Mirror neurons—brain cells that are activated when viewing the actions of another—have been implicated in everything from obesity to autism. While many of the claims made about these cells remain to be tested, they continue to persist in popular culture, much to the frustration of those working in the field. Christian Keysers considers an attempt to set the record straight in a review of The Myth of Mirror Neurons: The Real Neuroscience of Communication and Cognition.

Last month, the European Commission (EC) Scientific Committees issued a draft opinion on whether existing risk assessment methods are adequate for synthetic biology. This opinion, which was written by a Working Group of 20 experts from Europe and the United States,* could have a substantial impact on shaping European and global synthetic biology policy for years to come. It is open for public comment through 3 February 2015.† Authors: Rainer Breitling, Eriko Takano, Timothy S. Gardner

New guidelines lower the barrier for patenting products derived from nature, quelling some biotech fears. Author: Kelly Servick

Mimicking real tissue, novel materials lead to flexible electrode implants that help paralyzed animals walk again. Author: Robert F. Service

Flood of data from new “space fence” radar may overwhelm some satellite operators. Author: Ilima Loomis

Concluding that there is no one test for machine intelligence, AI researchers develop a battery of research challenges. Author: Jia You

Underwater archaeologist Charles Beeker works to preserve famous wrecks as museums. Author: Michael Bawaya

One team's quest to find a potential Ebola case in Liberia reveals how difficult it will be to end the epidemic. Author: Kai Kupferschmidt

The smallest common poker game, two-player limit Texas Hold'em, is essentially solved [Also see Research Article by Bowling et al.] Author: Tuomas Sandholm

A model predicts the impact of variations in the human genome on RNA splicing and disease [Also see Research Article by Xiong et al.] Authors: Roderic Guigó, Juan Valcárcel

A crystal structure helps to explain how cells detoxify [Also see Report by Leung et al.] Authors: Ute Krengel, Susanna Törnroth-Horsefield

A cloud of cold atoms provides a route to understanding complex phase transitions [Also see Report by Navon et al.] Author: Gabriele Ferrari

Biochemically and spatially diverse intracellular mechanisms couple the activity of a cell growth regulatory complex to the availability of amino acids [Also see Reports by Wang et al. and Jewell et al.] Author: Robert T. Abraham

Buckling of sheets can be engineered to rapidly create complex shapes [Also see Report by Xu et al.] Authors: Chunhong Ye, Vladimir V. Tsukruk

Controlled electrode structure improves energy utilization [Also see Report by Kirshenbaum et al.] Authors: Nancy J. Dudney, Juchuan Li

Curbing demand for wild fish in aquafeeds is critical Authors: Ling Cao, Rosamond Naylor, Patrik Henriksson, Duncan Leadbitter, Marc Metian, Max Troell, Wenbo Zhang

Paul Weindling welcomes a historical approach to the concept of chronic illness Author: Paul Weindling

Susan R. Wolf considers an ambitious attempt to employ scientific and philosophical reasoning to understand our place in the cosmos Author: Susan R. Wolf

Co-infection complicates treatment | Dating the influence of Deccan Traps eruptions | Going BATty to fight prostate cancer | Breaking the symmetry in an atomic gas | Traveling a long way past the junction | Gut microbes resist inflammation | I'll see your program and raise you mine | A factor for repairing broken DNA | Peroxidized lipids dilate blood vessels | Predicting defects in RNA splicing | Watching the silver lining inside | Popping materials and devices from 2D into 3D | Mechanically soft neural implants | Getting specific about amino acid sensing | Dueling dimers serve dual purposes | Sensing amino acids at the lysosome

Losing traction at higher speeds | For caspases, an escape from death | Filing words away makes room for more | Greater challenge, smarter birds | Biology undermines clinician empathy | Microbes driving the time machine | For HIV drugs, location trumps all | Bat-filled tree source of Ebola epidemic?

A model predicts how thousands of disease-linked nucleotide variants affect messenger RNA splicing. [Also see Perspective by Guigó and Valcárcel] Authors: Hui Y. Xiong, Babak Alipanahi, Leo J. Lee, Hannes Bretschneider, Daniele Merico, Ryan K. C. Yuen, Yimin Hua, Serge Gueroussov, Hamed S. Najafabadi, Timothy R. Hughes, Quaid Morris, Yoseph Barash, Adrian R. Krainer, Nebojsa Jojic, Stephen W. Scherer, Benjamin J. Blencowe, Brendan J. Frey

A computer goes to Las Vegas. [Also see Perspective by Sandholm] Authors: Michael Bowling, Neil Burch, Michael Johanson, Oskari Tammelin

The change in battery capacity with discharge rate is related to internal structural changes using in situ imaging. [Also see Perspective by Dudney and Li] Authors: Kevin Kirshenbaum, David C. Bock, Chia-Ying Lee, Zhong Zhong, Kenneth J. Takeuchi, Amy C. Marschilok, Esther S. Takeuchi

Complex, three-dimensional shapes emerge via the geometric buckling of two-dimensional micro/nanostructures. [Also see Perspective by Ye and Tsukruk] Authors: Sheng Xu, Zheng Yan, Kyung-In Jang, Wen Huang, Haoran Fu, Jeonghyun Kim, Zijun Wei, Matthew Flavin, Joselle McCracken, Renhan Wang, Adina Badea, Yuhao Liu, Dongqing Xiao, Guoyan Zhou, Jungwoo Lee, Ha Uk Chung, Huanyu Cheng, Wen Ren, Anthony Banks, Xiuling Li, Ungyu Paik, Ralph G. Nuzzo, Yonggang Huang, Yihui Zhang, John A. Rogers

A soft neural implant that mimics the mechanical properties of the dura layer biointegrates within the brain and spinal cord. Authors: Ivan R. Minev, Pavel Musienko, Arthur Hirsch, Quentin Barraud, Nikolaus Wenger, Eduardo Martin Moraud, Jérôme Gandar, Marco Capogrosso, Tomislav Milekovic, Léonie Asboth, Rafael Fajardo Torres, Nicolas Vachicouras, Qihan Liu, Natalia Pavlova, Simone Duis, Alexandre Larmagnac, Janos Vörös, Silvestro Micera, Zhigang Suo, Grégoire Courtine, Stéphanie P. Lacour

Ultrafast electron microscopy reveals unexpected carrier migration behavior in a silicon diode. Authors: Ebrahim Najafi, Timothy D. Scarborough, Jau Tang, Ahmed Zewail

Interferometry is used to confirm the predictions of the Kibble-Zurek theory in a quenched gas of rubidium atoms. [Also see Perspective by Ferrari] Authors: Nir Navon, Alexander L. Gaunt, Robert P. Smith, Zoran Hadzibabic

Gut commensals avoid elimination during inflammation via a single phosphate in lipopolysaccharide. Authors: T. W. Cullen, W. B. Schofield, N. A. Barry, E. E. Putnam, E. A. Rundell, M. S. Trent, P. H. Degnan, C. J. Booth, H. Yu, A. L. Goodman

Targeting one pathogen reduces infection by it, but allows a second pathogen to propagate in an African buffalo population. Authors: Vanessa O. Ezenwa, Anna E. Jolles

One monomer in a transmembrane dimer transports protons and the other transfers hydride. [Also see Perspective by Krengel and Törnroth-Horsefield] Authors: Josephine H. Leung, Lici A. Schurig-Briccio, Mutsuo Yamaguchi, Arne Moeller, Jeffrey A. Speir, Robert B. Gennis, Charles D. Stout