A roundup of the week's top stories in Science

In Brief

SCI COMMUN News at a glance In science news around the world, the vice-chancellor of the Stockholm-based Karolinska Institute resigns in the wake of a widening scandal around surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, Brazil begins a national campaign to combat the Zika virus, three scientists at Arizona State University, Tempe, put out an online petition against sexual misconduct in academia, the United Kingdom issues new guidelines for research involving using human material in animals, the United States includes genome editing in its list of weapons of mass destruction, a Texas panel recommends a ban on using analyses of bite marks in convictions, and more. Also, a Scottish astronomer will be the first nonroyal woman to appear on a Scottish banknote. And the former chair of the International Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, is again facing charges of sexual harassment.

In Depth

Astrophysics Gravitational waves serve up a mystery Adrian Cho For decades, physicists had claimed that the detection of gravitational waves-ripples in spacetime set off by cataclysmic events deep in space-would usher in a new type of astronomy and reveal new wonders. Last week, the twin detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) delivered on that promise, as physicists announced the first detection of a gravitational signal-and, with it, a stellar surprise. The waves came from a pair of black holes spiraling together and colliding in space 1.3 billion light-years from Earth. Computer models showed that each was about 30 times as massive as our sun. That's about twice as massive as they should be, according to current theories of how black holes form from stars. Physicists hope more waves detected in the next few years will help them explain what is going on. LIGO should also provide new, rigorous tests of Einstein's general theory of relativity, and-working with other gravitational wave detectors due to come online in the near future-pinpoint precisely where in the sky the waves are coming from. The scientist who spotted the fateful signal-and let the cat out of the bag Adrian Cho The first scientist to see the long-awaited sign of gravitational waves was a soft-spoken Italian postdoc. Marco Drago, 33, works at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Hanover, Germany, overseeing one of four automatic "pipelines" that comb the raw data from LIGO's twin detectors, thousands of kilometers away. On 14 September 2015, the pipeline flagged a possible detection. Drago thought the event had to be a test-it was too sharp and clear to be true, and the recently upgraded detectors weren't even supposed to be taking data yet. Scrambling to figure out what was going on, Drago inadvertently alerted his 1000 fellow researchers that a possible detection was in the bag-something that, under LIGO protocols, none of them was supposed to know. Before they could announce a detection, however, they had to rule out a host of other scenarios-including the possibility that the whole thing was an elaborate prank. U.S. Funding Pitching science: A history of Obama's research budgets Jeffrey Mervis Last week President Barack Obama submitted his final budget request to Congress. Presidential science adviser John Holdren is fond of saying that, when it comes to science, "this president gets it." And although many research advocates generally agree, they have often been disappointed that Obama's requests for major science funding agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, haven't contained the steady and predictable growth that academic leaders say is essential to preserve U.S. leadership in science. Instead, the numbers have fluctuated from feast to famine, with a massive economic stimulus package passed in his first weeks in office being arguably the budgetary high point for science in the Obama presidency. What do those annual spending blueprints say about Obama's strategy and tactics as scientific salesman-in-chief? Neuroscience Barcoding the brain Emily Underwood About 5 years ago, neuroscientist Tony Zador was struck by a novel idea for how to build a synapse-by-synapse map of brain connections-a goal dear to neuroscientists who want to understand how the brain's intricate wiring underlies its functions. By using random series of 30 nucleotides-the building blocks of RNA and DNA-he thought he could give neurons unique barcodes, linking the barcodes across synapses, then create maps of their connections using high-throughput gene sequencing technology. Now, after a long "slog" of technical difficulties, the researcher at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York believes the technique is ready for prime time. As part of a project led by molecular engineer George Church of Harvard University, the technique was selected last month to receive a $21 million, 5-year brain mapping grant, one of six new projects under the Machine Intelligence from Cortical Networks, or MICrONS, program, sponsored by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity. Ultimately, MICrONS aims to map every neuron and synaptic connection within a 1-cubic-millimeter chunk of tissue from the mouse visual cortex, and use those detailed brain connection maps to design computer architectures able to perform tasks that are easy for a brain but out of reach for artificial intelligence. Genomics Pocket DNA sequencers make real-time diagnostics a reality Elizabeth Pennisi Not so long ago, DNA sequencing required massive equipment and lots of time and money. Now, relatively cheap, pocket-sized devices are on the verge of giving real-time sequencing abilities to the masses. These so-called nanopore sequencers, produced so far by a single company, have suffered from poor accuracy. But this month, researchers reported that the instruments passed an important field test, conducting on-the-spot sequencing of viruses isolated from patients during last year's Ebola epidemic in West Africa. In the lab, meanwhile, other researchers are tweaking sample preparation and data analysis to boost the devices' accuracy and speed. Real-time analyses of pathogens and the rest of life are within reach, they say. Ecologists, public health officials, epidemiologists, food safety officials, and many others may reap the benefits. Some researchers predict that one day these sequencers will be in every lab and even in everyone's pocket, like mobile phones. Microbiome The right gut microbes help infants grow Elizabeth Pennisi Almost 180 million children across the globe are stunted, a severe, disabling consequence of malnutrition, repeated childhood infections, and sometimes irreversible damage. Now, new studies suggest the gut microbiome plays a critical role in infant growth-sometimes promoting it even in the absence of sufficient calories-providing tantalizing, if preliminary, clues about possible new interventions. They show that microbial communities change as an infant ages, and when they don't poor nutrition leads to stunting and other problems. Work in germ-free mice shows providing the right human microbial communities can restore growth, likely by restoring the proper connections between growth hormone and insulinlike growth factor 1. And supplying young mice with certain sugars typically provided in breast milk helps to make sure the right microbial community gets established.

Feature

The next big eye Daniel Clery For months, the four scientific instruments at the heart of the James Webb Space Telescope have been sealed in what looks like a huge pressure cooker. It's a test chamber that simulates the grueling operating conditions they will face after Webb is launched into orbit in 2018. But in fact, "pressure cooker" is an apt metaphor for the whole project. The infrared Webb observatory is the biggest, most complex, and most expensive science mission that NASA has ever attempted. Like that of its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, Webb's construction has been plagued by redesigns, schedule slips, and cost overruns that have strained relationships with contractors, international partners, and supporters in the U.S. Congress. Lately the project has largely stuck to its schedule and its $8 billion budget. But plenty could still go wrong, and the stakes are high: Both the future of space-based astronomy and NASA's ability to build complex science missions depend on its success. Building the biggest eye in space Constructing a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope has been an epic undertaking involving more than 1000 people in 17 countries over 2 decades. As that effort reaches its climax, the components of the James Webb Space Telescope face a complex series of tests to ensure that the telescope deploys-and works-perfectly. Webb's instruments have already undergone three "cryo-vacuum" tests at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, to simulate operations in the cold vacuum of space. In 2017, the telescope and its instruments will observe an artificial universe inside a giant vibration-damping chamber at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. In 2018, the collapsible telescope will be packed into a capsule and launched into space. All of its components-its solar power array, sunshield, 6.5-meter main mirror, and boom-mounted secondary mirror-must unfold perfectly as the spacecraft cruises to its final orbit, 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.