Catálogo de publicaciones - revistas

<jats:title>Ordering up better conductivity</jats:title> <jats:p> Improving a thermoelectric material's ability to convert heat to electricity involves optimizing one property without changing another in a detrimental way. Roychowdhury <jats:italic>et al.</jats:italic> found that cadmium doping of silver antimony telluride enhances cationic ordering, which simultaneously improves electric properties and helpfully decreases thermal conductivity (see the Perspective by Liu and Ibáñez). This strategy markedly improves thermoelectric properties and could be used for other materials. </jats:p> <jats:p> <jats:italic>Science</jats:italic> , this issue p. <jats:related-article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="doi" issue="6530" page="722" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="371" xlink:href="10.1126/science.abb3517">722</jats:related-article> ; see also p. <jats:related-article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="doi" issue="6530" page="678" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="371" xlink:href="10.1126/science.abg0886">678</jats:related-article> </jats:p>

<jats:title>A boring billion for mountains</jats:title> <jats:p> Earth's crust has changed over time as supercontinents formed and broke apart. Tied into this cycle are the building and erosion of high mountains, which are tied to collisions between tectonic plates. Tang <jats:italic>et al.</jats:italic> use europium anomalies in zircons to estimate the mean thickness of crust over Earth's history. This proxy shows that mountain building has not always been as active as it is today or as it was very early in Earth's history. Mountain building, and the subsequent erosion, was less intense for about a billion years, roughly correlated with a so-called “boring billion” period of biological evolution. </jats:p> <jats:p> <jats:italic>Science</jats:italic> , this issue p. <jats:related-article issue="6530" page="728" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="371">728</jats:related-article> </jats:p>

<jats:title>Structure from a whale song</jats:title> <jats:p>Probing the structure of the ocean crust requires a wave source. The most common source is an air gun, which is effective but potentially harmful for ocean life and not easy to use everywhere. Kuna and Nábělek found that fin whale songs can also be used as a seismic source for determining crustal structure. Fin whale vocalizations can be as loud as large ships and occur at frequencies useful for traveling through the ocean floor. These properties allow fin whale songs to be used for mapping out the density of ocean crust, a vital part of exploring the seafloor.</jats:p> <jats:p> <jats:italic>Science</jats:italic> , this issue p. <jats:related-article issue="6530" page="731" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="371">731</jats:related-article> </jats:p>

<jats:title>Fighting zoonotic coronaviruses</jats:title> <jats:p> In the past 20 years, three betacoronaviruses thought to have originated in bats have caused devastating disease in humans. The global pandemic caused by the latest such virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), highlights the need to protect against other strains that could present a threat to humans. Cohen <jats:italic>et al.</jats:italic> constructed nanoparticles displaying the protein domain that binds the host cell receptor (receptor-binding domain or RBD), either a homotypic SARS-CoV-2 particle or mosaic particles displaying RBDs from four or eight different betacoronaviruses. In mice, antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 RBD were elicited just as well by mosaic particles as by homotypic nanoparticles. The mosaic nanoparticles elicited antibodies that, beyond recognizing the strains displayed, also recognized mismatched strains. </jats:p> <jats:p> <jats:italic>Science</jats:italic> , this issue p. <jats:related-article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="doi" issue="6530" page="735" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="371" xlink:href="10.1126/science.abf6840">735</jats:related-article> </jats:p>

<jats:title>Taming a pandemic</jats:title> <jats:p> One year after its emergence, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has become so widespread that there is little hope of elimination. There are, however, several other human coronaviruses that are endemic and cause multiple reinfections that engender sufficient immunity to protect against severe adult disease. By making assumptions about acquired immunity from its already endemic relatives, Lavine <jats:italic>et al.</jats:italic> developed a model with which to analyze the trajectory of SARS-CoV-2 into endemicity. The model accounts for SARS-CoV-2's age-structured disease profile and assesses the impact of vaccination. The transition from epidemic to endemic dynamics is associated with a shift in the age distribution of primary infections to younger age groups, which in turn depends on how fast the virus spreads. Longer-lasting sterilizing immunity will slow the transition to endemicity. Depending on the type of immune response it engenders, a vaccine could accelerate establishment of a state of mild disease endemicity. </jats:p> <jats:p> <jats:italic>Science</jats:italic> , this issue p. <jats:related-article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="doi" issue="6530" page="741" related-article-type="in-this-issue" vol="371" xlink:href="10.1126/science.abe6522">741</jats:related-article> </jats:p>

<jats:p>A weekly roundup of information on newly offered instrumentation, apparatus, and laboratory materials of potential interest to researchers.</jats:p>