Sequencing plasmids can reveal the transmission of resistance among bacteria from patients in a clinical setting Authors: Scott A. Beatson, Mark J. Walker

Microstructures that increase metal crystallite size from nanoscale with surface depth are both strong and ductile Author: K. Lu

Religious institutions may mobilize public opinion and action Authors: Partha Dasgupta, Veerabhadran Ramanathan

Authors: Dennis Hubbard, Eberhard Gischler, Peter Davies, Lucien Montaggioni, Gilbert Camoin, Wolf-Christian Dullo, Curt Storlazzi, Michael Field, Charles Fletcher, Eric Grossman, Charles Sheppard, Halard Lescinsky, Douglas Fenner, John McManus, Sander Scheffers

Rings of ocean upwelling | A carbonyl compound that tips the scales | Cancer immunotherapy expands T cell attack | Aligning a magnetic atomic gas | The file drawer is full. Should we worry? | Human adult stem cell expansion | Building connections by gene therapy | One protein smothers other deadly ones | Establishing memory of gene repression | Regulating DNA building blocks | Studying magnetism with cold atoms | Organic semiconductors go out for a spin | A pathway that controls our mood | A foreign-DNA–destroying machine

Biting into Big Data in the Big Apple | Simpler coating of silica surfaces | Clone wars: Let's pick out the superbugs | Signaling back and forth for cartilage | Gut bugs may boost flu shots' effects | Getting by with a little help from eel friends | Magnetism leads to superconductivity | Reservoir assembly drives super-eruptions

Beyond their contribution to basic metabolism, the major cellular organelles, in particular mitochondria, can determine whether cells respond to stress in an adaptive or suicidal manner. Thus, mitochondria can continuously adapt their shape to changing bioenergetic demands as they are subjected to quality control by autophagy, or they can undergo a lethal permeabilization process that initiates apoptosis. Along similar lines, multiple proteins involved in metabolic circuitries, including oxidative phosphorylation and transport of metabolites across membranes, may participate in the regulated or catastrophic dismantling of organelles. Many factors that were initially characterized as cell death regulators are now known to physically or functionally interact with metabolic enzymes. Thus, several metabolic cues regulate the propensity of cells to activate self-destructive programs, in part by acting on nutrient sensors. This suggests the existence of “metabolic checkpoints” that dictate cell fate in response to metabolic fluctuations. Here, we discuss recent insights into the intersection between metabolism and cell death regulation that have major implications for the comprehension and manipulation of unwarranted cell loss. Authors: Douglas R. Green, Lorenzo Galluzzi, Guido Kroemer

An unusual symmetry is observed in an array of pancake-shaped atomic clouds of strontium-87. Authors: X. Zhang, M. Bishof, S. L. Bromley, C. V. Kraus, M. S. Safronova, P. Zoller, A. M. Rey, J. Ye

The structure of the Cascade complex reveals how the bacterial CRISPR immune system targets foreign DNA. [Also see Perspective by Zhang and Sontheimer] Authors: Ryan N. Jackson, Sarah M. Golden, Paul B. G. van Erp, Joshua Carter, Edze R. Westra, Stan J. J. Brouns, John van der Oost, Thomas C. Terwilliger, Randy J. Read, Blake Wiedenheft

The structure of the Cascade complex reveals how the bacterial CRISPR immune system targets foreign DNA. [Also see Perspective by Zhang and Sontheimer] Authors: Sabin Mulepati, Annie Héroux, Scott Bailey

Erbium atoms with high magnetic dipole moments interact anisotropically, causing the Fermi surface to deform. Authors: K. Aikawa, S. Baier, A. Frisch, M. Mark, C. Ravensbergen, F. Ferlaino

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy enables detection and manipulation of subtle spin interactions in organic semiconductors. [Also see Perspective by Bobbert] Authors: H. Malissa, M. Kavand, D. P. Waters, K. J. van Schooten, P. L. Burn, Z. V. Vardeny, B. Saam, J. M. Lupton, C. Boehme

A special apparatus enables synthesis of a compound with carbon bonds to a short-lived element produced via nuclear reaction. [Also see Perspective by Loveland] Authors: J. Even, A. Yakushev, Ch. E. Düllmann, H. Haba, M. Asai, T. K. Sato, H. Brand, A. Di Nitto, R. Eichler, F. L. Fan, W. Hartmann, M. Huang, E. Jäger, D. Kaji, J. Kanaya, Y. Kaneya, J. Khuyagbaatar, B. Kindler, J. V. Kratz, J. Krier, Y. Kudou, N. Kurz, B. Lommel, S. Miyashita, K. Morimoto, K. Morita, M. Murakami, Y. Nagame, H. Nitsche, K. Ooe, Z. Qin, M. Schädel, J. Steiner, T. Sumita, M. Takeyama, K. Tanaka, A. Toyoshima, K. Tsukada, A. Türler, I. Usoltsev, Y. Wakabayashi, Y. Wang, N. Wiehl, S. Yamaki

The relative level of excitation and inhibition controls activity of a brain region that is linked to depression. Authors: Steven J. Shabel, Christophe D. Proulx, Joaquin Piriz, Roberto Malinow

Winter upwelling along the Pacific coast of North America became unusually variable during the 20th century. Authors: Bryan A. Black, William J. Sydeman, David C. Frank, Daniel Griffin, David W. Stahle, Marisol García-Reyes, Ryan R. Rykaczewski, Steven J. Bograd, William T. Peterson

Fully half of peer-reviewed and implemented social science experiments are not published. Authors: Annie Franco, Neil Malhotra, Gabor Simonovits

Supersizing neuromuscular junctions by gene therapy ameliorates muscle weakness in mice. Authors: Sumimasa Arimura, Takashi Okada, Tohru Tezuka, Tomoko Chiyo, Yuko Kasahara, Toshiro Yoshimura, Masakatsu Motomura, Nobuaki Yoshida, David Beeson, Shin’ichi Takeda, Yuji Yamanashi

The self-renewal of human hematopoietic stem cells in vitrois enhanced by the pyrimidoindole derivative UM171. Authors: Iman Fares, Jalila Chagraoui, Yves Gareau, Stéphane Gingras, Réjean Ruel, Nadine Mayotte, Elizabeth Csaszar, David J. H. F. Knapp, Paul Miller, Mor Ngom, Suzan Imren, Denis-Claude Roy, Kori L. Watts, Hans-Peter Kiem, Robert Herrington, Norman N. Iscove, R. Keith Humphries, Connie J. Eaves, Sandra Cohen, Anne Marinier, Peter W. Zandstra, Guy Sauvageau

A regulator of the enzyme that makes the building blocks of DNA provides a new target for anticancer drugs. Authors: Alexei Arnaoutov, Mary Dasso

Repression is perpetuated across generations and cell divisions via methylated histones and methylating enzymes. Authors: Laura J. Gaydos, Wenchao Wang, Susan Strome

A weekly roundup of information on newly offered instrumentation, apparatus, and laboratory materials of potential interest to researchers.

As we pursue bolder initiatives in space, and as China moves towards launching a permanently manned space station, gaining a clearer understanding of the impact of long-term space travel becomes essential to maintain the well-being of astronauts. Serious consideration has been given to human travel beyond low Earth orbit—where the International Space Station resides—and beyond the moon, possibly to Mars or the moons of Jupiter. Examples of groundbreaking space research currently underway in China are collected in this booklet, providing the reader with a taste of what future space exploration might look like. As Chinese scientists learn about the effects on the body and mind, they are applying their knowledge to modify equipment, improve astronaut training, and fine-tune the selection process for astronauts. Other scientists and engineers around the world will benefit, and can apply the new information to space programs in their own countries. Human Performance in Space (PDF, 18 MB)Human Performance in Space (PDF, low resolution version, 6 MB)Read the e-bookletThis booklet brought to you by the Science/AAAS Custom Publishing Office.DOI: 10.1126/science.opms.sb0002

Plateauing budgets for global health sharpen the focus on what really works. Author: Martin Enserink

A rigorous study shows that giving poor South African families a little extra money for each of their children improves their health and education. Author: Jon Cohen

The first vaccine developed specifically for Africa is an unqualified success. Author: Kai Kupferschmidt

A country with one of the world's saltiest cuisines confronts its hypertension problem. Author: Mara Hvistendahl

A model for malaria interventions is at risk as funding flattens and the disease smolders on. Author: Kai Kupferschmidt

Death in old age is inevitable, but death before old age is not. Except where HIV or political disturbances predominated, mortality rates have been decreasing for decades, helped by sanitation, health care, and social changes. Even in low-income countries, at current death rates, three-quarters of newborn infants would survive to age 50, and half would survive to age 70. If disease control keeps progressing and economic development proceeds, then within the next few decades—except where disasters or new epidemics supervene—under-50 mortality should fall to less than half of today's 15% global risk, and under-70 mortality should be less than one in six. Authors: Richard Peto, Alan D. Lopez, Ole F. Norheim

The development field needs to be more serious about gender inequities and women’s empowerment. By ignoring gender inequities, many development projects fail to achieve their objective. And when development organizations do not focus on women’s empowerment, they neglect the fact that empowered women have the potential to transform their societies. I also review the Gates Foundation’s record on gender and propose some approaches to improve it. Author: Melinda French Gates

The global health landscape looks more promising than ever, although progress has been uneven. Here, we describe the current global burden of disease throughout the life cycle, highlighting regional differences in the unfinished agenda of communicable diseases and reproductive, maternal, and child health and the additive burden of emerging noncommunicable diseases and injuries. Understanding this changing landscape is an essential starting point for effective allocation of both domestic and international resources for health. Authors: Jaime Sepúlveda, Christopher Murray