Science news

• Cosmic curveball: Is the universe expanding even faster?

  02-06-2016 23:59
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Astronomers thought they had a handle on how the universe ticks, but the cosmos may be toying with them.
  
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• Extinct otter species named after Grateful Dead guitarist

  02-06-2016 23:43
  BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A U.S. National Park Service paleontologist and Grateful Dead fan credited with identifying an extinct species of otter found in south-central Idaho has named it after the band's guitarist.
  
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• Fully synthetic humans? Proposed project could make it a reality

  02-06-2016 23:36 via cbc.ca
  
  A group of scientists on Thursday proposed an ambitious project to create a synthetic human genome, or genetic blueprint, in an endeavour that is bound to raise concerns over the extent to which human life can or should be engineered.
  
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• Study suggests dogs first appeared in 2 places in Eurasia

  02-06-2016 23:00
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — The long-debated question of where dogs first appeared has always been complex, and now a new study suggests it may have two answers.
  
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• Tasmanian devil returns to San Diego Zoo after pacemaker surgery

  02-06-2016 22:49
  
  (Reuters) - A Tasmanian devil named Nick is back in his exhibit area at the San Diego Zoo after receiving a pacemaker to make his heartbeat normal.
  
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• Flash of light, loud boom over Phoenix skies likely a meteor

  02-06-2016 22:41
  
  PHOENIX (AP) — An expert in meteorites says a bright flashing light and loud boom over the skies in metro Phoenix looks like a single meteor burning up as it entered the Earth's atmosphere at thousands of miles per hour.
  
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• [Working Life] Flying free before building my nest

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: Antoni Margalida
  
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• [This Week in Science] Why rapamycin is a good immunosuppressant

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: John F. Foley
  
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• [This Week in Science] TT-Seq maps a transient transcriptome

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: Laura M. Zahn
  
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• [This Week in Science] Probing magnetic reconnection in space

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: Keith T. Smith
  
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• [This Week in Science] Orbitals and charge go their separate ways

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: Jelena Stajic
  
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• [This Week in Science] Multifunction planar optics

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: Ian S. Osborne
  
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• [This Week in Science] Microplastic's triple threat

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: Sacha Vignieri
  
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• [This Week in Science] Making cardiac cells from fibroblasts

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: Beverly A. Purnell
  
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• [This Week in Science] Immune activation in context

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: Kristen L. Mueller
  
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• [This Week in Science] Basic principles of cancer metabolism

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: Ali Stilatifard
  
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• [This Week in Science] At risk by association

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: Megan Frisk
  
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• [This Week in Science] Artificial photosynthesis steps up

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: Nicholas S. Wigginton
  
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• [This Week in Science] A radio view into Jupiter's atmosphere

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: Keith T. Smith
  
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• [This Week in Science] A nuclear power source in the cell

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: Guy Riddihough
  
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• [This Week in Science] A network view of life's beginnings

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: Julia Fahrenkamp-Uppenbrink
  
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• [This Week in Science] A dogged investigation of domestication

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: Laura M. Zahn
  
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• [This Week in Science] A close-up look at eight water molecules

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: Jake Yeston
  
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• [This Week in Science] A balancing act in modifying chromatin

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: Beverly A. Purnell
  
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• [Review] Epigenetic balance of gene expression by Polycomb and COMPASS families

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Epigenetic regulation of gene expression in metazoans is central for establishing cellular diversity, and its deregulation can result in pathological conditions. Although transcription factors are essential for implementing gene expression programs, they do not function in isolation and require the recruitment of various chromatin-modifying and -remodeling machineries. A classic example of developmental chromatin regulation is the balanced activities of the Polycomb group (PcG) proteins within t
  
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• [Research Article] Metalenses at visible wavelengths: Diffraction-limited focusing and subwavelength resolution imaging

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Subwavelength resolution imaging requires high numerical aperture (NA) lenses, which are bulky and expensive. Metasurfaces allow the miniaturization of conventional refractive optics into planar structures. We show that high-aspect-ratio titanium dioxide metasurfaces can be fabricated and designed as metalenses with NA = 0.8. Diffraction-limited focusing is demonstrated at wavelengths of 405, 532, and 660 nm with corresponding efficiencies of 86, 73, and 66%. The metalenses can resolve nanoscale
  
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• [Research Article] Electron-scale measurements of magnetic reconnection in space

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Magnetic reconnection is a fundamental physical process in plasmas whereby stored magnetic energy is converted into heat and kinetic energy of charged particles. Reconnection occurs in many astrophysical plasma environments and in laboratory plasmas. Using measurements with very high time resolution, NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission has found direct evidence for electron demagnetization and acceleration at sites along the sunward boundary of Earth’s magnetosphere where the inte
  
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• [Report] Water splitting–biosynthetic system with CO2 reduction efficiencies exceeding photosynthesis

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Artificial photosynthetic systems can store solar energy and chemically reduce CO2. We developed a hybrid water splitting–biosynthetic system based on a biocompatible Earth-abundant inorganic catalyst system to split water into molecular hydrogen and oxygen (H2 and O2) at low driving voltages. When grown in contact with these catalysts, Ralstonia eutropha consumed the produced H2 to synthesize biomass and fuels or chemical products from low CO2 concentration in the presence of O2. This scalabl
  
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• [Report] TT-seq maps the human transient transcriptome

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Pervasive transcription of the genome produces both stable and transient RNAs. We developed transient transcriptome sequencing (TT-seq), a protocol that uniformly maps the entire range of RNA-producing units and estimates rates of RNA synthesis and degradation. Application of TT-seq to human K562 cells recovers stable messenger RNAs and long intergenic noncoding RNAs and additionally maps transient enhancer, antisense, and promoter-associated RNAs. TT-seq analysis shows that enhancer RNAs are sh
  
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• [Report] Structure and torsional dynamics of the water octamer from THz laser spectroscopy near 215 μm

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Clusters of eight water molecules play an important role in theoretical analysis of aqueous structure and dynamics but have proven to be challenging experimental targets. Here we report the high-resolution spectroscopic characterization of the water octamer. Terahertz (THz) vibration-rotation-tunneling (VRT) spectroscopy resolved 99 transitions with 1 part per million precision in a narrow range near 46.5 wave numbers, which were assigned to the h16 octamer via detailed isotope dilution experime
  
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• [Report] Photonic spin-controlled multifunctional shared-aperture antenna array

  02-06-2016 22:23
  The shared-aperture phased antenna array developed in the field of radar applications is a promising approach for increased functionality in photonics. The alliance between the shared-aperture concepts and the geometric phase phenomenon arising from spin-orbit interaction provides a route to implement photonic spin-control multifunctional metasurfaces. We adopted a thinning technique within the shared-aperture synthesis and investigated interleaved sparse nanoantenna matrices and the spin-enable
  
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• [Report] Peering through Jupiter’s clouds with radio spectral imaging

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Radio wavelengths can probe altitudes in Jupiter’s atmosphere below its visible cloud layers. We used the Very Large Array to map this unexplored region down to ~8 bar, ~100 kilometers below the visible clouds. Our maps reveal a dynamically active planet at pressures less than 2 to 3 bar. A radio-hot belt exists, consisting of relatively transparent regions (a low ammonia concentration, NH3 being the dominant source of opacity) probing depths to over ~8 bar; these regions probably coincide wit
  
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• [Report] Orbital-exchange and fractional quantum number excitations in an f-electron metal, Yb2Pt2Pb

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Exotic quantum states and fractionalized magnetic excitations, such as spinons in one-dimensional chains, are generally expected to occur in 3d transition metal systems with spin 1/2. Our neutron-scattering experiments on the 4f-electron metal Yb2Pt2Pb overturn this conventional wisdom. We observe broad magnetic continuum dispersing in only one direction, which indicates that the underlying elementary excitations are spinons carrying fractional spin-1/2. These spinons are the emergent quantum dy
  
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• [Report] Genomic and archaeological evidence suggests a dual origin of domestic dogs

  02-06-2016 22:23
  The geographic and temporal origins of dogs remain controversial. We generated genetic sequences from 59 ancient dogs and a complete (28x) genome of a late Neolithic dog (dated to ~4800 calendar years before the present) from Ireland. Our analyses revealed a deep split separating modern East Asian and Western Eurasian dogs. Surprisingly, the date of this divergence (~14,000 to 6400 years ago) occurs commensurate with, or several millennia after, the first appearance of dogs in Europe and East As
  
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• [Report] Environmentally relevant concentrations of microplastic particles influence larval fish ecology

  02-06-2016 22:23
  The widespread occurrence and accumulation of plastic waste in the environment have become a growing global concern over the past decade. Although some marine organisms have been shown to ingest plastic, few studies have investigated the ecological effects of plastic waste on animals. Here we show that exposure to environmentally relevant concentrations of microplastic polystyrene particles (90 micrometers) inhibits hatching, decreases growth rates, and alters feeding preferences and innate beha
  
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• [Report] Conversion of human fibroblasts into functional cardiomyocytes by small molecules

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Reprogramming somatic fibroblasts into alternative lineages would provide a promising source of cells for regenerative therapy. However, transdifferentiating human cells into specific homogeneous, functional cell types is challenging. Here we show that cardiomyocyte-like cells can be generated by treating human fibroblasts with a combination of nine compounds that we term 9C. The chemically induced cardiomyocyte-like cells uniformly contracted and resembled human cardiomyocytes in their transcri
  
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• [Report] An endogenous caspase-11 ligand elicits interleukin-1 release from living dendritic cells

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Dendritic cells (DCs) use pattern recognition receptors to detect microorganisms and activate protective immunity. These cells and receptors are thought to operate in an all-or-nothing manner, existing in an immunologically active or inactive state. Here, we report that encounters with microbial products and self-encoded oxidized phospholipids (oxPAPC) induce an enhanced DC activation state, which we call “hyperactive.” Hyperactive DCs induce potent adaptive immune responses and are elicited
  
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• [Report] ADP-ribose–derived nuclear ATP synthesis by NUDIX5 is required for chromatin remodeling

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Key nuclear processes in eukaryotes, including DNA replication, repair, and gene regulation, require extensive chromatin remodeling catalyzed by energy-consuming enzymes. It remains unclear how the ATP demands of such processes are met in response to rapid stimuli. We analyzed this question in the context of the massive gene regulation changes induced by progestins in breast cancer cells and found that ATP is generated in the cell nucleus via the hydrolysis of poly(ADP-ribose) to ADP-ribose. In
  
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• [Policy Forum] Aligning statistical and scientific reasoning

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Imagine the American Physical Society convening a panel of experts to issue a missive to the scientific community on the difference between weight and mass. And imagine that the impetus for such a message was a recognition that engineers and builders had been confusing these concepts for decades, making bridges, buildings, and other components of our physical infrastructure much weaker than previously suspected.
  Author: Steven N. Goodman
  
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• [Perspective] Photonic multitasking enabled with geometric phase

  02-06-2016 22:23
  The constructive and destructive interference of waves is often exploited in optics and signal transmission. The interference pattern is a direct measure of the phase difference between two or more beams. Such a phase difference may result from the difference between the optical paths traversed by the light beams. However, phase can change for a single beam if it propagates through an “anisotropic parameter space,” a medium that curves the light; this property is called geometric or topologi
  
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• [Perspective] Ecologically relevant data are policy-relevant data

  02-06-2016 22:23
  History tells us that the motivation for new environmental policy is much stronger when there is demonstrated ecological impact. Multinational agreements to stop the use of DDT followed the precipitous decline of predatory bird populations. Similarly, decisions to regulate emissions to prevent acid rain followed widespread degradation of aquatic habitats. Ideally, environmental policy should be catalyzed by scientific evidence rather than environmental catastrophe. As scientists, we can do our p
  
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• [Perspective] Drugging DNA repair

  02-06-2016 22:23
  All the cells in our bodies suffer many thousands of DNA lesions every day (1). The vast majority of these lesions are safely dealt with by cellular DNA repair and associated DNA damage response (DDR) activities that are, as a consequence, vital for life. Defects in or deregulation of our DNA repair/DDR systems are linked to many human pathologies (2). Yet, perhaps counterintuitively, pharmacological inhibitors of DNA repair/DDR have considerable potential in treating various human diseases, par
  
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• [Perspective] Connecting the dots in magnetic reconnection

  02-06-2016 22:23
  That plasmas don't mix well is a key aspect of this magnetized, highly conducting fourth state of matter. Magnetized plasmas are ubiquitous in our solar system, in astrophysics, and in the lab. The same fundamental process is common to solar flares, coronal mass ejections, the solar wind, the magnetospheres of Earth and other planets, comet tails, magnetars, and tokamaks. We know that plasma regions with embedded magnetic fields actually do spontaneously mix via the process of magnetic reconnect
  
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• [Perspective] Beyond prebiotic chemistry

  02-06-2016 22:23
  How can matter transition from the nonliving to the living state? The answer is essential for understanding the origin of life on Earth and for identifying promising targets in the search for life on other planets. Most studies have focused on the likely chemistry of RNA (1), protein (2), lipid, or metabolic “worlds” (3) and autocatalytic sets (4), including attempts to make life in the lab. But these efforts may be too narrowly focused on the biochemistry of life as we know it today. A radi
  
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• [Perspective] A lipid arsenal to control inflammation

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Innate immune cells act as a surveillance system, detecting and responding to pathogens and endogenous danger signals. The complex patterns of signals they receive are detected by a variety of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). On page 1232 of this issue, Zanoni et al. (1) find that innate immune responses to microbial products do not occur in a vacuum; rather, there is a complex array of danger signals in surrounding damaged tissue that can determine an immune cell type–specific response t
  
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• [Letter] No surprise that comb jellies poop

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: Sidney L. Tamm
  
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• [Letter] Federal barriers to Cannabis research

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Authors: Sarah See Stith, Jacob Miguel Vigil
  
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• [Letter] Digital identifiers for fungal species—Response

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Author: David Hibbett
  
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• [Letter] Digital identifiers for fungal species

  02-06-2016 22:23
  Authors: U. Kõljalg, L. Tedersoo, R. H. Nilsson, K. Abarenkov
  
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• [In Depth] Telescope and NASA mission get under Jupiter's skin

  02-06-2016 22:23
  This week, a ground-based radio telescope has revealed that, beneath a veil of haze and clouds on Jupiter, there exists a giant wave of ammonia that circles the planet north of its equator. And next month, the NASA Juno spacecraft will arrive and peer even deeper, into a suspected water layer, for clues to where and how the planet formed. The discovery of the ammonia wave helps resolve a mystery that has persisted since the Galileo probe fell into a hot spot in 1995, and it could help modelers u
  
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