[News & Analysis] Synthetic Biology: Synthetic Biologists Design 'Living Materials' That Build Themselves
Researchers in Massachusetts reported this week that they engineered bacteria to produce sheetlike biofilms decorated with an electrically conductive gold layer on top. The work opens the door to engineering organisms to create everything from self-healing electrical devices to artificial tissues.
Author: Robert F. Service (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - March 28, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Robert F. Service Tags: Synthetic Biology Source Type: research
[News & Analysis] Planetary Science: Search for Martian Life Clears Another Hurdle
The simple organic compounds discovered by the Curiosity Mars rover either came with the tons of never-alive cosmic debris that sifts onto every planetary body or are something far more exciting: remains of martian life from eons ago, when a habitable lake graced the rover's landing site. Researchers could learn more about the complex organic molecules that yielded these first finds if Curiosity's drilling strikes a richer vein of organics in the coming months or if a more sophisticated analytical technique is employed.
Author: Richard A. Kerr (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - March 28, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Richard A. Kerr Tags: Planetary Science Source Type: research
[News & Analysis] Medicine: Pioneering Womb Transplant Trial Highlights Risks and Ethical Dilemmas
Scientists hope that womb transplants can give women whose uterus is dysfunctional or missing—usually because of a congenital condition called MRKH or cancer surgery—the option of bearing their own children. But transplanting a womb poses unique challenges, in part because of the rigors of pregnancy, and the procedure is fraught with ethical dilemmas.
Author: Richard Orange (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - March 28, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Richard Orange Tags: Medicine Source Type: research
[News & Analysis] Human Evolution: Oldest Homo sapiens Genome Pinpoints Neandertal Input
At a meeting, researchers announced the oldest sequenced genome of a modern human, taken from the thighbone of a man who lived in Siberia 45,000 years ago. The as-yet unpublished bone and genome are yielding new insight into when moderns interbred with our extinct cousins, the Neandertals.
Author: Ann Gibbons (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - March 28, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Ann Gibbons Tags: Human Evolution Source Type: research
[News & Analysis] Environment: 25 Years After the Exxon Valdez, Where Are the Herring?
The 24 March 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill—at the time, the largest in U.S. waters—killed an estimated 250,000 seabirds, billions of fish eggs, and many whales and seals in Alaska's Prince William Sound. A $900 million civil settlement has helped fund decades of research into the spill's aftermath. Today, many species have recovered, researcher W. Scott Pegau reports in a Q&A with Science. But at least one important fish—herring—hasn't bounced back. Meanwhile, researchers have launched plans to continue monitoring through 2032, with the aim of creating a detailed long-term record of the ecosystem.
Author: David ...
Source: Science: This Week - March 28, 2014 Category: Science Authors: David Malakoff Tags: Environment Source Type: research
[News & Analysis] Environmental Science: China Gets Serious About Its Pollutant-Laden Soil
A recent national survey found that 2.5% of China's arable land is too contaminated to grow food safely. The survey's details were so alarming that they were declared a "state secret." Now, the central government appears eager to tackle the problem; China's latest 5-year plan singles out five industries as egregious soil polluters and sets a target to reduce, by 2015, discharges of heavy metals by 15% from 2007 levels.
Author: Christina Larson (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - March 28, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Christina Larson Tags: Environmental Science Source Type: research
[News of the Week] Newsmakers
Princeton University ecologist Simon Levin receives the 2014 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement. And two investors known for their philanthropic contributions to biomedical research—Patrick McGovern and James Stowers—have passed away. (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - March 28, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Stewart Wills (mailto:swills at aaas.org) Source Type: research
[News of the Week] Random Sample
Scientists aboard the Danish Eel Expedition study declining populations in the Sargasso Sea, while diplomats sign a nonbinding international agreement to protect the open-ocean region from pollution and overfishing. And German-based biotech company CureVac plans to honor Friedrich Miescher, the little-known discoverer of DNA, by converting his old lab in the kitchen of a medieval castle into a public exhibit. (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - March 28, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Stewart Wills (mailto:swills at aaas.org) Source Type: research
[News of the Week] Around the World
In science news around the world, an Ebola outbreak in Guinea kills dozens, the United Kingdom budgets money for a big data institute and cell therapy manufacture, an online platform funded by the European Commission maps global environmental conflicts, and more. (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - March 28, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Stewart Wills (mailto:swills at aaas.org) Source Type: research
[News of the Week] This Week's Section
Follow the links below for a roundup of the week's top stories in science, or download a PDF of the entire section.
Around the WorldFindingsRandom SamplesNewsmakers (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - March 27, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Stewart Wills (mailto:swills at aaas.org) Source Type: research
[News Focus] The Vigilante
When the ENCODE Project claimed that there is no such thing as junk DNA, Dan Graur counterattacked. The heart of his critique is that ENCODE researchers have made an unwarranted leap in the interpretation of their data. He alleges that the motivation of ENCODE leaders was to create a media splash that would justify the project's cost. Some agree with the substance of his criticisms; others have taken issue with his style.
Author: Yudhijit Bhattacharjee (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - March 21, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Yudhijit Bhattacharjee Source Type: research
[News Focus] A War Within a War
Polio erupted in Syria last October after a 15-year absence—a sign of the devastation of the health system during the country's 3-year civil war. Millions of Syrian children, some of whom have not been vaccinated since the conflict began, are at high risk, as are millions more in surrounding countries as refugees stream across their borders. The World Health Organization and its partners have launched the biggest polio emergency response ever attempted in the Middle East. But to stop the outbreak, they will have to find ways to reach children who so far have been cut off from all humanitarian aid.
Author: Leslie Roberts ...
Source: Science: This Week - March 21, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Leslie Roberts Source Type: research
[News & Analysis] Restoration Ecology: U.S. and Mexico Unleash a Flood Into Colorado Delta
The Colorado River delta once supported many birds and other species. After the U.S. government dammed the river, the lush habitat became a salt-caked wasteland. Now, an experimental flood will send water down the dry channel to help restore the ecosystem. Researchers will evaluate the responses of the riverbed, soil, and native vegetation, and perhaps pave the way for future floods.
Author: Erik Stokstad (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - March 21, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Erik Stokstad Tags: Restoration Ecology Source Type: research
[News & Analysis] Stem Cells: Irreproducibility Dogs New Reprogramming Method
Since January, scientists around the world have attempted to reproduce a surprising stem cell finding that claimed that simply stressing adult cells could turn them into powerful stem cells, called stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency (STAP) cells, which resemble those found in early embryos. No one has reported success. Now, Science has learned that some of the labs involved in producing the two papers describing the work had not attempted to reproduce the technique before the papers were published. Only two of the labs involved in the papers say they have been able to generate STAP cells.
Authors: Dennis Normil...
Source: Science: This Week - March 21, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Dennis Normile Tags: Stem Cells Source Type: research
[News & Analysis] Dueling Visions for Agency
The Democratic alternative to the Republican bill would have the National Science Foundation support more of the same high-quality research it now funds. Its spending levels are much more generous than in the GOP bill and extend for 5 years rather than 1 year.
Author: Jeffrey Mervis (Source: Science: This Week)
Source: Science: This Week - March 21, 2014 Category: Science Authors: Jeffrey Mervis Source Type: research
