Volume 516 Issue 7529, 4 December 2014

Two reports highlight the plight of postdocs on both sides of the pond aiming for academia.

Research into climate engineering must proceed — even if it turns out to be unnecessary.

The Republican urge to cut funding is not necessarily anti-science, and the research community ought not to pick political sides, says Daniel Sarewitz.

The week in science: Amazon deforestation dips; Polio vaccinators killed in Pakistan; and Iran gets new science minister.

With trials under way, scientists are working out how to give vaccines in affected regions.

The Karolinska Institute is carrying out two inquiries into an experimental transplant procedure.

Archaeopteryx’s status is changing, but the animal is still key to the dinosaur–bird transition.

Geoengineers meet to work out what research is acceptable.

Researchers gather data on innovative uses of cancer treatments.

After a 30-year struggle to harness quantum weirdness for computing, physicists finally have their goal in reach.

The United States is banking on decades of abundant natural gas to power its economic resurgence. That may be wishful thinking.

Sea-level rise and river engineering spell disaster, say Liviu Giosan and colleagues.

Alex Bellos savours a history of the 'new math' that swept US schools in the 1960s.

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

Noel Sharkey ponders a riveting story of how social inequity can trump youth and scientific brilliance.

Immunologist and educator who discovered fundamentals of antibody binding.

Two studies find that an intracellular quality-control mechanism called autophagy is regulated by nuclear receptor proteins that govern the expression of autophagy genes. See Letters p.108 & p.112

Concentrations of heavy isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen decrease in rain as storms cross land. A model examines the transport of water vapour that causes this effect, and provides insight into past and present climates.

The finding that intestinal viruses can substitute for intestinal bacteria to promote the health of their mammalian hosts raises the possibility that viruses in the gut may be beneficial in some circumstances. See Letter p.94

Galaxies contain fewer stars than predicted. The discovery of a massive galactic outflow of molecular gas in a compact galaxy, which forms stars 100 times faster than the Milky Way, may help to explain why. See Letter p.68

Chronic stress can cause depression in some individuals, but leaves others untouched. Engagement of a molecular pathway controlling the production of tiny RNA snippets might help to explain the difference. See Article p.51

An imaging technique has been developed that can record non-repetitive ultrafast phenomena without strobe or flash illumination. The approach could find applications in biomedicine and security technologies. See Letter p.74

An experiment shows that although bank employees behave honestly on average, their dishonesty increases when they make decisions after having been primed to think about their professional identity. See Letter p.86

A new class of fatty acid — found in food and synthesized by mammalian tissues — enhances glucose uptake from the blood and reduces inflammation, suggesting that these fats might be used to treat diabetes.

Here β-catenin, which has been implicated in neurological and psychiatric diseases, including depression, is shown to mediate resilience to chronic stress in mice through induction of Dicer and microRNAs in nucleus accumbens, a key brain reward region.

This study uses single-cell expression profiling of pluripotent stem cells after various perturbations, and uncovers a high degree of variability that can be inherited through cell divisions—modulating microRNA or external signalling pathways induces a ground state with reduced gene expression heterogeneity and a distinct chromatin profile.

Here the structure of the membrane protein complex sodium-translocating NADH:quinone oxidoreductase (Na⁺-NQR) is described; as Na⁺-NQR is a component of the respiratory chain of various bacteria, including pathogenic ones, this structure may serve as the basis for the development of new antibiotics.

A high-velocity outflow of molecular gas from a starburst galaxy has been observed to extend about ten kiloparsecs; its velocity is consistent with the momentum flux from stellar radiation pressure, showing that bursts of star formation can eject large amounts of cold gas from the central regions of galaxies, curtailing star formation.

Femtosecond X-ray diffraction and ab initio density functional theory calculations are used to determine the crystal structure of YBa₂Cu₃O_6.5 undergoing optically driven, nonlinear lattice excitation above the transition temperature of 52 kelvin, under which conditions the electronic structure of the material changes in such a way as to favour superconductivity.

A technique based on compressed imaging with a streak camera is reported that can videotape transient events in two dimensions with temporal resolution down to tens of picoseconds, and its usefulness is demonstrated using single laser shots applied to a variety of physical phenomena.

Two-dimensional titanium carbide has been produced by etching out aluminium in a lithium fluoride and hydrochloric acid mixture; it is hydrophilic and mouldable like clay and has excellent volumetric capacitance and cyclability, properties that are desirable for portable electronics.

El Niño events can transfer subsurface heat to the eastern North Pacific with a delay of several months, causing the intensification of tropical cyclones; the mechanism may lead to insights into past variations in tropical cyclone intensity and enhance seasonal predictions.

According to popular opinion, unethical business practices are common in the financial industry; here, the employees of a large, international bank are shown to behave, on average, honestly in a laboratory game to reveal dishonest behaviour, but when their professional identity as bank employees was rendered salient, the prevalence of dishonest behaviour increased.

In roots and dark-grown hypocotyls of Arabidopsis thaliana, ABP1-mediated auxin signalling induces swift re-orientation of the microtubule cytoskeleton from transverse to longitudinal, thus inhibiting cell expansion.

Commensal bacteria are known to have an important role in keeping the host healthy, but the role of eukaryotic viruses has been unknown; now, persistent infection in mice with various strains of enteric norovirus is shown to provide similar host protection.

A new role for the endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) is identified in fly larvae, where it is shown to be essential for the secretion and long-range signalling of the embryonic development morphogen Hedgehog.

Using advanced microscopy techniques, the process of centriole amplification in multiciliated cells is explored, and the daughter centriole identified as the primary nucleation site of more than 90% of the new centrioles, contesting existing de novo theories of centriolar amplification and highlighting a new centrosome asymmetry.

The FXR–CREB axis is identified as a key physiological switch that regulates autophagy during feeding/fasting cycles; in the fed state, the nuclear receptor FXR is shown to suppress autophagy in the liver by inhibiting autophagy-associated lipid breakdown triggered under fasting conditions by the transcriptional activator CREB.

The nuclear receptors FXR and PPARα are shown to regulate autophagy by competing for binding to shared sites in the promoters of autophagic genes; in the fed state FXR suppresses hepatic autophagy, whereas in the fasted state PPARα is activated and reverses the normal suppression of autophagy.

The RING finger protein TRIM37 is encoded by a gene that is amplified in certain breast cancers, but its function is unknown; here, it is shown to mono-ubiquitinate histone H2A and repress gene expression, and to function as a breast cancer oncoprotein.

Mice lacking the mechanically activated ion channel Piezo2 in both sensory neurons and Merkel cells are almost totally incapable of light-touch sensation while other somatosensory functions, such as mechanical nociception, remain intact, implying that other mechanically activated ion channels must now be identified to account for painful touch sensation.

X-ray structures of the human TRAAK mechanosensitive potassium channel reveal how build-up of tension in the lipid membrane can convert the channel from a non-conducting wedge shape associated with an inserted lipid acyl chain that blocks the pore to an expanded cross-sectional shape that prevents lipid entry and thus permits ion conduction.

Start-up firms say robotics and software that autonomously record every detail of an experiment can transform the efficiency and reliability of research.

Programmes prepare biomedical trainees for the management side of science.

International students pour into US graduate schools, but enrolments from China decline.

Wellcome Trust announces a 'rebalancing' of its grant programmes.

Alternative culture.

Liver cancer is difficult to treat, and lethal if not caught early. But its most common causes, such as hepatitis viruses and obesity, can be prevented.

Drug companies have been fighting a losing battle against advanced liver cancer — but refinements of proven techniques along with radical new approaches could turn the tide.

Changing crop selection and improving food storage might reduce global rates of liver cancer, says Felicia Wu.

Navigating the path that connects fatty liver disease to cancer has proved tricky.

Liver cancer strikes many more men than women — finding out why could lead to new ways of preventing the disease.

A vaccine to prevent hepatitis B, the most common cause of liver cancer, has promise — and limitations.

Imbalances in gut bacteria have been implicated in the progression from liver disease to cancer. This insight opens the way to preventive treatments.

Antiviral medication is leading surgeons to re-evaluate how they treat hepatitis-induced liver cancer, writes Myron Schwartz.

Liver cancer is one of the most lethal forms of the disease: only 19% of those who have it survive a year after diagnosis, even with treatment, and there are few promising therapies in the pipeline. But if researchers can understand why some people with unhealthy livers develop cancer but others do not, they may be able to treat the disease more effectively — or even prevent it.