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The Suns outer atmosphere is much hotter than the surface, reaching more than a million kelvin, but how sufficient energy is transferred and dissipated has remained a puzzle. Recent advances in high-resolution imaging of small-scale structures on the solar surface (from the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope) revealed swirling events in the Suns chromosphere, the atmospheric layer sandwiched between the corona and the photosphere. This paper reports observations from NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft that reveal rapidly rotating magnetic structures in the transition region and low corona that are associated with these chromospheric swirls. These structures, resembling super-tornadoes under solar conditions, reach from the convection zone into the upper solar atmosphere and provide an alternative mechanism for channelling energy from the lower to the upper solar atmosphere a possible explanation for the heating of the outer solar atmosphere that results in the observed temperatures. The cover shows a visualization (using VAPOR software) of a computer simulation (using CO5BOLD) of a swirling magnetic tornado connecting the observed surface of the Sun with the outer atmosphere.
The week in science: Galapagos giant tortoise 'Lonesome George' dies; United Nations to set up board of science advisers; and London’s Royal Society urges an era of open data.
Scientists now know that the deadly bird flu virus is capable of causing a human pandemic. That makes tackling the remaining unknowns all the more urgent.
Frank Aarestrup explains how he helped Denmark to cut the use of antibiotics in its livestock by 60%, and calls on the rest of the world to follow suit.
Astronomer and author David Brin celebrates the legacy of a literary titan whose life-long pursuit of new horizons changed the face of science fiction.
Tom Mitchell uses engineering and computing to enable people to play and sample live music using gestures. With the latest version of his co-creation 'The Gloves' about to debut at TEDGlobal 2012 in Edinburgh, UK, he talks about adaptive musical interaction.
Observations made by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory have been used to identify signatures of a conduit through which energy could be transported from the surface of the Sun into its corona. See Letter p.505
Understanding how a low calorie intake slows ageing could revolutionize the way that we treat age-related diseases. One potential key to such treatments could be to enhance the local environment of stem cells. See Article p.490
Controlling the positions at which chemical groups attach to benzene rings is vital for the synthesis of materials and medicines. A reaction that targets a normally inaccessible position takes chemists closer to this goal. See Letter p.518
A drug used for HIV treatment can alter the set of antigens that activates T cells of the immune system, thereby triggering life-threatening reactions against the body's own proteins. See Letter p.554
Several genes were duplicated during human evolution. It seems that one such duplication gave rise to a gene that may have helped to make human brains bigger and more adaptable than those of our ancestors.
Rare tumour cells with mutations that confer drug resistance can go undetected by standard testing procedures, according to two studies, which show that such mutations can be detected in patients' blood. See Letters p.532 and p.537
Consumption rates vary substantially between consumers searching in three dimensions (for example, arboreal and pelagic zones), with consumption rates scaling superlinearly with consumer body mass, and those searching in two dimensions (for example, terrestrial and benthic zones), with consumption rates scaling sublinearly with consumer body mass.
In the mouse intestine, calorie restriction enhances the regenerative capacity of intestinal stem cells by reducing mTORC1 signalling in their Paneth cell niche.
The detection of carbon monoxide absorption in the spectrum of the extrasolar planet τ Boötis b, and its tracing of the change in the radial velocity of the planet, demonstrates that atmospheric characterization is possible for non-transiting planets.
Rotating magnetic structures in the Sun can channel energy outwards from the convection zone and may explain how the energy required to heat the outer layers of the Sun reaches its upper atmosphere.
Nuclear density functional theory is used to calculate the uncertainty in the positions of the neutron and proton ‘drip lines’, and to estimate that there are around 7,000 bound nuclides containing between 2 and 120 protons.
Intense, coherent X-ray pulses from a free-electron laser can be used to obtain high-resolution morphology of individual sub-micrometre particles in their native state, while at the same time their composition is analysed by mass spectrometry.
Rapid synthesis of complex molecules via selective functionalization of unactivated carbon–hydrogen bonds is here made easier with the use of removable ‘templates’ that enable the activation of distal bonds.
Three-dimensional reconstruction and modelling of limb joint mobility in the early tetrapod Ichthyostega is used to provide insights into an important step in vertebrate evolution—the transition from swimming to walking.
Sequencing of the bonobo genome shows that more than three per cent of the human genome is more closely related to either the bonobo genome or the chimpanzee genome than those genomes are to each other.
Molecular alterations in KRAS are associated with acquired resistance to anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) treatment in colorectal cancer; resistant mutations can be identified in the blood of patients, months before clinical evidence of disease progression.
This work on colorectal cancer shows that secondary mutations in KRAS that confer resistance to panitumumab, an anti-EGFR monoclonal antibody, are already present when antibody treatment begins; the apparent inevitability of resistance suggests that combinations of drugs targeting at least two different oncogenic pathway will be needed for treatment.
MicroRNA in worms is shown to target non-coding primary microRNA transcripts through interaction with the Argonaute protein, promoting the production of further microRNA and thus generating a positive-feedback loop.
T regulatory (Treg) cells in visceral adipose tissue express high levels of the nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-γ, and fat-specific adaptation of Treg cells is dependent on PPAR-γ.
The paper describes the mechanism by which small-molecule drugs such as abacavir affect antigen presentation and consequently T-cell response in immunologically based drug reactions such as abacavir hypersensitivity syndrome (AHS) and carbamazepine-induced Stevens–Johnson syndrome (SJS).
Some consultants offer to help researchers to find and secure grants. But scientists should carefully consider whether and how a consultant is worth the time and expense.