1195.
A model trained to associate specific nouns with resultant images of brain activity can predict what activity pattern will occur when a participant is shown a picture of a new noun. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Reports

The Cassiopeia A Supernova Was of Type IIb

Oliver Krause, Stephan M. Birkmann, Tomonori Usuda, Takashi Hattori, Miwa Goto, George H. Rieke, and Karl A. Misselt
Science 30 May 2008: 1195-1197.
A supernova seen 300 years ago is now seen again as infrared echoes scattered by interstellar dust, showing that it formed from the helium core of a red supergiant star. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  Podcast Interview »|  

Interfacial Polygonal Nanopatterning of Stable Microbubbles

Emilie Dressaire, Rodney Bee, David C. Bell, Alex Lips, and Howard A. Stone
Science 30 May 2008: 1198-1201.
Hexagonally packed surfactant molecules at the gas/liquid interface of micrometer-sized gas bubbles retard dispersion enough to stabilize them for more than a year. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

The Sensitivity of Polar Ozone Depletion to Proposed Geoengineering Schemes

Simone Tilmes, Rolf Müller, and Ross Salawitch
Science 30 May 2008: 1201-1204.
Published online 24 April 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1153966] (in Science Express Reports)
Calculations imply that injection of sulfur into the atmosphere to counteract global warming would threaten the ozone layer, as occurred after the Mount Pinatubo eruption. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Water Activity and the Challenge for Life on Early Mars

Nicholas J. Tosca, Andrew H. Knoll, and Scott M. McLennan
Science 30 May 2008: 1204-1207.
Calculations imply that the high salinity required to form widespread sulfates found on Mars reduces the effective concentration of water below the limits for life on Earth. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

A Cytosolic Iron Chaperone That Delivers Iron to Ferritin

Haifeng Shi, Krisztina Z. Bencze, Timothy L. Stemmler, and Caroline C. Philpott
Science 30 May 2008: 1207-1210.
A cytosolic iron-binding protein, PCBP1, carries the reactive but essential element iron to ferritin, its major storage depot in the cell. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Massive Horizontal Gene Transfer in Bdelloid Rotifers

Eugene A. Gladyshev, Matthew Meselson, and Irina R. Arkhipova
Science 30 May 2008: 1210-1213.
Bdelloid rotifers carry a large number of foreign genes—unusual for a metazoan—perhaps explaining how they have escaped extinction despite an asexual life-style. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Ancestral Monogamy Shows Kin Selection Is Key to the Evolution of Eusociality

William O. H. Hughes, Benjamin P. Oldroyd, Madeleine Beekman, and Francis L. W. Ratnieks
Science 30 May 2008: 1213-1216.
Monogamy prevailed in the ancestral lineages of bees and wasps, suggesting that high relatedness was critical to the evolution of their complex, cooperative social systems. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  Podcast Interview »|  

Log or Linear? Distinct Intuitions of the Number Scale in Western and Amazonian Indigene Cultures

Stanislas Dehaene, Véronique Izard, Elizabeth Spelke, and Pierre Pica
Science 30 May 2008: 1217-1220.
Adults from an Amazonian tribe view numbers as a logarithmic progression (e.g., 10 is halfway to 100), suggesting that our linear view of numbers is culturally learned. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Coordination of Early Protective Immunity to Viral Infection by Regulatory T Cells

Jennifer M. Lund, Lianne Hsing, Thuy T. Pham, and Alexander Y. Rudensky
Science 30 May 2008: 1220-1224.
Published online 24 April 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1155209] (in Science Express Reports)
In mice infected with herpes virus, a usually immunosuppressive T cell is necessary for rapid arrival of immune cells and elevated cytokine levels at the site of infection. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

MeCP2, a Key Contributor to Neurological Disease, Activates and Represses Transcription

Maria Chahrour, Sung Yun Jung, Chad Shaw, Xiaobo Zhou, Stephen T. C. Wong, Jun Qin, and Huda Y. Zoghbi
Science 30 May 2008: 1224-1229.
A transcription factor implicated in autism and learning disorders is unexpectedly found to activate a large number of genes in the hypothalamus, not just a few. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Technical Comments

Comment on "Mixed-Layer Deepening During Heinrich Events: A Multi-Planktonic Foraminiferal ¹⁸O Approach"

Claude Hillaire-Marcel and Anne de Vernal
Science 30 May 2008: 1161.
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Response to Comment on "Mixed-Layer Deepening During Heinrich Events: A Multi-Planktonic Foraminiferal ¹⁸O Approach"

Harunur Rashid and Edward A. Boyle
Science 30 May 2008: 1161.
Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|