This Week in Science

Editor summaries of this week's papers.
Science 22 August 2008: 1016.
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Editorial:
Science and Security, Again

Donald Kennedy
Science 22 August 2008: 1019.
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Editors' Choice

Highlights of the recent literature.
Science 22 August 2008: 1020.
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Science Podcast

Science 22 August 2008: 1103.
Summary: The 22 August 2008 show includes a new strategy for developing antibiotics, predicting conscious decisions, updating a U.S. climate change model, and more. Full Text »|   Transcript »|  

NEW PRODUCTS

Science 22 August 2008: 1103.
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News of the Week

ANTHRAX INVESTIGATION: FBI Discusses Microbial Forensics--but Key Questions Remain Unanswered

Yudhijit Bhattacharjee and Martin Enserink
Science 22 August 2008: 1026-1027.
Summary: Facing growing public skepticism, impatient politicians, and a blogosphere rife with conspiracy theories, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Monday sought to bolster its case that Army scientist Bruce Ivins was the perpetrator of the 2001 anthrax attacks by extensively discussing the scientific evidence. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ANTHRAX INVESTIGATION: Six Anthrax Science Questions the FBI Has Yet to Answer

Yudhijit Bhattacharjee and Martin Enserink
Science 22 August 2008: 1027.
Summary: Although the FBI has added a few new details about its scientific case against Army scientist Bruce Ivins (see main text), several scientists say that many questions still remain unanswered. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

TECTONICS: Pumping Up the Tibetan Plateau From the Far Pacific Ocean

Richard A. Kerr
Science 22 August 2008: 1028-1029.
Summary: On page 1054 of this week's issue of Science, geoscientists argue that rock has flowed west to east beneath the Tibetan Plateau to inflate its eastern side and that the flow has been throttled by tectonic doings as far as thousands of kilometers away. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

GENOMICS: 'Simple' Animal's Genome Proves Unexpectedly Complex

Elizabeth Pennisi
Science 22 August 2008: 1028-1029.
Summary: The flat marine organism Trichoplax adhaerens barely qualifies as an animal, yet the 98 million DNA base pairs of its genome include many of the genes responsible for guiding the development of other animals' complex shapes and organs, researchers report this week. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ENDANGERED SPECIES: New Regulation Would Lessen Influence of Fish and Wildlife Experts

Erik Stokstad
Science 22 August 2008: 1030.
Summary: The Bush Administration has proposed controversial rules that would exempt many projects from what the Administration says are unnecessary reviews of their potential impact on endangered species. The plan has left environmentalists sputtering. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

U.S. HIGHER EDUCATION: Departments Scramble to Find Math Education Faculty

Jeffrey Mervis
Science 22 August 2008: 1031.
Summary: According to a recent survey, 60% of 128 tenure-track academic jobs advertised last year in mathematics education went unfilled. Although that may be good news for job-seekers, it's another impediment for universities trying to improve U.S. science and math education. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ScienceScope

Science 22 August 2008: 1029.
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Random Samples

Science 22 August 2008: 1023.
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Newsmakers

Science 22 August 2008: 1025.
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News Focus

CLIMATE SCIENCE: Turbulent Times for Climate Model

Eli Kintisch
Science 22 August 2008: 1032-1034.
Summary: Researchers are running out of time to finish updating an important U.S. climate change model that has been hamstrung by the budget woes of its home institution, the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Full Text »|   PDF »|   Podcast Interview »|  

CULTURAL HERITAGE: Shielding a Buddhist Shrine From the Howling Desert Sands

Richard Stone
Science 22 August 2008: 1035.
Summary: China is embarking on a major new effort to protect the Mogao Grottoes, a unique repository of murals and sculptures on the old Silk Road. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

NANOTECHNOLOGY: Can High-Speed Tests Sort Out Which Nanomaterials Are Safe?

Robert F. Service
Science 22 August 2008: 1036-1037.
Summary: A flood of strange new substances based on ultrasmall particles is forcing researchers to reinvent toxicology. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Letters

 An Editor's Checklist

R. W. Guillery
Science 22 August 2008: 1039.
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 High-Profile Journals Not Worth the Trouble

Joel L. Rosenbaum
Science 22 August 2008: 1039.
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 Taking Responsibility for Scientific Discourse

Seth D. Friedman
Science 22 August 2008: 1039-1040.
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 Corrections and Clarifications

Science 22 August 2008: 1040.
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 The Carrageenan Diet: Not Recommended

Joanne K. Tobacman, Sumit Bhattacharyya, Alip Borthakur, and Pradeep K. Dudeja
Science 22 August 2008: 1040-1041.
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Books et al.

POLICY-MAKING: Cybernetic Birth Control

Erik A. Mueggler
Science 22 August 2008: 1042-1043.
Summary: The author explores how in the late 1970s China's leadership decided to attempt to limit all couples to a single offspring. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

DEMOGRAPHY: A Polemic Against Control

John C. Caldwell
Science 22 August 2008: 1043.
Summary: A historian offers a sometimes angry and often critical account of 20th-century transnational efforts to limit population growth. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Books Received

Science 22 August 2008: 1043.
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Policy Forum

ECOLOGY: Toward a Global Biodiversity Observing System

R. J. Scholes, G. M. Mace, W. Turner, G. N. Geller, N. Jurgens, A. Larigauderie, D. Muchoney, B. A. Walther, and H. A. Mooney
Science 22 August 2008: 1044-1045.
Summary: Tracking biodiversity change is increasingly important in sustaining ecosystems and ultimately human well-being. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Perspectives

PSYCHOLOGY: The Unseen Mind

Timothy D. Wilson and Yoav Bar-Anan
Science 22 August 2008: 1046-1047.
Summary: The human mind operates largely out of view, and yet people are unaware of their unawareness, confabulating reasons for their actions and preferences. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ASTRONOMY: Stars in the Making

Philip J. Armitage
Science 22 August 2008: 1047-1048.
Summary: The observation of stars close to the galactic center requires a rethink of the star formation process. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY: How Now, Brown Fat?

Mitchell A. Lazar
Science 22 August 2008: 1048-1049.
Summary: Brown adipose tissue is, surprisingly, more related to skeletal muscle than to white adipose tissue. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

CHEMISTRY: Soluble Allotropes of Main-Group Elements

C. Adam Dyker and Guy Bertrand
Science 22 August 2008: 1050-1051.
Summary: Small clusters of main-group elements can be stabilized in the highly active zero oxidation state and used for reactions in solution. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ECOLOGY: A Matter of Timing

Bruce E. Lyon, Alexis S. Chaine, and David W. Winkler
Science 22 August 2008: 1051-1052.
Summary: The cues used by birds and other species to trigger reproduction determine how successfully they can respond to climate change. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

PLANT SCIENCE: Using Tobacco to Treat Cancer

Charles J. Arntzen
Science 22 August 2008: 1052-1053.
Summary: Plant biotechnology brings us closer to personalized therapies as tobacco plants are genetically reprogrammed to produce a vaccine to treat lymphoma. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Review

The Geological Evolution of the Tibetan Plateau

Leigh H. Royden, B. Clark Burchfiel, and Robert D. van der Hilst
Science 22 August 2008: 1054-1058.
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Brevia

N₂O₅ Oxidizes Chloride to Cl₂ in Acidic Atmospheric Aerosol

James M. Roberts, Hans D. Osthoff, Steven S. Brown, and A. R. Ravishankara
Science 22 August 2008: 1059.
Published online 3 July 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1158777] (in Science Express Brevia)
Laboratory studies affirm that the oxidation of chloride ions in aerosols by N₂O₅ is a significant source of chlorine in the troposphere, a major reactant that helps form ozone. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Reports

Star Formation Around Supermassive Black Holes

I. A. Bonnell and W. K. M. Rice
Science 22 August 2008: 1060-1062.
Simulations show that the disruption of a molecular cloud by a black hole can lead to the formation of nearby stars with eccentric orbits, explaining observations in our Galaxy. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Quantum Gas of Deeply Bound Ground State Molecules

Johann G. Danzl, Elmar Haller, Mattias Gustavsson, Manfred J. Mark, Russell Hart, Nadia Bouloufa, Olivier Dulieu, Helmut Ritsch, and Hanns-Christoph Nägerl
Science 22 August 2008: 1062-1066.
Published online 10 July 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1159909] (in Science Express Reports)
A coherent Raman pumping scheme cools cesium molecules to a state with minimal rotational energy, needed for producing cold molecular Bose-Einstein condensates. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Observation of Atomic Diffusion at Twin-Modified Grain Boundaries in Copper

Kuan-Chia Chen, Wen-Wei Wu, Chien-Neng Liao, Lih-Juann Chen, and K. N. Tu
Science 22 August 2008: 1066-1069.
The presence of twinned grains at grain boundaries reduces current-induced diffusion of atoms in small copper wires, which can produce voids or even breaks. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

A Stable Silicon(0) Compound with a Si=Si Double Bond

Yuzhong Wang, Yaoming Xie, Pingrong Wei, R. Bruce King, Henry F. Schaefer, III, Paul von R. Schleyer, and Gregory H. Robinson
Science 22 August 2008: 1069-1071.
Carbene ligands stabilize diatomic silicon without oxidizing it, an unusual motif for a light element. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

In Situ Formation of an Oxygen-Evolving Catalyst in Neutral Water Containing Phosphate and Co²⁺

Matthew W. Kanan and Daniel G. Nocera
Science 22 August 2008: 1072-1075.
Published online 31 July 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1162018] (in Science Express Reports)
A catalyst that precipitates in situ when cobalt ions are reduced in a phosphate buffer efficiently forms oxygen from water needed for electrochemical applications. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  Podcast Interview »|  

The Global Atmospheric Circulation on Moist Isentropes

Olivier Pauluis, Arnaud Czaja, and Robert Korty
Science 22 August 2008: 1075-1078.
An analysis of global atmospheric circulation from 1970 to 2004 shows that more mid-latitude air rose into the upper troposphere than current models would suggest. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Targeting QseC Signaling and Virulence for Antibiotic Development

David A. Rasko, Cristiano G. Moreira, De Run Li, Nicola C. Reading, Jennifer M. Ritchie, Matthew K. Waldor, Noelle Williams, Ron Taussig, Shuguang Wei, Michael Roth, David T. Hughes, Jason F. Huntley, Maggy W. Fina, John R. Falck, and Vanessa Sperandio
Science 22 August 2008: 1078-1080.
A small, nontoxic antibiotic candidate interferes with bacterial detection of the host and inhibits infection, in a therapeutic approach that may avoid development of resistance. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  Podcast Interview »|  

Variability and Robustness in T Cell Activation from Regulated Heterogeneity in Protein Levels

Ofer Feinerman, Joël Veiga, Jeffrey R. Dorfman, Ronald N. Germain, and Grégoire Altan-Bonnet
Science 22 August 2008: 1081-1084.
Variations in component levels of the antigen-induced signaling pathway affect the final response of activated immune cells, conferring flexibility on the system. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Adenovirus Small e1a Alters Global Patterns of Histone Modification

Gregory A. Horwitz, Kangling Zhang, Matthew A. McBrian, Michael Grunstein, Siavash K. Kurdistani, and Arnold J. Berk
Science 22 August 2008: 1084-1085.
Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Epigenetic Reprogramming by Adenovirus e1a

Roberto Ferrari, Matteo Pellegrini, Gregory A. Horwitz, Wei Xie, Arnold J. Berk, and Siavash K. Kurdistani
Science 22 August 2008: 1086-1088.
Upon infection, an adenovirus protein causes global epigenetic changes in the host that repress antiviral responses and differentiation and activate cell-cycle genes. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Heterochromatin Integrity Affects Chromosome Reorganization After Centromere Dysfunction

Kojiro Ishii, Yuki Ogiyama, Yuji Chikashige, Saeko Soejima, Fumie Masuda, Tatsuyuki Kakuma, Yasushi Hiraoka, and Kohta Takahashi
Science 22 August 2008: 1088-1091.
When the centromere is removed from a yeast chromosome, a new one forms near the end of the chromosome, over a cluster of poorly expressed genes. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Grueneberg Ganglion Cells Mediate Alarm Pheromone Detection in Mice

Julien Brechbühl, Magali Klaey, and Marie-Christine Broillet
Science 22 August 2008: 1092-1095.
A mysterious ganglion at the tip of the nose is an olfactory subsystem that senses alarm pheromones in mice. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Control of the Reversibility of Cellular Quiescence by the Transcriptional Repressor HES1

Liyun Sang, Hilary A. Coller, and James M. Roberts
Science 22 August 2008: 1095-1100.
For quiescent cells to periodically divide and then rest, a member of the Notch signaling pathway HES1 must be present; this protein is also activated in some tumors. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Automatic Mental Associations Predict Future Choices of Undecided Decision-Makers

Silvia Galdi, Luciano Arcuri, and Bertram Gawronski
Science 22 August 2008: 1100-1102.
Unexpectedly, consciously expressed voting choices predict later unconscious preferences, showing that unconscious and conscious cognition is a two-way street. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  Podcast Interview »|  

Technical Comments

Comment on "Protein Sequences from Mastodon and Tyrannosaurus rex Revealed by Mass Spectrometry"

Pavel A. Pevzner, Sangtae Kim, and Julio Ng
Science 22 August 2008: 1040.
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Response to Comment on "Protein Sequences from Mastodon and Tyrannosaurus rex Revealed by Mass Spectrometry"

John M. Asara, Mary H. Schweitzer, Lewis C. Cantley, and John S. Cottrell
Science 22 August 2008: 1040.
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