Earthquakes occur mainly on active faults. Fault slip is closely related to seismicity and is thus widely discussed in Geosciences, Seismology, and Engineering. Slip experiment is a necessary and powerful tool to explore the physical processes and mechanisms of pre-earthquake, earthquake, and aftershock. This work reviews the experiment study of fault slip from field experiments, laboratory experiments

A chance meeting at a scientific retreat took Zoltán Kócsi from the electronics industry to the entomology lab.

Study finds that trees cool the planet by one-third of a degree through biophysical mechanisms such as humidifying the air.

Prior to the Perseverance rover landing, the acoustic environment of Mars was unknown. Models predicted that: (i) atmospheric turbulence changes at centimeter scales or smaller at the point where molecular viscosity converts kinetic energy into heat1, (ii) the speed of sound varies at the surface with frequency2,3, and (iii) high frequency waves are strongly attenuated with distance in CO22–4. However

In their thoughtful paper entitled “An equable subtropical climate throughout China in the Miocene based on palaeofloral evidence”, Qing Wang, Yan Li, David K. Ferguson, Wen-Bo Mo, and Nan Yang (2021) imply that China exhibited negligible latitudinal mean annual precipitation (MAP) gradients and lacked arid regions during the Miocene. They also speculate that there was no abrupt change in elevation

Significance Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death worldwide, with atherosclerosis being the most common source of clinical events. Metabolic changes with aging associate with concurrent increased risk of both type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, with the former further raising the risk of the latter. The activity of a selective type of autophagy, chaperone-mediated autophagy

SignificanceMannitol biosynthesis is essential for Acinetobacter baumannii to cope with osmotic stress. Currently, only Pseudomonas putida, Acinetobacter baylyi, and A. baumannii are able to de novo synthesize mannitol by a structurally unique bifunctional mannitol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase/phosphatase (AbMtlD). The molecular mechanism of reduction and dephosphorylation of fructose-6-phosphate to mannitol

SignificanceThe process by which new complex traits evolve has been a persistent conundrum throughout the history of evolutionary inquiry. How multiple physiological changes at the organism level and genetic changes at the molecular level combine is still unclear for many traits. Here, we studied the displays of manakins, who beat their wings together at nearly twice the speed of other songbirds to

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 119, Issue 16, April 2022.

The diversification of animals during the Cambrian Period is one of the most significant evolutionary events in Earth’s history. However, the sequence of events leading to the origin of ‘modern’ ecosystems and the exact temporal relationship between Ediacaran and Cambrian faunas are uncertain, as identification of the Ediacaran–Cambrian boundary and global correlation through this interval remains

Atmospheric CO2 and polar ice volume have been strongly coupled over the past 805,000?years. However, the prior extent of coupling, during times of lower-amplitude ice-volume variability, is unknown because continuous high-resolution CO2 records are lacking. We reconstructed the past 1,460,000?years of atmospheric CO2 (~1,700?year sample resolution) by taking advantage of the unique relationship between

Interannual variability in the global land carbon sink is strongly related to variations in tropical temperature and rainfall. This association suggests an important role for moisture-driven fluctuations in tropical vegetation productivity, but empirical evidence to quantify the responsible ecological processes is missing. Such evidence can be obtained from tree-ring data that quantify variability

The global emergence of many severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants jeopardizes the protective antiviral immunity induced following infection or vaccination. To address the public health threat caused by the increasing SARS-CoV-2 genomic diversity, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) established

Polystyrene products can be recycled into a widely used compound thanks to a light-driven reaction.

Some coastal cities are subsiding by dozens of millimetres per year, making them even more vulnerable to sea-level rise triggered by climate change.

Even mild SARS-CoV-2 infections can amplify a person’s chance of developing diabetes, especially for those already susceptible to the disease.

Abstract. Vegetation phenology can profoundly modulate the climate-biosphere interactions and thus plays a key role in regulating the terrestrial carbon cycle and the climate. However, most previous phenology studies are based on the traditional vegetation indices, which are inadequate to characterize the seasonal activity of photosynthesis. Here, we generated an annual vegetation photosynthetic phenology

Manatees make different squeaks when communicating with babies, feeling stressed and “cavorting”. Plus, COVID-19 increases the risk of developing diabetes and the ‘cave’ that nurtured a generation of blind scientists and innovators.

Escherichia coli sampled from pigs and other farm animals show a steep rise in antibiotic-resistance genes.

Researchers are disappointed with the progress — but haven’t lost hope.

Jars contained fish, fruit and beeswax balm to sustain the tomb’s residents in the afterlife.

Exploring other worlds and blue-skies research should be among the next president’s priorities, say scientists.

Science, Ahead of Print.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 119, Issue 16, April 2022.

SignificanceVHL tumor suppressor gene inactivation is a hallmark of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), the most common form of kidney cancer, and promotes tumor growth by stabilizing the hypoxia-inducible factor 2 (HIF2) transcription factor. HIF2 inhibitors appear to be helpful for some, but not all, ccRCC patients in clinical trials. Previous preclinical and clinical data suggested that only

SignificanceDuring infection, the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus expresses a surface-exposed receptor, Iron surface determinant B (IsdB), that captures free human hemoglobin (Hb) and removes heme to retrieve iron, an essential nutrient for bacterial proliferation inside the host. Using single-particle cryo-electron microscopy, we solved the structure of two complexes between Hb and IsdB that

SignificanceNacre exhibits outstanding mechanical performance, which results from coordinated deformation mechanisms synergistically working in characteristic microstructures at multiple length scales. A comprehensive understanding of crystal defects within aragonite is critical for discussing the deformation behavior of nacre on microstructure at the nanoscale through atomic scale. By integrating

SignificanceThe dwarf planet, Pluto, has stirred the imagination of the public and of planetary scientists due to its many unusual properties. Among these properties is its Neptune-crossing orbit whose stability is owed to an orbital resonance with Neptune. Less well understood is the role of the other planets. We demonstrate that the orbital architecture of the giant planets lies within a narrow niche

Andrew Robinson reviews five of the week’s best science picks.

A form of the element lutetium exists for only a few hundred nanoseconds before decaying.

The fight against an infectious liver disease pivots from control to eradication.

Hear the biggest stories from the world of science | 30 March 2022

The quality of crystalline two-dimensional (2D) polymers1,2,3,4,5,6 is intimately related to the elusive polymerization and crystallization processes. Understanding the mechanism of such processes at the (sub)molecular level is crucial to improve predictive synthesis and to tailor material properties for applications in catalysis7,8,9,10 and (opto)electronics11,12, among others13,14,15,16,17,18. We

Polycomb repressive complexes 1 and 2 (PRC1 and PRC2) are histone-modifying and -binding complexes that mediate the formation of facultative heterochromatin and are required for silencing of developmental genes and maintenance of cell fate1,2,3. Multiple pathways of RNA decay work together to establish and maintain heterochromatin in fission yeast, including a recently identified role for a conserved

Hyaluronan is an acidic heteropolysaccharide comprising alternating N-acetylglucosamine and glucuronic acid sugars that is ubiquitously expressed in the vertebrate extracellular matrix1. The high-molecular-mass polymer modulates essential physiological processes in health and disease, including cell differentiation, tissue homeostasis and angiogenesis2. Hyaluronan is synthesized by a membrane-embedded

Mapping the spatial distribution and molecular identity of constituent cells is essential for understanding tissue dynamics in health and disease. We lack a comprehensive map of human distal airways, including the terminal and respiratory bronchioles (TRBs), which are implicated in respiratory diseases1,2,3,4. Here, using spatial transcriptomics and single-cell profiling of microdissected distal airways

Neural activity in the hippocampus is known to reflect how animals move through an environment1,2. Although navigational behaviour may show considerable stability3,4,5,6, the tuning stability of individual hippocampal neurons remains unclear7,8,9,10,11,12. Here we used wireless calcium imaging to longitudinally monitor the activity of dorsal CA1 hippocampal neurons in freely flying bats performing

Coastal communities across the world are already feeling the disastrous impacts of climate change through variations in extreme sea levels1. These variations reflect the combined effect of sea-level rise and changes in storm surge activity. Understanding the relative importance of these two factors in altering the likelihood of extreme events is crucial to the success of coastal adaptation measures

RNA modifications are important regulators of gene expression1. In Trypanosoma brucei, transcription is polycistronic and thus most regulation happens post-transcriptionally2. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) has been detected in this parasite, but its function remains unknown3. Here we found that m6A is enriched in 342 transcripts using RNA immunoprecipitation, with an enrichment in transcripts encoding variant

The vast majority of commodity plastics do not degrade and therefore they permanently pollute the environment. At present, less than 20% of post-consumer plastic waste in developed countries is recycled, predominately for energy recovery or repurposing as lower-value materials by mechanical recycling. Chemical recycling offers an opportunity to revert plastics back to monomers for repolymerization

Oncogenic alterations to DNA are not transforming in all cellular contexts1,2. This may be due to pre-existing transcriptional programmes in the cell of origin. Here we define anatomic position as a major determinant of why cells respond to specific oncogenes. Cutaneous melanoma arises throughout the body, whereas the acral subtype arises on the palms of the hands, soles of the feet or under the nails3

The natural habitats of microorganisms in the human microbiome, ocean and soil ecosystems are full of colloids and macromolecules. Such environments exhibit non-Newtonian flow properties, drastically affecting the locomotion of microorganisms1,2,3,4,5. Although the low-Reynolds-number hydrodynamics of swimming flagellated bacteria in simple Newtonian fluids has been well developed6,7,8,9, our understanding

Although more than 98% of the human genome is non-coding1, nearly all of the drugs on the market target one of about 700 disease-related proteins. The historical reluctance to invest in non-coding RNA stems partly from requirements for drug targets to adopt a single stable conformation2. Most RNAs can adopt several conformations of similar stabilities. RNA structures also remain challenging to determine3

Topological electronic flattened bands near or at the Fermi level are a promising route towards unconventional superconductivity and correlated insulating states. However, the related experiments are mostly limited to engineered materials, such as moiré systems1,2,3. Here we present a catalogue of the naturally occuring three-dimensional stoichiometric materials with flat bands around the Fermi level

Transcription-coupled DNA repair (TCR) is presumed to be a minor sub-pathway of nucleotide excision repair (NER) in bacteria. Global genomic repair is thought to perform the bulk of repair independently of transcription. TCR is also believed to be mediated exclusively by Mfd—a DNA translocase of a marginal NER phenotype1,2,3. Here we combined in cellulo cross-linking mass spectrometry with structural

Diploid and stable karyotypes are associated with health and fitness in animals. By contrast, whole-genome duplications—doublings of the entire complement of chromosomes—are linked to genetic instability and frequently found in human cancers1,2,3. It has been established that whole-genome duplications fuel chromosome instability through abnormal mitosis4,5,6,7,8; however, the immediate consequences

Given its central role in utilizing light energy, photoinduced electron transfer (PET) from an excited molecule has been widely studied1,2,3,4,5,6. However, even though microscopic photocurrent measurement methods7,8,9,10,11 have made it possible to correlate the efficiency of the process with local features, spatial resolution has been insufficient to resolve it at the molecular level. Recent work

The human lung differs substantially from its mouse counterpart, resulting in a distinct distal airway architecture affected by disease pathology in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In humans, the distal branches of the airway interweave with the alveolar gas-exchange niche, forming an anatomical structure known as the respiratory bronchioles. Owing to the lack of a counterpart?in mouse, the

The cultural and geographical properties of the environment have been shown to deeply influence cognition and mental health1,2,3,4,5,6. Living near green spaces has been found to be strongly beneficial7,8,9,10,11, and?urban residence has been associated with a higher risk of some psychiatric disorders12,13,14—although?some studies suggest that?dense socioeconomic networks found in larger cities provide

Plate tectonics shapes Earth’s surface, and is linked to motions within its deep interior1,2. Cold oceanic lithosphere sinks into the mantle, and hot mantle plumes rise from the deep Earth, leading to volcanism3,4. Volcanic eruptions over the past 320?million?years have been linked to two large structures at the base of the mantle presently under Africa and the Pacific Ocean5,6. This has led to the

Type A γ-aminobutyric acid receptors (GABAARs) are pentameric ligand-gated chloride channels that mediate fast inhibitory signalling in neural circuits1,2 and can be modulated by essential medicines including general anaesthetics and benzodiazepines3. Human GABAAR subunits are encoded by 19 paralogous genes that can, in theory, give rise to 495,235 receptor types. However, the principles that govern

Decades of work have elucidated cytokine signalling and transcriptional pathways that control T cell differentiation and have?led the way to targeted biologic therapies that are effective in a range of autoimmune, allergic and inflammatory diseases. Recent evidence indicates that obesity and metabolic disease can also influence the immune system1,2,3,4,5,6,7, although the mechanisms and effects on

Many aspects of plant photoperception are mediated by the phytochrome (Phy) family of bilin-containing photoreceptors that reversibly interconvert between inactive Pr and active Pfr conformers1,2. Despite extensive biochemical studies, full understanding of plant Phy signalling has remained unclear due to the absence of relevant 3D models. Here we report a cryo-electron microscopy structure of Arabidopsis