Science news

• Pluto Flyby Turns One! New Horizons Mission Celebrates Anniversary

  14-07-2016 23:56
  
  One year ago today, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft lifted the veil on mysterious, faraway Pluto. New Horizons' observations revealed Pluto to be a staggeringly complex and dynamic world, with towering water-ice mountains, vast plains of frozen nitrogen, surprisingly blue skies and a myriad of other intriguing features, including a huge "heart" that found its way onto Twitter feeds and T-shirts around the globe.
  
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• One island in the Philippines is home to the greatest collection of unique mammal species

  14-07-2016 23:01
  
  Of 56 non-flying mammals now known to live on Luzon island, 52 are found nowhere else on Earth.
  
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• Pre-stroke risk factors influence long-term future stroke, dementia risk

  14-07-2016 22:33
  If you had heart disease risk factors, such as high blood pressure, before your first stoke, your risk of suffering subsequent strokes and dementia long after your initial stroke may be higher. Taking good care of your heart disease risk factors -- even if you have never experienced a stroke -- is not only important to prevent the first stroke, but it can go a long way to prevent a second stroke and dementia, say researchers.
  
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• Physical cause for cell death in dry preservation of embryos

  14-07-2016 22:33
  Brine shrimp do it, water bears do it, why can't we dry preserve snow leopard or golden toad embryos and keep them on the shelf? A new study has determined that a critical issue in dry preserving whole cells may lie in the late-stage dynamics of sugar molecules as they transition into a glass state. The finding suggests possible solutions.
  
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• Over 20 countries environmentally suitable for Ebola transmission by bats

  14-07-2016 22:33
  Though the West African Ebola outbreak that began in 2013 is now under control, 23 countries remain environmentally suitable for animal-to-human transmission of the Ebola virus. Only seven of these countries have experienced cases of Ebola, leaving the remaining 16 countries potentially unaware of regions of suitability, and therefore underprepared for future outbreaks. A new study reports these findings and more in the journal eLife.
  
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• Nearly a third of Hispanics in Texas don't have health insurance

  14-07-2016 22:33
  The percentage of Hispanics in Texas without health insurance has dropped by 30 percent since the Affordable Care Act went into effect, but almost one-third of Hispanic Texans ages 18 to 64 remain uninsured, shows a new report.
  
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• Hybrid immune cells in early-stage lung cancer spur anti-tumor T cells to action

  14-07-2016 22:33
  Researchers have identified a unique subset of these cells that exhibit hybrid characteristics of two immune cell types -- neutrophils and antigen-presenting cells -- in samples from early-stage human lung cancers. This is the first study to describe this phenomenon in a human tumor.
  
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• Gauging stem cells for regenerative medicine

  14-07-2016 22:33
  A new benchmark for generating the most primitive type of stem cell has been described by scientists in a new report. While stem cells--cells that have the potential to differentiate into other types of cells--exist in adult humans, the most useful stem cells are those found in embryos, which are pluripotent, capable of becoming nearly any cell in the body.
  
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• [Working Life] Wearing my disability with pride

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Author: Zachary S. Wiersma
  
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• [This Week in Science] Turning the corner

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Author: H. Jesse Smith
  
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• [This Week in Science] Transmitting signals across the synapse

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Author: Valda Vinson
  
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• [This Week in Science] This is no time to be a butterfly

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Author: Julia Fahrenkamp-Uppenbrink
  
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• [This Week in Science] Thinning a ferroelectric makes it better

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Author: Jelena Stajic
  
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• [This Week in Science] The innate wisdom of ducklings

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Author: Sacha Vignieri
  
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• [This Week in Science] The heat is on

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Author: H. Jesse Smith
  
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• [This Week in Science] Sending neural stem cells back to the garage

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Author: Pamela J. Hines
  
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• [This Week in Science] Making the forbidden allowed

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Author: Ian S. Osborne
  
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• [This Week in Science] How the ER manages mitochondrial division

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Author: Stella M. Hurtley
  
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• [This Week in Science] Driven to collapse

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Author: Brent Grocholski
  
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• [This Week in Science] Crossing “safe” limits for biodiversity loss

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Author: Andrew M. Sugden
  
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• [This Week in Science] Carbon nanotubes boost battery storage

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Author: Zakya H. Kafafi
  
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• [This Week in Science] C9ORF72, a suppressor of autoimmunity?

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Author: Orla M. Smith
  
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• [This Week in Science] Adaptors conduct the EGFR symphony

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Author: Leslie K. Ferrarelli
  
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• [Special Issue Review] Human influence on tropical cyclone intensity

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Recent assessments agree that tropical cyclone intensity should increase as the climate warms. Less agreement exists on the detection of recent historical trends in tropical cyclone intensity. We interpret future and recent historical trends by using the theory of potential intensity, which predicts the maximum intensity achievable by a tropical cyclone in a given local environment. Although greenhouse gas–driven warming increases potential intensity, climate model simulations suggest that aer
  
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• [Special Issue Review] Global trends in satellite-based emergency mapping

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Over the past 15 years, scientists and disaster responders have increasingly used satellite-based Earth observations for global rapid assessment of disaster situations. We review global trends in satellite rapid response and emergency mapping from 2000 to 2014, analyzing more than 1000 incidents in which satellite monitoring was used for assessing major disaster situations. We provide a synthesis of spatial patterns and temporal trends in global satellite emergency mapping efforts and show that
  
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• [Special Issue Review] Connecting slow earthquakes to huge earthquakes

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Slow earthquakes are characterized by a wide spectrum of fault slip behaviors and seismic radiation patterns that differ from those of traditional earthquakes. However, slow earthquakes and huge megathrust earthquakes can have common slip mechanisms and are located in neighboring regions of the seismogenic zone. The frequent occurrence of slow earthquakes may help to reveal the physics underlying megathrust events as useful analogs. Slow earthquakes may function as stress meters because of their
  
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• [Special Issue News] Thinking the Unthinkable

  14-07-2016 21:45
  What are the greatest threats to humanity and human civilization? Scholars think a self-induced catastrophe such as nuclear war or a bioengineered pandemic is most likely to do us in. But extreme natural hazards—including threats from space and geologic upheavals here on Earth—could also do the job. Although common, moderately severe disasters such as earthquakes attract far more funding and attention than low-probability apocalyptic ones, a handful of researchers persists in thinking the un
  
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• [Special Issue News] Doomsday Machines

  14-07-2016 21:45
  In San Diego, California, a six-story tower riddled with strain gauges and accelerometers rises from the platform of one of the world's biggest earthquake machines. This device—a sort of bull ride for buildings—is one in a network built around the United States to advance natural disaster science with more realistic and sophisticated tests. The National Science Foundation initiative has helped scientists simulate some of the most powerful and destructive forces on Earth, including earthquake
  
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• [Research Article] Shrinking light to allow forbidden transitions on the atomic scale

  14-07-2016 21:45
  The diversity of light-matter interactions accessible to a system is limited by the small size of an atom relative to the wavelength of the light it emits, as well as by the small value of the fine-structure constant. We developed a general theory of light-matter interactions with two-dimensional systems supporting plasmons. These plasmons effectively make the fine-structure constant larger and bridge the size gap between atom and light. This theory reveals that conventionally forbidden light-ma
  
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• [Research Article] Gradual caldera collapse at Bárdarbunga volcano, Iceland, regulated by lateral magma outflow

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Large volcanic eruptions on Earth commonly occur with a collapse of the roof of a crustal magma reservoir, forming a caldera. Only a few such collapses occur per century, and the lack of detailed observations has obscured insight into the mechanical interplay between collapse and eruption. We use multiparameter geophysical and geochemical data to show that the 110-square-kilometer and 65-meter-deep collapse of Bárdarbunga caldera in 2014–2015 was initiated through withdrawal of magma, and lat
  
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• [Research Article] ER-mitochondria contacts couple mtDNA synthesis with mitochondrial division in human cells

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) encodes RNAs and proteins critical for cell function. In human cells, hundreds to thousands of mtDNA copies are replicated asynchronously, packaged into protein-DNA nucleoids, and distributed within a dynamic mitochondrial network. The mechanisms that govern how nucleoids are chosen for replication and distribution are not understood. Mitochondrial distribution depends on division, which occurs at endoplasmic reticulum (ER)–mitochondria contact sites. These sites were
  
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• [Research Article] Emergence of healing in the Antarctic ozone layer

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Industrial chlorofluorocarbons that cause ozone depletion have been phased out under the Montreal Protocol. A chemically driven increase in polar ozone (or “healing”) is expected in response to this historic agreement. Observations and model calculations together indicate that healing of the Antarctic ozone layer has now begun to occur during the month of September. Fingerprints of September healing since 2000 include (i) increases in ozone column amounts, (ii) changes in the vertical profil
  
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• [Report] Structural basis for integration of GluD receptors within synaptic organizer complexes

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Ionotropic glutamate receptor (iGluR) family members are integrated into supramolecular complexes that modulate their location and function at excitatory synapses. However, a lack of structural information beyond isolated receptors or fragments thereof currently limits the mechanistic understanding of physiological iGluR signaling. Here, we report structural and functional analyses of the prototypical molecular bridge linking postsynaptic iGluR δ2 (GluD2) and presynaptic β-neurexin 1 (β-NRX1)
  
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• [Report] Return to quiescence of mouse neural stem cells by degradation of a proactivation protein

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Quiescence is essential for long-term maintenance of adult stem cells. Niche signals regulate the transit of stem cells from dormant to activated states. Here, we show that the E3-ubiquitin ligase Huwe1 (HECT, UBA, and WWE domain–containing 1) is required for proliferating stem cells of the adult mouse hippocampus to return to quiescence. Huwe1 destabilizes proactivation protein Ascl1 (achaete-scute family bHLH transcription factor 1) in proliferating hippocampal stem cells, which prevents acc
  
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• [Report] Ocean forcing of glacier retreat in the western Antarctic Peninsula

  14-07-2016 21:45
  In recent decades, hundreds of glaciers draining the Antarctic Peninsula (63° to 70°S) have undergone systematic and progressive change. These changes are widely attributed to rapid increases in regional surface air temperature, but it is now clear that this cannot be the sole driver. Here, we identify a strong correspondence between mid-depth ocean temperatures and glacier-front changes along the ~1000-kilometer western coastline. In the south, glaciers that terminate in warm Circumpolar Deep
  
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• [Report] Has land use pushed terrestrial biodiversity beyond the planetary boundary? A global assessment

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Land use and related pressures have reduced local terrestrial biodiversity, but it is unclear how the magnitude of change relates to the recently proposed planetary boundary (“safe limit”). We estimate that land use and related pressures have already reduced local biodiversity intactness—the average proportion of natural biodiversity remaining in local ecosystems—beyond its recently proposed planetary boundary across 58.1% of the world’s land surface, where 71.4% of the human populatio
  
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• [Report] Ducklings imprint on the relational concept of “same or different”

  14-07-2016 21:45
  The ability to identify and retain logical relations between stimuli and apply them to novel stimuli is known as relational concept learning. This has been demonstrated in a few animal species after extensive reinforcement training, and it reveals the brain’s ability to deal with abstract properties. Here we describe relational concept learning in newborn ducklings without reinforced training. Newly hatched domesticated mallards that were briefly exposed to a pair of objects that were either t
  
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• [Report] Discovery of robust in-plane ferroelectricity in atomic-thick SnTe

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Stable ferroelectricity with high transition temperature in nanostructures is needed for miniaturizing ferroelectric devices. Here, we report the discovery of the stable in-plane spontaneous polarization in atomic-thick tin telluride (SnTe), down to a 1–unit cell (UC) limit. The ferroelectric transition temperature Tc of 1-UC SnTe film is greatly enhanced from the bulk value of 98 kelvin and reaches as high as 270 kelvin. Moreover, 2- to 4-UC SnTe films show robust ferroelectricity at room tem
  
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• [Report] Chromatin remodeling inactivates activity genes and regulates neural coding

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Activity-dependent transcription influences neuronal connectivity, but the roles and mechanisms of inactivation of activity-dependent genes have remained poorly understood. Genome-wide analyses in the mouse cerebellum revealed that the nucleosome remodeling and deacetylase (NuRD) complex deposits the histone variant H2A.z at promoters of activity-dependent genes, thereby triggering their inactivation. Purification of translating messenger RNAs from synchronously developing granule neurons (Sync-
  
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• [Policy Forum] Crisis informatics—New data for extraordinary times

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Crisis informatics is a multidisciplinary field combining computing and social science knowledge of disasters; its central tenet is that people use personal information and communication technology to respond to disaster in creative ways to cope with uncertainty. We study and develop computational support for collection and sociobehavioral analysis of online participation (i.e., tweets and Facebook posts) to address challenges in disaster warning, response, and recovery. Because such data are ra
  
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• [Perspective] Thinking abstractly like a duck(ling)

  14-07-2016 21:45
  In the film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, when one of a trio of bungling prison escapees angrily asks another, “Who elected you leader of this outfit?” his buddy smugly quips, “I figured it should be the one with the capacity for abstract thought.” Indeed, abstract conceptual thought is held to be so central to being human that the idea of someone being incapable of this kind of thinking is a subject for (sometimes rather cruel) humor. Interest in understanding the capacity for abstract th
  
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• [Perspective] How much biodiversity loss is too much?

  14-07-2016 21:45
  How much of something do we need to keep people safe and well? This question is frequently asked by those working in risk management. Across diverse sectors from flood protection to health care, practitioners assess risk as the product of the impact of a given event and the probability of its occurrence. Although these estimates are often uncertain, policy-makers must ultimately make spending decisions aimed at averting these risks, because the costs of inaction to society can be substantial. Bi
  
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• [Perspective] Ferroelectric chalcogenides—materials at the edge

  14-07-2016 21:45
  A ferroelectric material possesses an intrinsic electric dipole (polarization) whose direction can be reversed with an applied field. Applications of ferroelectrics include nonvolatile memories and sensors, but for high-density electronic devices or nanoscale devices, a limitation has been that as a ferroelectric film gets thinner, the maximum temperature for retaining the dipole—the Curie temperature Tc—decreases (often well below room temperature). On page 274 of this issue, Chang et al. (
  
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• [Perspective] Chromatin controls behavior

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Chromatin structure stabilizes and compacts the genome to package it within the nucleus. This structure also serves as a dynamic regulator of gene expression, silencing or activating transcription depending on molecular signals impinging upon it. It has been understood for the past two decades that chromatin stabilizes gene readout after cell-fate determination, establishing and perpetuating the precise pattern of genes transcribed in a given cell to maintain its phenotype (1, 2). But what about
  
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• [Perspective] Butterfly communities under threat

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Butterflies are better documented and monitored worldwide than any other nonpest taxon of insects (1). In the United Kingdom alone, volunteer recorders have sampled more than 750,000 km of repeat transects since 1976, equivalent to walking to the Moon and back counting butterflies (2). Such programs are revealing regional extinctions and population declines that began before 1900 (3, 4). In a recent study, Habel et al. report a similar story based on inventories of butterflies and burnet moths s
  
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• [Letter] Mining undermining Brazil's environment

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Authors: Hani Rocha El Bizri, Jonathan Christopher Bausch Macedo, Adriano Pereira Paglia, Thaís Queiroz Morcatty
  
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• [Letter] Brazil's Amazonian fish at risk by decree

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Authors: R. M. Tófoli, G. H. Z. Alves, R. M. Dias, L. C. Gomes
  
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• [Letter] Brazil's Amazon conservation in peril

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Authors: Rafael M. Almeida, Thomas E. Lovejoy, Fábio Roland
  
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• [Introduction to Special Issue] Nature's Fury

  14-07-2016 21:45
  Authors: Brent Grocholski, Robert Coontz
  
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• [Feature] The Avenger

  14-07-2016 21:45
  David Fajgenbaum was in his third year of medical school at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) 6 years ago, on an obstetrics-gynecology rotation, when he was first hit by night sweats, fatigue, and weight loss. His eventual diagnosis: a deadly form of Castleman disease, a rare immune disorder for which knowledge was in depressingly short supply. So Fajgenbaum decided to dedicate himself to taking down this disease. He abandoned plans to become an oncologist, skipped medical residency, and
  
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