Science news

• Dali helps scientists crack our brain code

  21-04-2016 23:51 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists at Glasgow University establish a world first by cracking the communication code of our brains.
  
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• Smallest Full Moon of 2016: See the Slooh Webcast Tonight

  21-04-2016 23:43
  
  The full moon of April, which is traditionally known as the Full Pink Moon or Pink Full Moon, actually occurs on Friday night (April 22). This year, April's full moon will be the smallest of the year because the moon will be at the farthest point from Earth in its elliptical orbit. "As the Earth and moon move to their furthest points from each other, we'll all get a unique chance to see the full moon as it appears smallest to us here on Earth … a 'mini' moon, and a Pink Full Moo
  
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• British Astronaut to Queen Elizabeth II: Happy Birthday from Space!

  21-04-2016 23:43
  
  The United Kingdom is marking the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II — its longest-reigning monarch — with a massive celebration today (April 21). "#HappyBirthdayYourMajesty," Peake wrote in the simple message, which was repeated in hand-drawn block letters on a sheet of three-ring binder paper. Peake snapped the photo in the space station's Cupola, an observation room that offers panoramic views of Earth (which was a brilliant blue with some clouds in the image).
  
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• Lawmakers chain themselves to Venezuela election board in protest

  21-04-2016 23:25
  Opposition legislators demanding paperwork needed to help activate a recall referendum against President Nicolas Maduro chained themselves on Thursday to a stairway of Venezuela's election board. The incident, led by members of the Justice First party, underlined the deep political tensions in Venezuela where the opposition is seeking to unseat socialist Maduro via popular pressure, a referendum or a constitutional amendment. Government-leaning institutions are blocking them at every turn, with
  
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• Science Moves and Shakes Time's Top 100 List

  21-04-2016 23:05 via rss.sciam.com
  
  Scientists, engineers and tech developers earn spots on magazine’s list of the year’s most influential people
  -- Read more on ScientificAmerican.com
  
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• [Working Life] Growth can come in phases

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: He Fu
  
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• [This Week in Science] Unveiling the Zika virus

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: Valda Vinson
  
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• [This Week in Science] Transcription factors define tissue T cells

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: Kristen L. Mueller
  
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• [This Week in Science] Training immune cells to remember

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: Kristen L. Mueller
  
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• [This Week in Science] Tiny giant

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: Sacha Vignieri
  
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• [This Week in Science] The fattening effect of ghrelin

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: Wei Wong
  
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• [This Week in Science] Reducing the risk of rearrangement

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: Kristen L. Mueller
  
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• [This Week in Science] Reducing food loss and waste

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: Julia Fahrenkamp-Uppenbrink
  
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• [This Week in Science] Rare gene knockouts in adult humans

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: Laura M. Zahn
  
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• [This Week in Science] Molten rock underlies North Korean volcano

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: Kip Hodges
  
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• [This Week in Science] Linked loci and Galapagos finch size

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: Laura M. Zahn
  
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• [This Week in Science] Hydrogen atom makes graphene magnetic

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: Jelena Stajic
  
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• [This Week in Science] Flu immunity shows its age

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: Kristen L. Mueller
  
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• [This Week in Science] Erosion overwhelmed by eruption

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: Brent Grocholski
  
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• [This Week in Science] Enzymes make fertilizer with sunlight

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: Nicholas S. Wigginton
  
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• [This Week in Science] Electron pulses under control

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: Ian S. Osborne
  
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• [This Week in Science] Correlating an atomic condensate

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: Jelena Stajic
  
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• [This Week in Science] Copper adds alkyls asymmetrically

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: Jake Yeston
  
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• [This Week in Science] A gain in pain control

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: Orla M. Smith
  
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• [This Week in Science] A close-up view of cardiac cell mechanics

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Author: Stella M. Hurtley
  
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• [Technical Response] Response to Comments on “Slow adaptation in the face of rapid warming leads to collapse of the Gulf of Maine cod fishery”

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Palmer et al. and Swain et al. suggest that our “extra mortality” time series is spurious. In response, we show that including temperature-dependent mortality improves abundance estimates and that warming waters reduce growth rates in Gulf of Maine cod. Far from being spurious, temperature effects on this stock are clear, and continuing to ignore them puts the stock in jeopardy.
  Authors: Andrew J. Pershing, Michael A. Alexander, Christina M. Hernandez, Lisa A. Kerr, Arnault Le Bris, Katherin
  
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• [Technical Comment] Comment on “Slow adaptation in the face of rapid warming leads to collapse of the Gulf of Maine cod fishery”

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Pershing et al. (Reports, 13 November, p. 809) concluded that failure to account for temperature in the assessment and management of Gulf of Maine Atlantic cod caused overfishing. We argue that the “extra mortality” calculation driving this conclusion is an artifact. Environmental factors affect all stocks, but attribution of additional mortality to temperature alone by Pershing et al. is unsupported by the data.
  Authors: Michael C. Palmer, Jonathan J. Deroba, Christopher M. Legault, Elizabe
  
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• [Review] Trained immunity: A program of innate immune memory in health and disease

  21-04-2016 22:36
  The general view that only adaptive immunity can build immunological memory has recently been challenged. In organisms lacking adaptive immunity, as well as in mammals, the innate immune system can mount resistance to reinfection, a phenomenon termed “trained immunity” or “innate immune memory.” Trained immunity is orchestrated by epigenetic reprogramming, broadly defined as sustained changes in gene expression and cell physiology that do not involve permanent genetic changes such as mut
  
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• [Research Article] Detyrosinated microtubules buckle and bear load in contracting cardiomyocytes

  21-04-2016 22:36
  The microtubule (MT) cytoskeleton can transmit mechanical signals and resist compression in contracting cardiomyocytes. How MTs perform these roles remains unclear because of difficulties in observing MTs during the rapid contractile cycle. Here, we used high spatial and temporal resolution imaging to characterize MT behavior in beating mouse myocytes. MTs deformed under contractile load into sinusoidal buckles, a behavior dependent on posttranslational “detyrosination” of α-tubulin. Detyro
  
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• [Research Article] All-optical control and metrology of electron pulses

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Short electron pulses are central to time-resolved atomic-scale diffraction and electron microscopy, streak cameras, and free-electron lasers. We demonstrate phase-space control and characterization of 5-picometer electron pulses using few-cycle terahertz radiation, extending concepts of microwave electron pulse compression and streaking to terahertz frequencies. Optical-field control of electron pulses provides synchronism to laser pulses and offers a temporal resolution that is ultimately limi
  
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• [Report] The 3.8 Å resolution cryo-EM structure of Zika virus

  21-04-2016 22:36
  The recent rapid spread of Zika virus and its unexpected linkage to birth defects and an autoimmune neurological syndrome have generated worldwide concern. Zika virus is a flavivirus like the dengue, yellow fever, and West Nile viruses. We present the 3.8 angstrom resolution structure of mature Zika virus, determined by cryo–electron microscopy (cryo-EM). The structure of Zika virus is similar to other known flavivirus structures, except for the ~10 amino acids that surround the Asn154 glycosy
  
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• [Report] RNA-binding proteins ZFP36L1 and ZFP36L2 promote cell quiescence

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Progression through the stages of lymphocyte development requires coordination of the cell cycle. Such coordination ensures genomic integrity while cells somatically rearrange their antigen receptor genes [in a process called variable-diversity-joining (VDJ) recombination] and, upon successful rearrangement, expands the pools of progenitor lymphocytes. Here we show that in developing B lymphocytes, the RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) ZFP36L1 and ZFP36L2 are critical for maintaining quiescence before
  
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• [Report] Precocity in a tiny titanosaur from the Cretaceous of Madagascar

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Sauropod dinosaurs exhibit the largest ontogenetic size range among terrestrial vertebrates, but a dearth of very young individuals has hindered understanding of the beginning of their growth trajectory. A new specimen of Rapetosaurus krausei sheds light on early life in the smallest stage of one of the largest dinosaurs. Bones record rapid growth rates and hatching lines, indicating that this individual weighed ~3.4 kilograms at hatching. Just several weeks later, when it likely succumbed to st
  
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• [Report] Mx1 reveals innate pathways to antiviral resistance and lethal influenza disease

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Influenza A virus (IAV) causes up to half a million deaths worldwide annually, 90% of which occur in older adults. We show that IAV-infected monocytes from older humans have impaired antiviral interferon production but retain intact inflammasome responses. To understand the in vivo consequence, we used mice expressing a functional Mx gene encoding a major interferon-induced effector against IAV in humans. In Mx1-intact mice with weakened resistance due to deficiencies in Mavs and Tlr7, we found
  
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• [Report] Light-driven dinitrogen reduction catalyzed by a CdS:nitrogenase MoFe protein biohybrid

  21-04-2016 22:36
  The splitting of dinitrogen (N2) and reduction to ammonia (NH3) is a kinetically complex and energetically challenging multistep reaction. In the Haber-Bosch process, N2 reduction is accomplished at high temperature and pressure, whereas N2 fixation by the enzyme nitrogenase occurs under ambient conditions using chemical energy from adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) hydrolysis. We show that cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanocrystals can be used to photosensitize the nitrogenase molybdenum-iron (MoFe) pr
  
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• [Report] Hobit and Blimp1 instruct a universal transcriptional program of tissue residency in lymphocytes

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Tissue-resident memory T (Trm) cells permanently localize to portals of pathogen entry, where they provide immediate protection against reinfection. To enforce tissue retention, Trm cells up-regulate CD69 and down-regulate molecules associated with tissue egress; however, a Trm-specific transcriptional regulator has not been identified. Here, we show that the transcription factor Hobit is specifically up-regulated in Trm cells and, together with related Blimp1, mediates the development of Trm ce
  
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• [Report] Health and population effects of rare gene knockouts in adult humans with related parents

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Examining complete gene knockouts within a viable organism can inform on gene function. We sequenced the exomes of 3222 British adults of Pakistani heritage with high parental relatedness, discovering 1111 rare-variant homozygous genotypes with predicted loss of function (knockouts) in 781 genes. We observed 13.7% fewer homozygous knockout genotypes than we expected, implying an average load of 1.6 recessive-lethal-equivalent loss-of-function (LOF) variants per adult. When genetic data were link
  
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• [Report] Continental arc volcanism as the principal driver of icehouse-greenhouse variability

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Variations in continental volcanic arc emissions have the potential to control atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels and climate change on multimillion-year time scales. Here we present a compilation of ~120,000 detrital zircon uranium-lead (U-Pb) ages from global sedimentary deposits as a proxy to track the spatial distribution of continental magmatic arc systems from the Cryogenian period to the present. These data demonstrate a direct relationship between global arc activity and major clima
  
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• [Report] Catalytic asymmetric addition of Grignard reagents to alkenyl-substituted aromatic N-heterocycles

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Catalytic asymmetric conjugate addition reactions represent a powerful strategy to access chiral molecules in contemporary organic synthesis. However, their applicability to conjugated alkenyl-N-heteroaromatic compounds, of particular interest in medicinal chemistry, has lagged behind applications to other substrates. We report a highly enantioselective and chemoselective catalytic transformation of a wide range of β-substituted conjugated alkenyl-N-heteroaromatics to their corresponding chiral
  
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• [Report] Bell correlations in a Bose-Einstein condensate

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Characterizing many-body systems through the quantum correlations between their constituent particles is a major goal of quantum physics. Although entanglement is routinely observed in many systems, we report here the detection of stronger correlations—Bell correlations—between the spins of about 480 atoms in a Bose-Einstein condensate. We derive a Bell correlation witness from a many-particle Bell inequality involving only one- and two-body correlation functions. Our measurement on a spin-s
  
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• [Report] Atomic-scale control of graphene magnetism by using hydrogen atoms

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Isolated hydrogen atoms absorbed on graphene are predicted to induce magnetic moments. Here we demonstrate that the adsorption of a single hydrogen atom on graphene induces a magnetic moment characterized by a ~20–millielectron volt spin-split state at the Fermi energy. Our scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) experiments, complemented by first-principles calculations, show that such a spin-polarized state is essentially localized on the carbon sublattice opposite to the one where the hydrogen
  
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• [Report] A beak size locus in Darwin’s finches facilitated character displacement during a drought

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Ecological character displacement is a process of morphological divergence that reduces competition for limited resources. We used genomic analysis to investigate the genetic basis of a documented character displacement event in Darwin’s finches on Daphne Major in the Galápagos Islands: The medium ground finch diverged from its competitor, the large ground finch, during a severe drought. We discovered a genomic region containing the HMGA2 gene that varies systematically among Darwin’s finch
  
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• [Policy Forum] Filling in biodiversity threat gaps

  21-04-2016 22:36
  The diversity of life on Earth—which provides vital services to humanity (1)—stems from the difference between rates of evolutionary diversification and extinction. Human activities have shifted the balance (2): Species extinction rates are an estimated 1000 times the “background” rate (3) and could increase to 10,000 times the background rate should species threatened with extinction succumb to pressures they face (4). Reversing these trends is a focus of the Convention on Biological Di
  
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• [Perspective] Waste not, want not, emit less

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Ensuring a sufficient supply of quality food for a growing human population is a major challenge, aggravated by climate change and already-strained natural resources. Food security requires production of some food surpluses to safeguard against unpredictable fluctuations (1). However, when food is wasted, not only has carbon been emitted to no avail, but disposal and decomposition in landfills create additional environmental impacts. Decreasing the current high scale of food waste is thus crucia
  
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• [Perspective] Risk literacy in medical decision-making

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Imagine that you have received a positive result on a routine cancer screening test. Follow-up biopsies were inconclusive, and the decision to treat aggressively or monitor conservatively is yours. Consider the following information: 0.1% of the population has a terminal version of this form of cancer, 99% of those people will appear positive on the test you have been administered, and 5% of those without terminal cancer will still have a benign condition that tests positive. Given your test res
  
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• [Perspective] Painting magnetism on a canvas of graphene

  21-04-2016 22:36
  An inherent aspect of any two-dimensional (2D) sheet is that all atoms in the material lie on the surface. This leads to a concept of 2D crystals as a “canvas,” where different chemical groups or “ink” on the surface can lead to a palette of distinct materials properties. The most well-studied 2D crystal is graphene, a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice. Although graphene's superlative materials properties and novel physical phenomena have led to a varie
  
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• [Perspective] Mineral clues to past volcanism

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Over tens to hundreds of millions of years, Earth's climate has repeatedly swung from icehouse, with large ice sheets like today, to greenhouse, when even near-polar climates were temperate (1). The modern paradigm attributes these swings to a dynamic interplay of volcanism, which spews carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, and the chemical weathering of rocks on land, which removes CO2 from the atmosphere (2). Documenting how these driving forces have varied through time has been a challeng
  
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• [Perspective] Electrons catch a terahertz wave

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Electron microscopy and diffraction are incredibly successful techniques for studying the structure of matter on the atomic scale. Making these techniques “ultrafast”—that is, using pulses of femtosecond duration—could provides us with unprecedented microscopic vistas into how materials evolve on time scales typical of atomic motions (1, 2). One of the key challenges in this research area is the controlled generation of short flashes of electrons. On page 429 of this issue, Kealhofer et
  
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• [Letter] Response—Invasive species shape evolution

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Authors: François Sarrazin, Jane Lecomte
  
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• [Letter] Invasive species shape evolution

  21-04-2016 22:36
  Authors: Philip E. Hulme, Johannes J. Le Roux
  
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