Science Weekly News

Science Weekly News
03/11/16	Volume 351, Issue 6278

Special Section

Special Issue News Evidence on trial Martin Enserink Special Issue News Sizing up the evidence Kelly Servick Special Issue News When DNA is lying Douglas Starr Special Issue News How hair can reveal a history Hanae Armitage and Nala Rogers Special Issue News A trail of microbes Kai Kupferschmidt Special Issue News Who dropped the bomb? Richard Stone Special Issue News Whose voice is that? Nala Rogers Special Issue News Clues from the ashes Lizzie Wade Special Issue News The microbial death clock Kai Kupferschmidt Special Issue News The Bitcoin busts John Bohannon

In Brief

SCI COMMUN News at a glance In science news around the world, Brazil begins work on a new year-round Antarctic station to replace a facility destroyed by fire 4 years ago, China plans a big boost to its investment in science as part of its latest 5-year plan, the Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to nix a conditionally approved pesticide after further study, the American Statistical Association weighs in on the proper use of p-values, and more. Also, new research shows that Mercury's ancient crust was made of graphite. And Science chats with Scott Halstead, one of the world's foremost authorities on mosquito-borne viruses, about the likely fate of the Zika virus.

In Depth

Planetary Science Mars orbiter to sniff for methane Eric Hand Europe and Russia are set to launch a joint mission to Mars, as early as 14 March. Upon arrival in October, the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) will train its instruments on the Red Planet, in the hopes of resolving questions about the existence of methane gas, and whether it could hint at microbial life. The orbiter will look not only down at the planet, but also across its limb, into the sun, which will make the absorption lines associated with methane stand out sharply. The TGO will also carry a lander, Schiaparelli, which will test out key technologies such as a parachute and a radar altimeter. If successful, Schiaparelli would mark the first Mars landing by a country other than the United States-and it would pave the way for the launch of the ExoMars rover in 2018. Infectious Disease Evidence grows for Zika virus as pregnancy danger Gretchen Vogel Since late last year when physicians in Brazil warned that a wave of serious birth defects might be linked to a little-known virus called Zika, researchers have struggled to prove the connection. Some in the media have questioned whether the reported increase in birth defects is real; others, particularly environmental activists, have suggested the virus is an innocent bystander, unfairly blamed for defects caused by chemicals or other factors. With three studies published last week, chances that the virus has been wrongly accused are fading. Two independent groups showed that, at least in the lab, the virus eagerly infects developing brain cells, suggesting a mechanism by which it could cause the most striking of the observed birth defects: microcephaly, in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and brains. A third study, following several dozen pregnant women in Brazil who were infected with the virus, directly links the infection to an increase in brain defects. It also suggests that the virus can harm a developing fetus in other ways, possibly by attacking the placenta and slowing down the supply of nutrients. "These are the data we have been waiting for," says Daniel Lucey, an expert on global health at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Gravitational Waves In search of spacetime megawaves Daniel Clery Last month, the detection of gravitational waves from merging black holes made headlines and tweetstorms around the world. But a hunt for much bigger game was already afoot. The black holes responsible for last month's discovery weighed a few dozen times as much as our sun. Black holes millions or billions of times that massive, however, lurk at the centers of most galaxies-and they merge, too, creating waves like gravitational tsunamis. Three teams of radio astronomers are watching the heavens for hints of these megawaves, which should cause hiccups in the ultraregular pulses of distant energy beacons called millisecond pulsars. The researchers' latest results suggest that increasing sensitivity should enable them to see signs of the waves sometime in the next decade. Lipid Biology Why high 'good cholesterol' can be bad news Jennifer Couzin-Frankel In the last 10 years, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) particles have confounded scientists. The normal role of these bundles of protein and fat is to ferry cholesterol from the rest of the body to the liver, which eliminates it from the body. More of something good should mean better health, and people who naturally have higher HDL levels are usually better off. But drugs that increase HDL cholesterol have flopped in clinical trials, and genes that help raise it don't seem to track with less heart disease. Now, a new study that included a subgroup of people with high HDL suggests that it can sometimes be a signal not of heart health, but of the opposite: a cholesterol system unable to siphon the fatty particles from circulation. Italy Plans for new research hub get critical reception Laura Margottini The Italian government has announced plans for the launch of the Human Technopole Italy 2040, a brand new research center for the life sciences that will be lavishly funded and housed at the stylish site of a former world expo in Milan. The effort would receive €1.5 billion over the next decade and focus on genomics, personalized medicine, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. The plans have drawn mostly criticism. Many researchers applaud the government for investing in science, but they object to the lack of transparency with which the new hub was hatched. And some worry that it won't benefit the best researchers and institutes but those with the best connections.