Volume 539 Issue 7629, 17 November 2016

The first person to invoke the ‘man on the street’ has been identified, but sometimes maths is just too difficult to make simple.

Establishing a Martian outpost is likely to bring many of the same societal problems we face on Earth.

Daniel Sarewitz says the new US president will need to promote creative science to benefit the disaffected millions who voted for him.

The week in science: 11–17 November 2016.

Climate-change and immigration policies raise alarm, but much of the incoming US president's agenda is simply unknown.

Most surveys did not predict Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton.

Davide Vannoni is barred from offering a controversial stem-cell therapy in Italy but may be continuing his work abroad.

At a conference in San Francisco, a group drafted proposals to add more planets, instruments and other science icons to the keyboard.

Country's progress on public health and science prompts funding shift to more-troubled nations.

Journal experiments and surveys suggest scientists are coming round to the idea of publishing review reports.

The waters of the Southern Ocean have absorbed much of the excess heat and carbon generated by humanity.

Design with the natural cycle in mind to ensure that carbon ends up in the right places, urges William McDonough

David Dobbs extols a history of New York's Bellevue hospital, a crucible of discovery in medicine.

Barbara Kiser reviews five of the week's best science picks.

Gillian Beer reveals the currents in Lewis Carroll's worlds.

Physicist who helped hundreds of scientists to escape oppression.

Random lasers use disordered structures to produce light, which is usually emitted in many directions. A random laser that can produce a collimated beam offers a wide range of applications, from imaging to security scanning.

Hsp70 chaperone molecules help other proteins to fold, and were thought to bind mainly to unfolded proteins. Single-molecule experiments now suggest that Hsp70s can also stabilize almost fully folded proteins. See Letter p.448

Models indicate that there are strong gradients in element concentrations and in the pH of fluids at the slab–mantle interface — a major discontinuity deep within Earth. This transforms our view of global geochemical transport. See Letter p.420

Sleep in mammals consists of non-rapid-eye-movement and rapid-eye-movement sleep. A large genetic screen reveals that these two sleep states are altered in mice by mutations dubbed Sleepy and Dreamless. See Article p.378

Polymeric semiconductors have been prepared whose molecular properties make them stretchable and healable — a milestone in the development of sophisticated organic electronic surfaces that mimic human skin. See Letter p.411

Anaerobic microbes have been found to break down the hydrocarbon butane by a pathway with some similarities to anaerobic methane breakdown. Harnessing the butane pathway might enable biofuel generation. See Article p.396

A review into the complex effects of Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol on the dopamine system, examining data from animal and human studies and discussing the necessary future direction of research.

Two mutations affecting the sleep–wakefulness balance in mice are detected, showing that the SIK3 protein kinase is essential for determining daily wake time, and the NALCN cation channel regulates the duration of rapid eye movement sleep.

These preclinical studies outline a CRISPR-based methodology for correcting β-globin gene mutations in haematopoietic stem cells to advance the development of next-generation therapies for β-haemoglobinopathies.

Human tumours with mutations in LKB1 and Kras have a specific hypermetabolic state associated with increased DNA methylation, pointing to potential metabolic and epigenetic vulnerabilities of specific tumours.

Anaerobic archaea enriched in thermophilic microbial consortia completely degrade butane by modifying mechanisms which were hitherto thought to be specific to methane metabolism.

A model of the Moon’s tidal evolution, starting from the fast-spinning, high-obliquity Earth that would be expected after a giant impact, reveals that solar perturbations on the Moon’s orbit naturally produce the current lunar inclination and Earth’s low obliquity.

A cryogenic thermal imaging technique that uses a superconducting quantum interference device fabricated on the tip of a sharp pipette can be used to image the thermal signature of extremely low power nanometre-scale dissipation processes.

Introducing non-covalent crosslinking moieties to polymer semiconductors produces a stretchable and healable material suitable for wearable electronics.

Rapid vertical transport of small aerosol particles from the free troposphere to the atmospheric boundary layer occurs during precipitation and maintains the population of aerosol particles over Amazonia.

A thermodynamic model of fluid pH and its variability in Earth’s mantle and subducting crust highlights chemical feedbacks that connect deep Earth to surface processes.

Variation in plant nutrient levels suppresses insect herbivore populations and the homogenous nutrient content of modern agricultural crops could be contributing to insect pest outbreaks.

Calcium signalling in astrocytes, driven through the octopamine/tyramine receptor and the TRP channel Water witch, is essential for neuromodulation and sensory responses in Drosophila larvae.

Transcription of a long non-coding RNA, known as upperhand (Uph) located upstream of the HAND2 transcription factor is required to maintain transcription of the Hand2 gene by RNA polymerase, and blockade of Uph expression leads to heart defects and embryonic lethality in mice.

Modulation of PI3Kγ activity regulates macrophage polarization during inflammation and cancer, whilst combining PI3Kγ inhibition with immune checkpoint inhibitors leads to synergistic tumour-inhibitory effects.

Targeting tumour-infiltrating suppressive myeloid cells with a selective PI3Kγ inhibitor overcomes resistance to checkpoint blockade therapy in various mouse myeloid-rich tumour models.

Hsp70 binds unfolded protein segments in its groove, but can also bind and stabilize folded protein structures, owing to its moveable lid, with ATP hydrolysis and co-chaperones allowing control of these contrasting effects.

Various cis-regulatory functions of genomic loci that produce long non-coding RNAs are revealed, including instances where their promoters have enhancer-like activity and the lncRNA transcripts themselves are not required for activity.

Pressure to barrel through a PhD can make taking a break seem daunting — but there are ways to limit career damage.

Shikra Mishra sought to fit life into her career.

A question of definition.

From all corners of the globe, researchers across the disciplines are teaming up to tackle the big questions in science. The United States is a particularly significant contributor in its partnerships.

Chinese–US research partnerships outnumber all other international pairings. That trend, spurred by a long history of collaboration between the two countries, presents challenges, but the outcomes are a major boon for science.

Researchers in Paris and Tokyo are connected, but the two capitals have quite different patterns of collaboration.

Proximity is just one factor driving the high number of collaborations between top performing institutions in the same city.

Uncertainty surrounding Britain's future in EU research could be as damaging to science as the prospect of funding cuts once it leaves the union.

A description of the terminology and methodology used in this supplement, and a guide to the functionality available free online at natureindex.com.