This Week in Science

Editor summaries of this week's papers.
Science 11 July 2008: 172.
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Editorial:
European Research, 10 Years On

Enric Banda
Science 11 July 2008: 175.
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Editors' Choice

Highlights of the recent literature.
Science 11 July 2008: 176.
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Quarterly Author Index

Science 11 July 2008: 267.
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Science Podcast

Science 11 July 2008: 267.
Summary: In the Science Podcast for 11 July: hear about genetic links to autism, scientists' interactions with the mass media, bipolar disorder in children, and more. Full Text »|   Transcript »|  

NEW PRODUCTS

Science 11 July 2008: 267.
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News of the Week

FOOD SAFETY: Arsenic and Paddy Rice: A Neglected Cancer Risk?

Richard Stone
Science 11 July 2008: 184-185.
Summary: Does the food that sustains half of humanity also increase the risk of cancer for some? That question arises from three sets of findings that report elevated arsenic levels in rice and products such as rice bran and rice crackers. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

U.S. GRADUATE TRAINING: Top Ph.D. Feeder Schools Are Now Chinese

Jeffrey Mervis
Science 11 July 2008: 185.
Summary: A new study has found that the most likely undergraduate alma mater for those who earned a Ph.D. in 2006 from a U.S. university was China's Tsinghua University. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

U.S. BUDGET: 2008 Supplemental Helps Fermilab By Putting Jobs Before Research

Adrian Cho
Science 11 July 2008: 186-187.
Summary: The only remaining U.S. lab dedicated to particle physics won't have to impose involuntary layoffs this month after getting a last-minute infusion of government money. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

SOCIAL SCIENCES: Defense, NSF Team Up on National Security Research

Eli Kintisch
Science 11 July 2008: 186-187.
Summary: The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) hopes to spend $20 million this year on social science research aimed at understanding real and potential threats to national security. Part of the money will be funneled through the National Science Foundation's (NSF's) merit-review process in an attempt to attract the best scientists--and to defuse criticism of DOD funding for such research. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

NUCLEAR CONTROL: Iraq Embarks on Demolition of Saddam-Era Nuclear Labs

Richard Stone
Science 11 July 2008: 188.
Summary: At a ceremony in Baghdad on 7 July, Iraqi officials launched an effort to dismantle the Al-Tuwaitha Nuclear Center, a sprawling facility where physicists in the 1970s and 1980s tried in vain to build an atomic bomb for Saddam Hussein. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ACOUSTICAL SCIENCE: Major European Cities Are Quietly Missing Antinoise Deadline

John Bohannon
Science 11 July 2008: 189.
Summary: At a conference here in France's noisy capital last week, European acoustical scientists admitted that they and most policymakers are not close to meeting an 18 July deadline to develop action plans to shush the European Union's largest cities. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ScienceScope

Science 11 July 2008: 187.
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Random Samples

Science 11 July 2008: 181.
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Newsmakers

Science 11 July 2008: 183.
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News Focus

UNIVERSITY RESEARCH: Steering Harvard Toward Collaborative Science

Andrew Lawler
Science 11 July 2008: 190-192.
Summary: Provost Steven Hyman is at the forefront of the university's dramatic push to transform the way it carries out research. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

BIPOLAR DISORDER: Poles Apart

Constance Holden
Science 11 July 2008: 193-195.
Summary: The number of children and adolescents diagnosed with bipolar disorder has been rising sharply, prompting debate and research on how the illness should be characterized in young people. Full Text »|   PDF »|   Podcast Interview »|  

EVOLUTION: Modernizing the Modern Synthesis

Elizabeth Pennisi
Science 11 July 2008: 196-197.
Summary: Seventy years ago, evolutionary biologists hammered out the modern synthesis to bring Darwin's ideas in line with current insights into how organisms change through time. Some say it's time for Modern Synthesis 2.0. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Letters

 Biofuels: Effects on Land and Fire

Keith L. Kline, Virginia H. Dale;, Joseph Fargione, Jason Hill, David Tilman, Stephen Polasky, Peter Hawthorne;, and Timothy D. Searchinger
Science 11 July 2008: 199-201.
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 Corrections and Clarifications

Science 11 July 2008: 200.
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 Biofuels: One of Many Claims to Resources

Tom Wassenaar and Simon Kay
Science 11 July 2008: 201.
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Books et al.

DEVELOPMENT: X Inactivation Is a Good Thing

Jennifer A. Marshall Graves
Science 11 July 2008: 202-203.
Summary: Discussing the medical consequences of X inactivation and effects on individuals with chromosome abnormalities, the author highlights molecular mechanisms for chromosome inactivation and addresses the evolutionary origins of human sex chromosomes. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ECONOMICS: Tilt the Table Toward Good Choices

Eric J. Johnson
Science 11 July 2008: 203.
Summary: The authors marshal results from behavioral economics research to argue for using asymmetric choice architecture to exert a "libertarian paternalism" on social and economic choices. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

BROWSINGS

Science 11 July 2008: 203.
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Books Received

Science 11 July 2008: 203.
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Policy Forum

SCIENCE COMMUNICATION: Interactions with the Mass Media

Hans Peter Peters, Dominique Brossard, Suzanne de Cheveigné, Sharon Dunwoody, Monika Kallfass, Steve Miller, and Shoji Tsuchida
Science 11 July 2008: 204-205.
Summary: A survey reveals that media contacts of scientists in top R&D countries are more frequent and smooth than was previously thought. Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  Podcast Interview »|  

Perspectives

GENETICS: Celebrating Spuds

Sandra Knapp
Science 11 July 2008: 206-207.
Summary: Genetic studies are shedding light on the origins and domestication of potatoes and are helping to improve the properties of cultivated species. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ECONOMICS: Homo experimentalis Evolves

John A. List
Science 11 July 2008: 207-208.
Summary: Economists are increasingly using field experiments to explore economic behaviors. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

GENETICS: Insights into the Pathogenesis of Autism

James S. Sutcliffe
Science 11 July 2008: 208-209.
Summary: Genetic analysis of inbred families reveals genes associated with susceptibility to autism. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

ENGINEERING: Phase-Change Materials for Electronic Memories

Greg Atwood
Science 11 July 2008: 210-211.
Summary: The materials used in rewritable CDs and DVDs also show promise as electronic memories systems. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

PALEONTOLOGY: New Tricks with Old Bones

Rachel Mackelprang and Edward M. Rubin
Science 11 July 2008: 211-212.
Summary: Paleogenomic researchers are finding new ways to solve the problems of sample rarity and contamination. Full Text »|   PDF »|  

Review

Enzymes Without Borders: Mobilizing Substrates, Delivering Products

Federico Forneris and Andrea Mattevi
Science 11 July 2008: 213-216.
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Brevia

Source Analysis of the Crandall Canyon, Utah, Mine Collapse

Douglas S. Dreger, Sean R. Ford, and William R. Walter
Science 11 July 2008: 217.
The anomalous seismic event in Utah on 6 August 2007 was produced by the collapse of a mine chamber 1 kilometer beneath the surface, which induced faulting of rocks above it. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Research Article

Identifying Autism Loci and Genes by Tracing Recent Shared Ancestry

Eric M. Morrow, Seung-Yun Yoo, Steven W. Flavell, Tae-Kyung Kim, Yingxi Lin, Robert Sean Hill, Nahit M. Mukaddes, Soher Balkhy, Generoso Gascon, Asif Hashmi, Samira Al-Saad, Janice Ware, Robert M. Joseph, Rachel Greenblatt, Danielle Gleason, Julia A. Ertelt, Kira A. Apse, Adria Bodell, Jennifer N. Partlow, Brenda Barry, Hui Yao, Kyriacos Markianos, Russell J. Ferland, Michael E. Greenberg, and Christopher A. Walsh
Science 11 July 2008: 218-223.
A genetic analysis of autism in closely related individuals suggests that defects in proteins that control neural activity may produce this cognitive disorder. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  Podcast Interview »|  

Reports

Supernova Shock Breakout from a Red Supergiant

Kevin Schawinski, Stephen Justham, Christian Wolf, Philipp Podsiadlowski, Mark Sullivan, Katrien C. Steenbrugge, Tony Bell, Hermann-Josef Röser, Emma S. Walker, Pierre Astier, Dave Balam, Christophe Balland, Ray Carlberg, Alex Conley, Dominique Fouchez, Julien Guy, Delphine Hardin, Isobel Hook, D. Andrew Howell, Reynald Pain, Kathy Perrett, Chris Pritchet, Nicolas Regnault, and Sukyoung K. Yi
Science 11 July 2008: 223-226.
Published online 12 June 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1160456] (in Science Express Reports)
A burst of ultraviolet light reveals the initial expansion of a star leading to a supernova and identifies the star as a red supergiant. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

High-Efficiency Organic Solar Concentrators for Photovoltaics

Michael J. Currie, Jonathan K. Mapel, Timothy D. Heidel, Shalom Goffri, and Marc A. Baldo
Science 11 July 2008: 226-228.
Thin films with low concentrations of phosphorescent dyes that only weakly absorb their own emitted light concentrate sunlight, improving solar cell efficiency 10-fold. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Control of Exciton Fluxes in an Excitonic Integrated Circuit

Alex A. High, Ekaterina E. Novitskaya, Leonid V. Butov, Micah Hanson, and Arthur C. Gossard
Science 11 July 2008: 229-231.
Published online 19 June 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1157845] (in Science Express Reports)
Coupled quantum-wells structures, patterned to create electron-hole circuits, can perform simple logic operations on the optical input signals. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Optical Pumping and Vibrational Cooling of Molecules

Matthieu Viteau, Amodsen Chotia, Maria Allegrini, Nadia Bouloufa, Olivier Dulieu, Daniel Comparat, and Pierre Pillet
Science 11 July 2008: 232-234.
A broadband laser pulse can remove residual vibrational energy from molecules via excitation and relaxation cycles, allowing them to be cooled to low temperatures. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|  

A Positive Test of East Antarctica–Laurentia Juxtaposition Within the Rodinia Supercontinent

J. W. Goodge, J. D. Vervoort, C. M. Fanning, D. M. Brecke, G. L. Farmer, I. S. Williams, P. M. Myrow, and D. J. DePaolo
Science 11 July 2008: 235-240.
A glacial boulder in Antarctica, and other data, confirm that East Antarctica and Australia were linked to western North America in a supercontinent 1 billion years ago. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Anticrack Nucleation as Triggering Mechanism for Snow Slab Avalanches

J. Heierli, P. Gumbsch, and M. Zaiser
Science 11 July 2008: 240-243.
The nature of microcracks in snow on a steep slope, not just their angle, helps determine whether the pile simply collapses under its own weight or shears off as an avalanche. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Micelles Protect Membrane Complexes from Solution to Vacuum

Nelson P. Barrera, Natalie Di Bartolo, Paula J. Booth, and Carol V. Robinson
Science 11 July 2008: 243-246.
Published online 12 June 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1159292] (in Science Express Reports)
Gas-phase lipid micelles protect a large complex of membrane proteins, allowing its subunit composition and ligand binding to be assessed by mass spectrometry. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Structural Basis of Trans-Inhibition in a Molybdate/Tungstate ABC Transporter

Sabina Gerber, Mireia Comellas-Bigler, Birke A. Goetz, and Kaspar P. Locher
Science 11 July 2008: 246-250.
Published online 29 May 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1156213] (in Science Express Reports)
A class of membrane transporters is subject to product inhibition: The imported substrate binds to a regulatory domain that sterically inhibits further ATP hydrolysis. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

The High-Affinity E. coli Methionine ABC Transporter: Structure and Allosteric Regulation

Neena S. Kadaba, Jens T. Kaiser, Eric Johnson, Allen Lee, and Douglas C. Rees
Science 11 July 2008: 250-253.
The structure of the methionine transporter illustrates how increased levels of methionine stabilize an inactive state to inhibit further translocation. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Structural Basis for Specific Substrate Recognition by the Chloroplast Signal Recognition Particle Protein cpSRP43

Katharina F. Stengel, Iris Holdermann, Peter Cain, Colin Robinson, Klemens Wild, and Irmgard Sinning
Science 11 July 2008: 253-256.
A protein subunit of the signal recognition particle that directs chlorophyll binding proteins to the chloroplast replaces RNA and causes posttranslational function. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Genetic Determinants of Self Identity and Social Recognition in Bacteria

Karine A. Gibbs, Mark L. Urbanowski, and E. Peter Greenberg
Science 11 July 2008: 256-259.
The ability of clones of a pathogenic bacterium to distinguish themselves from one another resides in a six-gene locus with interrelated recognition functions. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Modulation of Gene Expression via Disruption of NF-B Signaling by a Bacterial Small Molecule

Vladimir V. Kravchenko, Gunnar F. Kaufmann, John C. Mathison, David A. Scott, Alexander Z. Katz, David C. Grauer, Mandy Lehmann, Michael M. Meijler, Kim D. Janda, and Richard J. Ulevitch
Science 11 July 2008: 259-263.
Published online 19 June 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1156499] (in Science Express Reports)
A small molecule produced by common pathogenic bacterium inhibits the activity of a key immune transcription factor. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Drug Target Identification Using Side-Effect Similarity

Monica Campillos, Michael Kuhn, Anne-Claude Gavin, Lars Juhl Jensen, and Peer Bork
Science 11 July 2008: 263-266.
By finding drugs that share similar side effects, several new drug targets were predicted and experimentally confirmed, suggesting a route to identifying new therapeutic agents. Abstract »|   Full Text »|   PDF »|   Supporting Online Material »|  

Technical Comments

Comment on "Genetically Determined Differences in Learning from Errors"

Michael Lucht and Dieter Rosskopf
Science 11 July 2008: 200.
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Response to Comment on "Genetically Determined Differences in Learning from Errors"

Tilmann A. Klein, Martin Reuter, D. Yves von Cramon, and Markus Ullsperger
Science 11 July 2008: 200.
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