In science news around the world, China plans a shake-up of how it funds science, researchers criticize a U.S. government pause on risky virus studies, a creationist meeting planned for Michigan State University stirs concerns, a U.S. government ethics office proposes new guidelines for clinical trials involving standard-of-care treatments, the National Institutes of Health funds 12 projects to support minority researchers, a scientist files a lawsuit against users of the PubPeer website, and more. Also, a global industry-academic consortium sets out to determine the structures of 200 membrane proteins, and researchers create a human stomach from stem cells. And a Google senior vice president breaks the record for the longest and fastest free fall. Articles and features from the latest issue of Science. IN BRIEF This weeks section In science news around the world, China plans a shake-up of how it funds science, researchers criticize a U.S. government pause on risky virus studies, a creationist meeting planned for Michigan State University stirs concerns, a U.S. government ethics office proposes new guidelines for clinical trials involving standard-of-care treatments, the National Institutes of Health funds 12 projects to support minority researchers, a scientist files a lawsuit against users of the PubPeer website, and more. Also, a global industry-academic consortium sets out to determine the structures of 200 membrane proteins, and researchers create a human stomach from stem cells. And a Google senior vice president breaks the record for the longest and fastest free fall. IN DEPTH Conservation Biology The coming salamander plague Erik Stokstad A fungus from Asia has been identified as a new threat to amphibians. On page 630 in this weeks issue of Science, researchers show that Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans migrated, likely via imported amphibians, to Europe, where it is killing endangered salamanders. North America, the global center of salamander diversity, could be next. Scientists hope advance warning of this devastating fungus will accelerate efforts to control the trade in exotic pets. Bills in the U.S. Congress would increase the authority of the Fish and Wildlife Service to stop the arrival of new wildlife diseases. A new E.U. animal health law, expected next year, could also help. Large pet companies say they treat imported amphibians to prevent the spread of pathogens. Neuroscience An easy consciousness test? Emily Underwood After several weeks in a coma, most people either die or transition into a vegetative state. They may sometimes open their eyes, but they seem unaware of themselves or their surroundings. Recent high-profile studies have shown, however, that many are far from unconscious. Researchers now estimate that roughly 40% of people deemed vegetative are partially or even fully conscious but unable to communicate because of severe damage to brain regions that control movement. This past weekend, more than 100 neuroscientists, neurologists, philosophers, and ethicists crammed into a small New York University auditorium in Greenwich Village in New York City, intent on sparing future patients from being misdiagnosed. Although the initial studies relied on modern, and expensive, brain imaging techniques, many at the meeting agreed that the most practical screening tool could be a century-old technology: the electroencephalography test. Microbiology Modern symbionts inside cells mimic organelle evolution Elizabeth Pennisi Some 2 billion years ago, primitive cells took in free-living microbial guests that gave rise to the organelles called mitochondria and chloroplasts. Those momentous events, investigators are realizing, were not one-of-a-kind. Endosymbiosis, as a mutually beneficial relationship between an organism and a guest living inside its cells is called, is alive and well today, and has lessons to offer for how the process played out early in life history. At a meeting, biologists described how they are exploring those parallels. Cicada endosymbiont genomes have expanded and fragmented, creating genomic insanity, much like some plant mitochondrial genomes. And the complexity of the evolution of the chloroplast was highlighted with a discussion of single-cell aquatic protists called dinoflagellates that have taken in an alga called a diatom. Infectious Diseases The Ebola vaccine underdog Jon Cohen In the race to develop an Ebola vaccine, a small cancer therapy company, NewLink Genetics, has been in the shadows of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a big pharma company with lots of experience and far deeper resources. But at a high-level meeting held by the World Health Organization on 23 October, it became clear that NewLink, which is based in Ames, Iowa, by next spring may have more vaccine on hand than GSK, which is based in the United Kingdom. NewLinks projections come with a major caveat: It all depends on dose. Specifically, the NewLink vaccine is made from an Ebola gene stitched into a livestock pathogen, vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV). Its currently unknown whether the vaccine needs 1 million VSV particles per dose or 100 million. Early human studies now under way should answer this question. Charles Link Jr., the CEO of NewLink, has avoided media attention until now, but he spoke with Science at length about the prospects and the caveats. Anthropology Friends, not foes, boost warriors success Lizzie Wade Imagine youre a Yanomamö man, growing crops and hunting in the Amazon rainforest of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil. Someone from your village has been murdered, and youre organizing a raiding party to do a revenge killing. Whom do you choose to fight alongside you? Your brothers, thought cultural anthropologist Shane Macfarlan of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. But he got a surprise when he and famously controversial anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon, who did pioneering studies of Yanomamö genealogy and warfare in the 1960s and 1970s, took a new look at Chagnons decades-old data. Men who participated in the same killing were largely related by marriage rather than blood. The new research suggests that warriors alliances give them access to potential in-laws and offers a twist on Chagnons original ideas about how being a warrior boosts mens fitness. Geochemistry Low oxygen stifled animals emergence, study says Carolyn Gramling Between the appearance of complex cells about 2 billion years ago and the explosive diversification of multicellular animals some 800 million years ago was the so-called boring billion—a long span of time during which evolution seems to have mired. Now, a new study looking at chromium isotopes in ancient ironstones suggests that the oxygen content of the atmosphere during that time was only 0.1% of present oxygen levels—at least an order of magnitude smaller than previous lower limits for oxygen content at the time. Oxygen levels rose again about 800 million years ago, coinciding with animal diversification—and suggesting that such environmental conditions can play a powerful role in controlling biological evolution. FEATURE Stepping on the gas Robert F. Service Natural gas is plentiful and costs only about half the price of gasoline for the equivalent amount of energy. Its also a cleaner burning fuel than gasoline and diesel. Thats made it an increasingly popular fuel source for trucks and buses. But it has yet to catch on with drivers of light-duty cars and trucks, which make up nearly 60% of vehicles on the road. The problem is that the low energy density of natural gas means that it must be pumped into high-pressure tanks, which are expensive and take up precious cargo room in cars. Researchers are now working on novel tank technology to improve the range of natural gas–powered cars, and theyre also working to develop cheap compressor technology that allows drivers to refuel at home using the natural gas thats already piped into half of all American homes.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 12:01:59 +0000
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