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Science
Weekly News
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| A roundup of the week’s top stories in Science:
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| In Brief |
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In science news around the world, the World Health Organization calls for the public release of clinical trials data, Brazil approves the first commercial planting of genetically modified eucalyptus trees, a review panel convened by the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission gives Japanese research whaling a thumbs-down, and the death of monkeys at a Harvard University primate research facility prompts an investigation. Also, a thoracic surgeon who famously transplanted artificial tracheae into patients—and then faced misconduct charges—has been cleared in one of two investigations. And biomedical engineer Joshua Resnikoff discusses Labconscious, a blog he created to help scientists green their labs.
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| In Depth |
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Conservation
Robert F. Service
Warm winter temperatures in the mountains of the western United States this past winter sharply reduced the region’s snowpack, which normally reaches its high point at this time each year. That snow typically serves as a vital water storage reservoir that is slowly released as the snow melts over the dry summer months. Without this snowmelt, stream flows are expected to drop sharply this summer, which in turn is expected to cause water temperatures to rise to a level unhealthy for migrating salmon. As a result, fisheries biologists expect a looming calamity for endangered salmon stocks this year.
Faculty Hiring
Rachel Bernstein
Cornell University psychologists believe they have crossed one factor off the list of obstacles to women in academia: the hiring committee. A new study reports that, when faculty members rated hypothetical candidates for a tenure-track faculty position, a highly qualified woman is twice as likely to be hired as an equally qualified man. The results run counter to widely held perceptions and suggest that this is a good time for women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Some observers, however, worry that the study does not reproduce real-world hiring and that it may leave an incorrect impression about gender parity in STEM fields.
Arctic Policy
Carolyn Gramling
Next week, the United States will become chair of the eight-nation Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum that aims to foster cooperation on research and policy in the far north. The United States has released an ambitious, climate- and conservation-focused agenda for its 2-year chairmanship that includes pushing for more research on black carbon, which accelerates melting in the region, and on emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane from the seabed and permafrost, as well as creating a network of marine protected areas in the Arctic and equipping Arctic villages with renewable energy sources. Environmental groups have hailed the agenda, but some observers warn against too lofty expectations for what it might mean for policy changes among the “Arctic 8.”
Planetary Science
Eric Hand
Not too long after the planets began forming, a Mars-sized object slammed into Earth, creating the debris that would coalesce into the moon. But some of the debris escaped all the way out to the asteroid belt. Collisions there left shock-heating signatures that can still be detected billions of years later in meteorites that have fallen to Earth. Planetary scientists have found that a significant number of these altered meteorites have ages clustering at 105 million years after the solar system’s birth—the true age of the moon-forming impact, they say. The result is an independent check on different estimates for the moon’s age, and it suggests that the asteroid belt could be witness to other ancient disruptions in the inner solar system.
Sanitation
Jocelyn Kaiser
About 1 billion people in the developing world still walk out to a field, the bushes, or an open waterway to defecate instead of using a latrine. That has contributed to high rates of diarrheal disease. The problem is particularly acute in India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to build 111 million toilets as part of a plan to end open defecation by October 2019. But exactly how to get there is surprisingly controversial. Now, a large, controlled experiment, conducted in India’s neighbor Bangladesh and published online this week in Science, finds that the key to getting people to build hygienic latrines is to subsidize the cost. Although other experts say these results are important, some caution that building toilets doesn’t always mean people will use them or be healthier.
Particle Physics
Dennis Normile
Shut down after a radiation leak in May 2013, Japan’s premier particle accelerator could soon resume full operations if it passes an inspection of new safety features scheduled for 17 April. The Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) in Tokai, 110 kilometers northeast of Tokyo, features a 50 giga-electronvolt synchrotron that provides streams of protons for three separate experimental facilities. One focuses on materials and life sciences; another is dedicated to a long-baseline neutrino experiment; the third supports studies of subatomic particles called hadrons. The leak put a halt to all operations. Work on materials and life sciences and neutrinos resumed in spring 2014 after J-PARC bolstered safety procedures. Research in the Hadron Experimental Facility, where the leak occurred, was further delayed by the installation of new vapor barriers and exhaust fan filters and the adoption of other countermeasures to contain radiation. The halt in experiments has delayed groundbreaking research, though some groups were affected more than others.
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| Feature |
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David Grimm
Dogs were the first thing humans domesticated—before any plant, before any other animal. Yet scientists have argued for years over where and when they arose. Some studies suggest that canines evolved in Europe, others Asia, with time frames ranging from 15,000 to more than 30,000 years ago. Now, an unprecedented collaboration of archaeologists and geneticists has brought the warring camps together for the first time. The group is analyzing thousands of bones from around the world, employing new techniques, and trying to put aside years of bad blood and bruised egos. If it succeeds, it will uncover the history of man’s oldest friend—and solve one of the greatest mysteries of domestication.
David Grimm
Scientists who study canine origins seem to fight about everything: where dogs arose, when this happened, and even the best way to find these answers. But there’s one thing most of them agree on: how dogs became domesticated. Dogs, the thinking now goes, domesticated themselves, with the tamest wolves able to approach ancient human campsites and feast on leftover carcasses. New findings from an unprecedented collaboration of geneticists and archaeologists are adding insight into how dogs became domesticated, as is a new study, which shows that dogs have hijacked the same hormonal pathway human mothers use to bond with their infants.
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Sponsored by Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists
Want to be published in Science?
Want to receive US$30,000 for your research?
Now accepting entries
Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists
Deadline: August 1, 2015
Visit www.sciencemag.org/scilifelabprize
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|
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Science and the future 