Volume 538 Issue 7625, 20 October 2016

Capuchin monkeys have been observed smashing stones to produce flakes ­ — but why they do so remains a mystery.

A neuroscience initiative is boosting the number of female invited speakers at meetings. Other disciplines should do the same.

The week in science: 14–20 October 2016

Two former workers say that they were treated unfairly on the basis of age and disability.

Science policy fades into background for many who back Republican candidate in US presidential race.

Chairman Lamar Smith has turned once-placid panel into investigative powerhouse.

Breakthrough raises call for debate over prospect of artificial human eggs.

Uncertain government funding drives effort to beef up private support for research.

Five years in, the US EarthCube programme has struggled to deliver on its promises.

This year’s US presidential election is the toughest test yet for political polls as experts struggle to keep up with changing demographics and technology.

Scientists are beginning to understand why these ‘mini Wall Streets’ work so well at forecasting election results — and how they sometimes fail.

Fears about the future impacts of artificial intelligence are distracting researchers from the real risks of deployed systems, argue Kate Crawford and Ryan Calo.

Caspar Henderson applauds a paean to the brilliant forest ecologist Oliver Rackham.

John E. Moalli and Adam P. Summers relish a book on biomechanical spin, from wheels to free-falling felines.

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.

Pioneer of ultracold quantum physics.

A whole-genome duplication that occurred around 34 million years ago in the frog Xenopus laevis made generating a genome sequence for this valuable model organism a challenge. This obstacle has finally been overcome. See Article p.336

Two sources of highly energetic flares have been discovered in archival X-ray data of 70 nearby galaxies. These flares have an undetermined origin and might represent previously unknown astrophysical phenomena. See Letter p.356

Heat-shock proteins have been found to form part of a large protein complex, called the epichaperome, that improves the survival of some cancer cells. This complex might offer a new target for cancer treatment. See Letter p.397

A molecule selected from a library of compounds that have structures similar to natural products targets several stages of the malarial parasite's life cycle, offering single-dose treatment of the disease in mouse models. See Article p.344

A link has been established between high-frequency light emissions and electron oscillations induced in an insulator by a laser. This is a key step in efforts to make electronic devices that work faster than is currently possible. See Letter p.359

Live-cell imaging reveals that a functional interaction occurs between two different organelles: contact between the endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria is needed for mitochondrial DNA replication and division.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Scanning tunnelling microscopy is shown to be effective for probing energy transfer in a molecular dimer with submolecular resolution in real space.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sounding out people who are already working in a field that interests you is a great way to gain valuable inside knowledge during your job search, says Peter Fiske.

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