Contents
16 February 2018
Vol 359, Issue 6377
Vol 359, Issue 6377
Contents
This Week in Science
Editorial
Editors' Choice
Departments
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
- Science gets modest reprieve in Trump budget
Late changes leave major agencies flat, but 2019 request still cuts many research programs.
- A weight limit emerges for neutron stars
Merger reveals mass at which the cosmos's densest objects collapse into black holes.
- Artificial intelligence faces reproducibility crisis
Unpublished code and sensitivity to training conditions make many claims hard to verify.
- U.K. moms are turning parenting into an experiment
Unusual collaboration studies human milk, baby temperature, and schooling.
- ‘CAMERA’ records cell action with new CRISPR tricks
The powerful genome editor shows off its versatility again.
- Isotope cloud linked to failed neutrino source
Mishandling of spent fuel in Russia may have caused radioactivity to spread across Europe.
Feature
- The data thugs
Nick Brown and James Heathers have had striking success in catalyzing retractions by publicly calling out questionable data.
- The carbon harvest
Vast bioenergy plantations could suck up carbon and stave off climate change. They would also radically reshape the planet.
Working Life
Letters
Books et al.
- Electrical chaos
A candid portrait of the scientists studying Earth's declining magnetism warns of potential peril if the poles swap places
- Look to the locals
A field scientist reflects on how indigenous knowledge can enhance tropical forest management
Policy Forum
- Was there ever really a “sugar conspiracy”?
Twists and turns in science and policy are not necessarily products of malevolence
Perspectives
- Is evolution predictable?
Simple traits may not have simple, predictable evolutionary paths
- Controlling learning and epilepsy together
Silencing dentate gyrus mossy cells affects spatial learning as well as seizures
- The value of pollinator species diversity
Most crop-visiting species are needed to ensure high levels of crop pollination
- Capsules made from prefabricated thin films
Droplets become encapsulated after falling into floating polymer films
- The changing face of urban air pollution
Volatile organic compounds in U.S. urban air increasingly derive from consumer products
- Chromatin regulation and immune escape
Deficiency in a chromatin remodeling complex enhances tumor immunotherapy
Review
Research Articles
- Volatile chemical products emerging as largest petrochemical source of urban organic emissions
Chemical products contribute as much organic air pollution as transportation emissions in many cities.
- Natural selection and the predictability of evolution in Timema stick insects
Frequencies of stick insect coloration and patterning over time are used to determine the predictability of evolution.
- A major chromatin regulator determines resistance of tumor cells to T cell–mediated killing
Inactivation of a chromatin remodeling complex in tumor cells enhances their sensitivity to killing by T cells.
Reports
- Wrapping with a splash: High-speed encapsulation with ultrathin sheets
Oil droplets are rapidly wrapped with a thin polymer sheet on impact.
- Natural noncanonical protein splicing yields products with diverse β-amino acid residues
A bacterial enzyme catalyzes rearrangement and removal of part of a tyrosine residue within short peptides.
- Observation of three-photon bound states in a quantum nonlinear medium
Excited atoms can be used to induce strong interaction between photons and form bound states of light.
- Dentate gyrus mossy cells control spontaneous convulsive seizures and spatial memory
There is a direct relationship between mossy cell activity in the dentate gyrus, convulsive seizures, and spatial memory formation in mice.
- Species turnover promotes the importance of bee diversity for crop pollination at regional scales
Biodiversity required for ecosystem function increases with landscape scale.
- Structures of C1-IgG1 provide insights into how danger pattern recognition activates complement
Cryo–electron microscopy structures suggest mechanisms for how danger patterns on cell membranes trigger an immune response.
- Lipopolysaccharide is transported to the cell surface by a membrane-to-membrane protein bridge
Reconstitution of lipopolysaccharide transport shows that a protein bridge mediates membrane-to-membrane transport using adenosine triphosphate.
- Genomic correlates of response to immune checkpoint therapies in clear cell renal cell carcinoma
Renal cell cancers with mutations in a specific chromatin regulator have a better clinical response to immunotherapy.
Technical Comments
About The Cover
COVER A southern tree funnel-web spider (Hadronyche cerberea) with venom droplets on its fangs. When threatened, this spider rears up, and venom slowly flows to the end of its fangs. The venom droplets grow larger as the spider holds its defensive posture. The Gordon Research Conference on Venom Evolution, Function and Biomedical Applications will be held from 5 to 10 August 2018 in West Dover, Vermont. See page 808 for the Gordon Research Conference schedule and preliminary programs.
Photo: © Michael Doe