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

The devastating Ebola epidemic in West Africa is the result of a perfect storm: dysfunctional health services as the result of decades of war, low public trust in government and Western medicine, traditional beliefs and even denials about the cause or existence of the virus, and burial practices that involve contact with contagious Ebola-infected corpses. There are now five affected West African countries: Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and most recently, Senegal. Ebola has killed around 2000 and infected more than 3500, with over 40% of cases occurring within the past few weeks. The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that 20,000 may become infected. This fast pace of Ebola's spread is a grim reminder that epidemics are a global threat and that the only way to get this virus under control is through a rapid response at a massive global scale—much stronger than the current efforts. Author: Peter Piot

Rushing them into widespread use without large-scale trials raises hopes and concerns. Author: Jon Cohen

Vying camps make bold claims about sovereignty as a blessing—or a curse—for science. Author: Daniel Clery

Western states caught between rising background levels and more stringent federal limits. Author: Eric Hand

Young animals' blood holds rejuvenating powers. Amy Wagers wants to know why. Author: Stephen S. Hall

Long noncoding RNAs may function as organizing factors that shape the cell nucleus Authors: John Rinn, Mitchell Guttman

Much of moral life involves attending to our own good deeds and to the bad deeds of others [Also see Report by Hofmann et al.] Author: Jesse Graham

Altering physical and social environments can change behaviors to improve population health Authors: Dave A. Chokshi, Thomas A. Farley

Training for making health policy that has the best impact on a population Authors: Anne Cockcroft, Mokgweetsi Masisi, Lehana Thabane, Neil Andersson

Biogeographical diversity in bacterial populations can arise without need for natural selection [Also see Report by Hellweger et al.] Authors: Stephen Giovannoni, Diana Nemergut

Ultrafast spectroscopy is used to control and manipulate quantum states in diamond [Also see Report by Bassett et al.] Author: Lilian Childress

Immune cells prompt gut epithelial cells to produce carbohydrate nutrients for resident bacteria [Also see Research Article by Goto et al.] Author: Lora V. Hooper

Authors: Tatsuaki Okada, Kei Shirai, Yukio Yamamoto, Takehiko Arai, Kazunori Ogawa, Kozue Hosono, Manabu Kato

Existing tools can deliver big payoffs Authors: Barbara Jasny, Leslie Roberts, Martin Enserink, Orla Smith

The current crisis with the Ebola virus vividly illustrates the priority that must be given to infectious diseases because of their potentially devastating consequences to individuals and to society. Few would argue against the need for more research on Ebola and the expedited development of a cure; however, recent incidents in biocontainment laboratories and the proliferation of such facilities globally raise concerns about safety and have split the scientific community. Scientists who defend research on dangerous pathogens as vital to protecting populations are opposed by those who fear the potential devastation caused by the intentional or unintentional release of pathogens from the lab. Achieving a “culture of safety,” so often alluded to after recent lapses in biosafety procedures, demands adopting a “culture of responsibility” as well. Authors: Ruth L. Berkelman, James W. Le Duc

Italian probe depicts web of scandal, including illegal animal vaccines and deliberate outbreaks. Author: Laura Margottini

Japan's developmental biology powerhouse brought to knees by misconduct revelations. Author: Dennis Normile

Large volumes of fuel from crop wastes will soon start flowing in the U.S.—unless policymakers balk. Author: Robert F. Service

Marc Lipsitch wants to turn the bitter debate over risky virus research into a search for solutions. Author: Jocelyn Kaiser

Nitrogen isotope data help to resolve puzzling observations during the last deglaciation [Also see Report by Buizert et al.] Author: Louise Claire Sime

Dipeptide repeat proteins produced in certain neurodegenerative diseases exert toxicity by blocking RNA biogenesis [Also see Research Article by Kwon et al. and Report by Mizielinska et al.] Authors: Joseph Paul West, Aaron D. Gitler

Ocean microbes respond to limited nutrients by tuning the abundance of specific proteins [Also see Reports by Saito et al. and Yong et al.] Author: C. Mark Moore

A superconducting condensate can display analogous behavior to the Higgs field [Also see Report by Matsunaga et al.] Authors: Alexej Pashkin, Alfred Leitenstorfer

Sirtuin proteins divide control of the circadian gene expression and metabolism Authors: Yannan Xi, Danica Chen

Recording and archiving crop phenotype diversity needs to catch up with genomic data [Also see Report by Denoeud et al.] Author: Dani Zamir

The approach might address disputes beyond whaling and the courtroom Authors: William de la Mare, Nick Gales, Marc Mangel

Glykys et al. (Reports, 7 February 2014, p. 670) conclude that, rather than ion transporters, “local impermeant anions establish the neuronal chloride concentration” and thereby determine “the magnitude and direction of GABAAR currents at individual synapses.” If this were possible, perpetual ion-motion machines could be constructed. The authors’ conclusions conflict with basic thermodynamic principles. Authors: Juha Voipio, Walter F. Boron, Stephen W. Jones, Ulrich Hopfer, John A. Payne, Kai Kaila

Glykys et al. (Reports, 7 February 2014, p. 670) proposed that cytoplasmic impermeant anions and polyanionic extracellular matrix glycoproteins establish the local neuronal intracellular chloride concentration, [Cl–]i, and thereby the polarity of γ-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) receptor signaling. The experimental procedures and results in this study are insufficient to support these conclusions. Contradictory results previously published by these authors and other laboratories are not referred to. Authors: Heiko J. Luhmann, Sergei Kirischuk, Werner Kilb

We appreciate the interest in our paper and the opportunity to clarify theoretical and technical aspects describing the influence of Donnan equilibria on neuronal chloride ion (Cl–) distributions. Authors: J. Glykys, V. Dzhala, K. Egawa, T. Balena, Y. Saponjian, K. V. Kuchibhotla, B. J. Bacskai, K. T. Kahle, T. Zeuthen, K. J. Staley