Table of Contents
29 April 2016
Vol 352, Issue 6285
Vol 352, Issue 6285
Special Issue
Microbiome
Introduction to special issue
Reviews
Perspective
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
Products & Materials
- New Products
A weekly roundup of information on newly offered instrumentation, apparatus, and laboratory materials of potential interest to researchers.
In Brief
In Depth
- How Europe exported the Black Death
DNA suggests that the Asia-born pathogen lingered in Europe, then spread eastward.
- Critics complain as U.S. shops in Iran's nuclear bazaar
Heavy water purchase will benefit science, industry.
- Saying no to harassment
Roiled by high-profile cases in the field and at conferences, anthropology works to change its culture.
- Kepler enlists relativity to find planets
Exotic search technique promises a small but rich harvest of extrasolar worlds.
- Scandal clouds China's global vaccine ambitions
Porous regulation of private preparations threatens to undermine vaccinemakers' bid to boost exports.
- Mexico struggles to woo expat genome jocks
Young guns flocking back to their homeland face a daunting bureaucracy.
Feature
- Who's downloading pirated papers? Everyone
Data from the controversial website Sci-Hub reveal that the whole world turns to it for journal articles.
- The frustrated science student behind Sci-Hub
Alexandra Elbakyan founded Sci-Hub to thwart journal paywalls.
Working Life
Letters
Books et al.
- After Ebola
Lessons learned from past pandemics offer insight into how to stop the next one
- Animal acumen
Biased notions of what constitutes intelligence may lead us to underestimate the cognitive capacity of other creatures
Policy Forum
- The growing problem of patent trolling
Cash-hungry patent trolls are squelching innovation—and should be screened out
Perspectives
- A fresh eye on nonequilibrium systems
A noninvasive probe reveals nonequilibrium behavior in systems at steady state
- Liquidity in immune cell signaling
Phase separation of proteins into liquid-like microclusters promotes T cell receptor signaling
- Ionic control of sleep and wakefulness
The ionic composition of brain fluid is linked to neuronal activity and sleep
- A bacterial oxidase like no other?
The structure of an oxidase found in many pathogens will help in drug development
- Light flips a membrane-embedded helix
A folded helical chain can switch its handedness even in a viscous membrane environment
Association Affairs
Research Articles
- Structure and organization of heteromeric AMPA-type glutamate receptors
Crystal structures reveal organizational features of the central mediators of rapid neurotransmission and synaptic plasticity.
- Changes in the composition of brain interstitial ions control the sleep-wake cycle
In mice, extracellular ion concentrations in the brain can change quickly and induce switches from sleep to wakefulness.
- Unconventional endocannabinoid signaling governs sperm activation via the sex hormone progesterone
The ABHD2 progesterone receptor cleaves a membrane endocannabinoid to activate the CatSper calcium channel in sperm.
- Population-level analysis of gut microbiome variation
Two large-scale studies in Western Europe establish environment-diet-microbe-host interactions.
Reports
- Population-based metagenomics analysis reveals markers for gut microbiome composition and diversity
Two large-scale studies in Western Europe establish environment-diet-microbe-host interactions.
- Kinetically controlled E-selective catalytic olefin metathesis
A rationally optimized molybdenum catalyst offers access to a broad range of olefins with chlorine or fluorine substituents.
- Conformational photoswitching of a synthetic peptide foldamer bound within a phospholipid bilayer
The effect of photoisomerization on global conformation of a synthetic compound embedded in a lipid bilayer is probed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
- Pressure-dependent isotopic composition of iron alloys
Stable iron isotope fractionation at high pressure allows reassessment of the light-element composition of Earth’s core.
- Structure of a bd oxidase indicates similar mechanisms for membrane-integrated oxygen reductases
Structural details reveal how pathogens protect against oxidative stress and nitric oxide.
- Durable coexistence of donor and recipient strains after fecal microbiota transplantation
The mystery of the success of clinical microbial transplant therapy is beginning to be decoded.
- Slow waves, sharp waves, ripples, and REM in sleeping dragons
A lizard expresses sleep brain dynamics that are common to mammals and birds.
- Phase separation of signaling molecules promotes T cell receptor signal transduction
Phosphorylation-regulated molecular aggregation promotes signaling.
- RNA splicing is a primary link between genetic variation and disease
Phenotype is most affected by genetic variants that influence gene expression and transcript splicing.
- Broken detailed balance at mesoscopic scales in active biological systems
Nonequilibrium dynamics can be identified in randomly fluctuating mesoscopic systems.
- Helminth infection promotes colonization resistance via type 2 immunity
Intestinal helminths affect gut microbe composition and influence susceptibility to inflammatory bowel disease.
Technical Comments
From the AAAS Office of Publishing and Member Services
About The Cover
COVER Artist's interpretation of a person's gut microbiota. Many factors contribute to the overall health of the microbiota: the bacteria themselves (depicted as either "good" or "bad" in blue and red, respectively), parasitic worms, viruses, food, medications, and our genetics, among other factors. Recent research on the microbiota and how it may be manipulated for better health is highlighted in a special section beginning on page 530.
Illustration: Nigel Sussman
