| | There is a blind spot in AI research
Fears about the future impacts of artificial intelligence are distracting researchers from the real risks of deployed systems, argue Kate Crawford and Ryan Calo.
Kate Crawford, Ryan Calo | Natural history: Voices from the greenwood
Caspar Henderson applauds a paean to the brilliant forest ecologist Oliver Rackham.
Caspar Henderson | Biomechanics: The wonders of whirl
John E. Moalli and Adam P. Summers relish a book on biomechanical spin, from wheels to free-falling felines.
John E. Moalli, Adam P. Summers | Q&A: Lexi Jamieson Marsh and Ellen Currano: Face to face
Outside the hall containing the posters and exhibits at last month's Geological Society of America meeting in Denver, Colorado, was a surprise. A travelling photography exhibition displayed large, black-and-white portraits of women — wearing beards. To challenge perceptions of who is and is not a scientist, the Bearded Lady Project (www.thebeardedladyproject.com) has photographed more than 75 female Earth scientists; a documentary will be released in early 2017. Filmmaker and project mastermind Lexi Jamieson Marsh and palaeobotanist Ellen Currano of the University of Wyoming in Laramie, who inspired the project, talk about 'invisible women', communities of inclusivity and rocking a moustache.
Alexandra Witze | | | | |
| | DNA repair: Telomere-lengthening mechanism revealed
Shortening of the ends of chromosomes limits a cell's lifespan. Some cancer cells avoid this fate through a mechanism called alternative lengthening of telomeres, molecular details of which have now been defined. | Behavioural biology: Stones that could cause ripples
Monkeys have been observed pounding stones and unintentionally forming sharp-edged, tool-like fragments. This deliberate breakage raises questions about the evolution of intentional stone modification. | The stem osteichthyan Andreolepis and the origin of tooth replacement
The extinct Andreolepis, an early fish that is close to the common ancestor of all bony fish and land vertebrates, shed its teeth by basal resportion—the earliest example of this mode of tooth replacement. | The MCL1 inhibitor S63845 is tolerable and effective in diverse cancer models
S63845 specifically inhibits MCL1 and induces tumour cell death in vitro and in vivo in diverse cancer-derived cell lines with an acceptable safety margin. | Break-induced telomere synthesis underlies alternative telomere maintenance
Alternative lengthening of telomeres in cancer cells is initiated by a specialized replisome and noncanonical homologous recombination at damaged telomeres, culminating in the synthesis of long tracts of telomere DNA. | | Thermophilic archaea activate butane via alkyl-coenzyme M formation | Mantle dynamics inferred from the crystallographic preferred orientation of bridgmanite
Deformation experiments on bridgmanite indicate that it may be the main contributor to the shear wave anisotropy observed around several subducting plates. | T-cell acute leukaemia exhibits dynamic interactions with bone marrow microenvironments
Here, leukaemia cells are followed by intravital microscopy as they infiltrate mouse bone marrow and respond to chemotherapy, revealing that at all stages analysed they are highly motile and do not display any associations with particular bone marrow sub-compartments. | Fluvial sediment supply to a mega-delta reduced by shifting tropical-cyclone activity
About a third of the sediment delivery of the Mekong River is shown to be associated with rainfall generated by tropical cyclones, suggesting that future delta stability will be strongly moderated by changes to tropical cyclone intensity, frequency and track. | Chromosome conformation elucidates regulatory relationships in developing human brain
High-resolution three-dimensional maps of chromatin contacts in the developing human brain help to identify enhancer–promoter contacts, many of which are associated with human cognitive function and disease. | TET-mediated DNA demethylation controls gastrulation by regulating Lefty–Nodal signalling
Inactivation of three Tet genes in mice leads to gastrulation phenotypes similar to those in embryos with increased Nodal signalling, revealing a functional redundancy of Tet genes and showing balanced and dynamic DNA methylation and demethylation is crucial to regulate key signalling pathways in early body plan formation. | Reconstitution in vitro of the entire cycle of the mouse female germ line
Using a protocol that recapitulates both meiosis and oocyte growth in vitro, the authors induce mouse pluripotent stem cells to differentiate into fully functional oocytes that can be fertilized and generate viable offspring, thereby recapitulating the full mammalian female germline cycle in a dish. | Mechanism for DNA transposons to generate introns on genomic scales
The observations that introns are acquired in bursts and that exons are often nucleosome-sized can be explained by the generation of introns from DNA transposons, which insert between nucleosomes. | Wild monkeys flake stone tools
Wild capuchin monkeys in Brazil deliberately break stones, unintentionally producing flakes similar to the ancient sharp-edged flakes characterized as intentionally produced Pliocene–Pleistocene hominin tools, although why they do so remains unclear. | | Erratum: Follicular CXCR5-expressing CD8+ T cells curtail chronic viral infection | | Corrigendum: Design of a hyperstable 60-subunit protein icosahedron | | Corrigendum: Fumarate is an epigenetic modifier that elicits epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition | | Accurate de novo design of hyperstable constrained peptides
Computational methods for the de novo design of conformationally restricted peptides produce exceptionally stable short peptides stabilized by backbone cyclization and/or internal disulfide bonds that are promising starting points for a new generation of peptide-based drugs.
Gaurav Bhardwaj, Vikram Khipple Mulligan, Christopher D. Bahl et al. | Genome evolution in the allotetraploid frog Xenopus laevis OPEN
The two homoeologous subgenomes in the allotetraploid frog Xenopus laevis evolved asymmetrically; one often retained the ancestral state, whereas the other experienced gene loss, deletion, rearrangement and reduced gene expression.
Adam M. Session, Yoshinobu Uno, Taejoon Kwon et al. | Diversity-oriented synthesis yields novel multistage antimalarial inhibitors
The bicyclic azetidines, a class of potent, well-tolerated antimalarial compounds that is active against multiple stages of the Plasmodium life-cycle, has been discovered following screens against libraries of compounds reminiscent of natural products.
Nobutaka Kato, Eamon Comer, Tomoyo Sakata-Kato et al. | Frizzled proteins are colonic epithelial receptors for C. difficile toxin B
Here, a genome-wide CRISPR–Cas9 screen is used to identify the Wnt receptors frizzled as physiologically relevant Clostridium difficile toxin B receptors, providing new therapeutic targets for treating C. difficile infections.
Liang Tao, Jie Zhang, Paul Meraner et al. | | Ultraluminous X-ray bursts in two ultracompact companions to nearby elliptical galaxies
A search of archival X-ray data for 70 nearby galaxies yielded two flaring sources in globular clusters or ultracompact dwarf companions of parent elliptical galaxies.
Jimmy A. Irwin, W. Peter Maksym, Gregory R. Sivakoff et al. | Multi-petahertz electronic metrology
Investigations using single-cycle intense optical fields to drive electron motion in bulk silicon dioxide show that the light-induced electric currents extend in frequency up to about 8 petahertz.
M. Garg, M. Zhan, T. T. Luu et al. | X-ray structure of the human α4β2 nicotinic receptor
Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are ligand-gated ion channels that mediate fast chemical neurotransmission; here, the first X-ray crystal structure of a nicotinic receptor is reported, revealing how nicotine stabilizes the receptor in a non-conducting, desensitized conformation.
Claudio L. Morales-Perez, Colleen M. Noviello, Ryan E. Hibbs | Real-space investigation of energy transfer in heterogeneous molecular dimers
Scanning tunnelling microscopy is shown to be effective for probing energy transfer in a molecular dimer with submolecular resolution in real space.
Hiroshi Imada, Kuniyuki Miwa, Miyabi Imai-Imada et al. | Asthenosphere rheology inferred from observations of the 2012 Indian Ocean earthquake
Analysis of the postseismic deformation of the moment magnitude 8.6 Indian Ocean earthquake in 2012 reveals that the asthenospheric layer must be thin and of low viscosity, constraining the structure of oceanic upper-mantle rheology.
Yan Hu, Roland Bürgmann, Paramesh Banerjee et al. | Upper-mantle water stratification inferred from observations of the 2012 Indian Ocean earthquake
Postseismic recordings of the moment magnitude 8.6 Indian Ocean earthquake of 2012, combined with the characteristics of olivine creep, provide constraints on the water content of the asthenosphere.
Sagar Masuti, Sylvain D. Barbot, Shun-ichiro Karato et al. | A renewed model of pancreatic cancer evolution based on genomic rearrangement patterns
Pancreatic cancer is not caused by a specific series of genetic alterations that occur sequentially but by one, or few, catastrophic events that result in simultaneous oncogenic genetic rearrangements, giving rise to highly aggressive tumours.
Faiyaz Notta, Michelle Chan-Seng-Yue, Mathieu Lemire et al. | Cortico-fugal output from visual cortex promotes plasticity of innate motor behaviour
Projections from the mouse visual cortex to the brainstem accessory optic system promote the adaptive plasticity of the optokinetic reflex, which stabilizes images on the retina when an animal is moving.
Bao-hua Liu, Andrew D. Huberman, Massimo Scanziani | Allogeneic transplantation of iPS cell-derived cardiomyocytes regenerates primate hearts
Allogenic induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes transplanted directly into infarcted cynomolgus monkey hearts show electrical coupling with host cardiomyocytes improve cardiac contractile function after mild immunosuppression.
Yuji Shiba, Toshihito Gomibuchi, Tatsuichiro Seto et al. | Fetal liver endothelium regulates the seeding of tissue-resident macrophages
PLVAP selectively controls the seeding of fetal liver monocyte-derived tissue-resident macrophages, seemingly by interacting with chemotactic and adhesive molecules at the diaphragms of liver sinusoidal endothelium.
Pia Rantakari, Norma Jäppinen, Emmi Lokka et al. | The epichaperome is an integrated chaperome network that facilitates tumour survival
Chaperomes are dynamic assemblies of proteins that regulate cellular homeostasis but specific cellular stresses remodel chaperome components into a stable chaperome network called the epichaperome, which might offer a new cancer target.
Anna Rodina, Tai Wang, Pengrong Yan et al. | Molecular basis of Lys11-polyubiquitin specificity in the deubiquitinase Cezanne
The structures of the deubiquitinating enzyme Cezanne alone or in complex with its substrate or product are solved, showing how Cezanne specifically targets Lys11-linked polyubiquitin.
Tycho E. T. Mevissen, Yogesh Kulathu, Monique P.C. Mulder et al. | Atomic structure of the entire mammalian mitochondrial complex I
The atomic structure of ovine mitochondrial complex I is solved at 3.9 Å resolution, revealing that supernumerary subunits stabilize the complex and providing insight into the molecular basis of its function and regulation.
Karol Fiedorczuk, James A. Letts, Gianluca Degliesposti et al. | | | | |
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