Volume 544 Issue 7648, 6 April 2017

A breakdown of purchasing habits shows where science books fall on the political spectrum.

Brexit is forcing agencies to relocate their headquarters, and member states to rethink their language choices.

This week marks a chance to curb the misuse of crime-scene evidence in US courts and spare innocent people from going to jail, says Robin Mejia.

The week in science: 31 March–6 April 2017.

Early studies fuel scientists’ determination to understand how immunotherapy may sometimes make disease worse.

More than 30% of biomedical studies funded by the US government are later cited in commercial patents.

Teenage mother who lived 12,000 years ago was malnourished but still roamed widely.

Debate grows over a molecule implicated in animal navigation.

But the child's parents have decided to forego long-term monitoring by researchers.

New investments promise to get precision medicine and precision public health off the ground. But experts debate how much work needs to be done first.

Study and model industrial processes to save money, energy and materials, urges Andrew Kusiak.

Heaven Crawley questions a call for enterprise zones as a solution to forced migration.

Tilli Tansey extols a biography of the radical who gave his name to Parkinson's disease.

Roger Fouquet applauds Vaclav Smil's vast survey of the technologies powering human progress.

Anne-Emanuelle Birn reviews a survey of the new megaphilanthropy and its impact.

Jim Fleming assesses a history of US governmental intervention in the atmosphere.

Highlights of this season's releases.

Robert P. Crease wonders at a physics history with more than a hint of the biblical.

Scientists have seen no sign of an elusive nuclear decay that could help to explain why the Universe is dominated by matter, rather than antimatter. An upgraded experiment continues the search with unprecedented sensitivity. See Letter p.47

A proxy for the amount of carbon dioxide taken up by plants for photosynthesis has been used to estimate historical global uptake, revealing a large increase that might partly offset the rise in atmospheric CO₂ levels. See Letter p.84

Mosquitoes flap their long, thin wings four times faster than similarly sized insects. Imaging and computational analysis of mosquito flight illuminates some aerodynamic mechanisms not seen before in animal flight. See Letter p.92

Structural insights into adiponectin receptors provide evidence that these proteins have an inherent enzymatic activity, which gives them the ability to propagate signalling by their ligand, the hormone adiponectin. See Letter p.120

The sign of a material's charge carriers is usually reflected in the sign of the 'Hall voltage'. But for a structure inspired by chain mail, altering its geometry inverts the Hall voltage, even if the charge carriers are unchanged.

A polysaccharide called rhamnogalacturonan II is a major component of some fruits, but humans rely on their gut microbiota to digest it. The microbes and processes responsible for this digestion have now been revealed. See Article p.65

If neutrinos are their own antiparticles, neutrinoless double-β decay of ⁷⁶Ge should occur; a new lower-limit half-life of 5 × 10²⁵ years for this process has now been determined under background-free conditions.

During emergency myelopoiesis in mice, clusters of self-renewing granulocyte/macrophage progenitors (GMP) are transiently formed in the bone marrow cavity to produce a burst of myeloid cells; in leukaemia, GMP clusters persist and constantly generate myeloid leukaemia cells.

A chromosome conformation capture method in which single cells are first imaged and then processed enables intact genome folding to be studied at a scale of 100 kb, validated, and analysed to generate hypotheses about 3D genomic interactions and organisation.

The hierarchical deconstruction of the complex pectic glycan rhamnogalacturonan-II by the human gut bacterium Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron reveals seven new families of glycoside hydrolases and three catalytic functions not previously observed.

A massive ancient galaxy with minimal star formation is observed spectroscopically at an epoch when the Universe is less than 2 billion years old, posing a challenge to theories.

By switching shell growth on and off on the (0001) facet of wurtzite CdSe cores to produce a built-in biaxial strain that lowers the optical gain threshold, we achieve continuous-wave lasing in colloidal quantum dot films.

As an alternative vehicle fuel, hydrogen can be generated in situ from methanol and water—a process that is shown here to occur under mild conditions using a catalyst that comprises platinum atomically dispersed on an α-molybdenum carbide substrate.

Long-term records of global carbonyl sulfide levels reveal that terrestrial gross primary production (GPP) increased by around 30% during the twentieth century—a finding that may aid understanding of the connection between GPP growth and climate change.

Whereas the enteric nervous system of jawed vertebrates is derived largely from the vagal neural crest, that of the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) is populated by trunk-derived neural crest cells that may be homologous to Schwann cell precursors.

In addition to generating lift by leading-edge vortices (as used by most insects), mosquitoes also employ trailing-edge vortices and a lift mechanism from wing rotation, which enables them to stay airborne despite having a seemingly unlikely airframe.

A sizable fraction of granule cells convey information about the expectation of reward, with different populations responding to reward delivery, anticipation and omission, with some responses evolving over time with learning.

Analysis of spacer acquisition in Staphylococcus aureus reveals that type II CRISPR–Cas systems exploit viral DNA injection to ensure a successful CRISPR immune response.

Direct imaging of the lung microcirculation in mice indicates that it is a major site of mature platelet production from megakaryocytes.

Using a single-nucleus Hi-C protocol, the authors find that spatial organization of chromatin during oocyte-to-zygote transition differs between paternal and maternal nuclei within a single-cell zygote.

In the absence of DHX9, circular RNAs accumulate and transcription and translation are dysregulated—effects that are exacerbated by concomitant depletion of the RNA-editing enzyme ADAR.

Structures of the adiponectin receptors ADIPOR1 and ADIPOR2 combined with molecular dynamics simulations and enzymatic assays suggest that both receptors have intrinsic ceramidase activity.

Cheap, stripped-down microcontrollers are allowing users to pack huge amounts of computing power into tiny spaces.

Life-sciences research and innovation are saving a state struggling with a flailing industrial base.

If you are terrified to meet with your supervisor, start with small doses, says Eleftherios Diamandis.

Message from the abyss.