COVER: Voltage pulses from the tip of a scanning probe microscope induce single-molecule chemical reactions with selectivity and reversibility. Different constitutional isomers (distinguished here in shades of red, orange, and yellow) are selected by the polarity and magnitude of the voltage pulse. The findings advance the understanding of tip-induced chemistry and reduction-oxidation reactions in general. See pages 261 and 298.
CHILE’S VILLARRICA NATIONAL PARK—As a motley medley of mycologists climbed the basalt slopes of the Lanín volcano earlier this year, the green foliage at lower elevations gave way to autumnal golds and reds. Chile’s famed Araucaria—commonly called monkey puzzle trees—soon appeared, their spiny branches curving jauntily upward like so many cats’ tails.
An ash and gas plume rises from Hunga volcano, Tonga, on 14 January 2022. Global geophysical observations reveal that the climactic eruption that followed on 15 January produced a broad range of atmospheric waves, with pressure wave amplitudes comparable with those from the 1883 Krakatau eruption. While propagating over the world’s oceans, the remarkable atmospheric waves generated complex fast-traveling tsunamis. See pages 30, 91, and 95.
On this week’s show: Whether biofuels for planes will become a reality, mitigating climate change by working with nature, and the second installment of our book series on the science of food and agriculture.
On this week's #SciencePodcast🎙: Using waste to fuel airplanes, mitigating climate change by working with nature, and the second installment of our book series on the science of food and agriculture.
First this week, Science Staff Writer Robert F. Service talks with producer Meagan Cantwell about sustainable aviation fuel, a story included in Science’s special issue on climate change. Researchers have been able to develop this green gas from materials such as municipal garbage and corn stalks. Will it power air travel in the future?
Also in the special issue this week, Nathalie Seddon, a professor of biodiversity at the University of Oxford, chats with host Sarah Crespi about the value of working with nature to support the biodiversity and resilience of our ecosystems. Seddon emphasizes that nature-based solutions alone cannot stop climate change—technological approaches and behavioral changes will also need to be implemented.
COVER: Humanity’s actions have committed us to a warming climate and limited our options for mitigation. Although there is no turning back, some paths are still open to avoid catastrophic climate change and reduce its impacts. We must act now to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and change our approaches to growing food, consuming products, and managing ecosystems to avoid a dire future. See page 1392.
A previously unidentified population of polar bears documented on the southeast coast of Greenland uses glacier ice to survive despite limited access to sea ice.
Cilia are characterized by slender, threadlike projections, which are used by biological organisms to control fluid flows at the microscale. Attempts to mimic these structures and engineer cilia-like systems to have broad applications have proved problematic. In this week’s issue, Wei Wang and colleagues present electronically controlled artificial cilia that can be used to create flow patterns in near-surface liquids. The researchers use surface-mounted platinum strips, each about 50 micrometres long, 5 micrometres wide and 10 nanometres thick, and capped on one side with titanium. Applying an oscillating potential with an amplitude of around 1 volt to the cilia drives ions on to and off of the exposed platinum surface. These ions create asymmetric forces that generate a beating pattern that can be used to pump surface liquids in various flow geometries. The cover shows an artist’s impression of the artificial cilia in action.
A global record of “ghost” nannofossils demonstrates that nannoplankton were more resilient to past warming events than traditional fossil evidence suggests.
Researchers with the #HumanCellAtlas consortium report a major feat: the creation of detailed maps of more than a million individual cells across 33 organs, representing the most comprehensive, cross-tissue cell atlases to date.
— Science Magazine (@ScienceMagazine) May 12, 2022
A survey of cell types across tissues as part of the Human Cell Atlas, mapped with single-cell transcriptomics in three papers in this issue, lays the foundation for understanding how cellular composition and gene expression vary across the human body in health, and for understanding how genes act in disease.
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