The importance of energy for development is underscored by the United Nations declaration of 2014 to 2024 as the Decade of Sustainable Energy for All. Among the goals is to provide universal access to electricity and clean cooking. Each laudable in itself, the two goals actually overlap. Author: Kirk R. Smith

Reanalyzing same data, paper challenges controversial study casting doubt on use of mouse models. Author: Mitch Leslie

Statistical agencies worldwide are trying to meet demand for cost-savings without harming quality. Author: Jeffrey Mervis

Studies of individual animals in the wild suggest that higher cognition has evolutionary trade-offs. Author: Elizabeth Pennisi

Catalytic approach could eliminate CO2 emissions from the key step in making fertilizer. Author: Robert F. Service

Biologists debate whether “genomic islands” are real and mark a first step in the formation of new species. Author: Elizabeth Pennisi

Microprocessors modeled on networks of nerve cells promise blazing speed at incredibly low power—if they live up to hopes. Author: Robert F. Service

Advanced cryo–electron microscopy yields high-resolution structures of proteins Authors: Martin T. J. Smith, John L. Rubinstein

A quantum mechanical calculation of the lattice energy of benzene represents a milestone in accuracy [Also see Report by Yang et al.] Author: Sarah L. Price

Radiometric studies can probe the pre-birth conditions of the solar system [Also see Report by Lugaro et al.] Author: Martin Bizzarro

Local biosynthesis and mutual inhibition between plant hormones pattern root tissues [Also see Research Article by De Rybel et al.] Authors: Nathan Mellor, Anthony Bishopp

Reconfigurable machines and internally structured materials can be created through folding [Also see Reports by Felton et al. and Silverberg et al.] Author: Zhong You

Drugs that modulate RNA splicing are potential therapeutics for spinal muscular atrophy [Also see Report by Naryshkin et al.] Authors: Luisa Vigevani, Juan Valcárcel

Regulatory gaps must be filled before gene drives could be used in the wild Authors: Kenneth A. Oye, Kevin Esvelt, Evan Appleton, Flaminia Catteruccia, George Church, Todd Kuiken, Shlomiya Bar-Yam Lightfoot, Julie McNamara, Andrea Smidler, James P. Collins

Folding robots and metamaterials | Relocating a heavy-metal factory | Seeing magnetism on an atomic level | Drugs that provide the splice of life | You only see what you want to see | Modeling computer chips on real brains | Microbial life thrives in an oily bubble | Factors that aid ribosomal protein synthesis | Better blood thinner, without bleeding | How to plumb the root is the problem | Taking carbon out of the ammonial recipe | Working out how to pack benzene in silico | Scattering neutrons asymmetrically | How microbes compete for nitrate | Bad cholesterol: Bad for bacteria, too? | Bending the benefits of polyunsaturates | Going from a trickle to a flood? | Two signals for maximal T cell activation | Microbial life thrives in an oily bubble | Factors that aid ribosomal protein synthesis | Better blood thinner, without bleeding

Making more-directional magnetic materials | How proteins can evolve new functions | A fluorescent tool for tagging RNA | Hearing sounds can improve your vision | Stem cell factories inside teeth

A genetic network integrates hormonal inputs to establish a stable tissue pattern within a growing plant tissue. [Also see Perspective by Mellor and Bishopp] Authors: Bert De Rybel, Milad Adibi, Alice S. Breda, Jos R. Wendrich, Margot E. Smit, Ondřej Novák, Nobutoshi Yamaguchi, Saiko Yoshida, Gert Van Isterdael, Joakim Palovaara, Bart Nijsse, Mark V. Boekschoten, Guido Hooiveld, Tom Beeckman, Doris Wagner, Karin Ljung, Christian Fleck, Dolf Weijers

An electrochemical route offers preliminary prospects for making the ammonia in fertilizer purely from renewable resources. Authors: Stuart Licht, Baochen Cui, Baohui Wang, Fang-Fang Li, Jason Lau, Shuzhi Liu

Theoretical calculations of molecular packing in crystals attain sufficient accuracy to distinguish polymorphs. [Also see Perspective by Price] Authors: Jun Yang, Weifeng Hu, Denis Usvyat, Devin Matthews, Martin Schütz, Garnet Kin-Lic Chan

Origami techniques are used to develop crawling robots that self-fold from flat-pack designs. Authors: S. Felton, M. Tolley, E. Demaine, D. Rus, R. Wood

Origami folded sheets can be structurally altered by adding defects to control the mechanical properties. [Also see Perspective by You] Authors: Jesse L. Silverberg, Arthur A. Evans, Lauren McLeod, Ryan C. Hayward, Thomas Hull, Christian D. Santangelo, Itai Cohen

Revised estimates of nucleosynthesis in AGB stars allow a consistent timeline for the last presolar enrichment events. [Also see Perspective by Bizzarro] Authors: Maria Lugaro, Alexander Heger, Dean Osrin, Stephane Goriely, Kai Zuber, Amanda I. Karakas, Brad K. Gibson, Carolyn L. Doherty, John C. Lattanzio, Ulrich Ott

Spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscopy reveals the magnetic ordering of a strongly correlated material. Authors: Mostafa Enayat, Zhixiang Sun, Udai Raj Singh, Ramakrishna Aluru, Stefan Schmaus, Alexander Yaresko, Yong Liu, Chengtian Lin, Vladimir Tsurkan, Alois Loidl, Joachim Deisenhofer, Peter Wahl

Inelastic neutron scattering detects an anisotropy in the spin fluctuations of a family of iron-based superconductors. Authors: Xingye Lu, J. T. Park, Rui Zhang, Huiqian Luo, Andriy H. Nevidomskyy, Qimiao Si, Pengcheng Dai

Projections from the frontal cortex control stimulus processing in the visual system in mice. Authors: Siyu Zhang, Min Xu, Tsukasa Kamigaki, Johnny Phong Hoang Do, Wei-Cheng Chang, Sean Jenvay, Kazunari Miyamichi, Liqun Luo, Yang Dan

Climate warming is expected to reduce oxygen (O2) supply to the ocean and expand its oxygen minimum zones (OMZs). We reconstructed variations in the extent of North Pacific anoxia since 1850 using a geochemical proxy for denitrification (δ15N) from multiple sediment cores. Increasing δ15N since ~1990 records an expansion of anoxia, consistent with observed O2 trends. However, this was preceded by a longer declining δ15N trend that implies that the anoxic zone was shrinking for most of the 20th century. Both periods can be explained by changes in winds over the tropical Pacific that drive upwelling, biological productivity, and O2 demand within the OMZ. If equatorial Pacific winds resume their predicted weakening trend, the ocean’s largest anoxic zone will contract despite a global O2 decline. Authors: Curtis Deutsch, William Berelson, Robert Thunell, Thomas Weber, Caitlin Tems, James McManus, John Crusius, Taka Ito, Timothy Baumgartner, Vicente Ferreira, Jacob Mey, Alexander van Geen

A large-scale computer chip mimics many features of a real brain. Authors: Paul A. Merolla, John V. Arthur, Rodrigo Alvarez-Icaza, Andrew S. Cassidy, Jun Sawada, Filipp Akopyan, Bryan L. Jackson, Nabil Imam, Chen Guo, Yutaka Nakamura, Bernard Brezzo, Ivan Vo, Steven K. Esser, Rathinakumar Appuswamy, Brian Taba, Arnon Amir, Myron D. Flickner, William P. Risk, Rajit Manohar, Dharmendra S. Modha

Methanogenic microorganisms living in water droplets may contribute to the degradation of oil reservoirs. Authors: Rainer U. Meckenstock, Frederick von Netzer, Christine Stumpp, Tillmann Lueders, Anne M. Himmelberg, Norbert Hertkorn, Philipp Schmitt-Kopplin, Mourad Harir, Riad Hosein, Shirin Haque, Dirk Schulze-Makuch

Denitrification and ammonification compete for nitrate based on environmental pressures. Authors: Beate Kraft, Halina E. Tegetmeyer, Ritin Sharma, Martin G. Klotz, Timothy G. Ferdelman, Robert L. Hettich, Jeanine S. Geelhoed, Marc Strous

Antiviral immune responses induce an oxysterol that suppresses interleukin-1–mediated inflammation. Authors: Andrea Reboldi, Eric V. Dang, Jeffrey G. McDonald, Guosheng Liang, David W. Russell, Jason G. Cyster