Volume 563 Issue 7730, 8 November 2018

The Earth BioGenome Project is a welcome effort to sequence the genomes of some 1.35 million species.

Featuring a woman in science on the highest denomination banknote would celebrate her achievements and offer an inspiring role model.

When my video went viral, I found that communicating to non-scientists is uncomfortable — and effective, says Christine Figgener.

Evidence from ancient bottles and other objects indicates that South Americans were eating cacao products around 3300 bc.

For the first time, a Galactic cloud is seen producing an ingredient that is fundamental in star formation.

For people from southeast Asia, a move to the United States reduces the diversity of gut bacteria.

Bears in the mood make a particular sound, but a roar means, “Not now, dear.”

Devices could one day be used by clinicians to carry drugs to the retina.

The mountains of Haiti could be stripped of trees completely in under two decades.

People feel a rush when exposed to tunes and visual effects common in betting parlours.

The week in science: 2–8 November 2018.

Case aims to compel the government to slash greenhouse-gas emissions.

The country’s pioneering first report on its biological invaders paints a dire picture for resources and biodiversity.

Research council fails to shortlist the Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in its latest funding round.

Massive project aims to improve predictions of intense lightning, hail and flash floods in the shadow of the Andes mountains.

Scientists are using artificial intelligence to identify genetic sequences molded by evolutionary pressures.

State supreme court rules that the US$1.4-billion observatory’s construction permit is valid, after years-long legal battle.

An event known as ‘Cow’ that has rocked astronomy since June likely offers a close look at the birth of a neutron star or black hole.

Researchers are tearing up the biology rule books by trying to construct cells from scratch. A special issue explores the lessons being learnt about life.

Built from the bottom up, synthetic cells and other creations are starting to come together and could soon test the boundaries of life.

To solve real-world problems using emerging abilities in synthetic biology, research must focus on a few ambitious goals, argues Dan Fletcher.

Nahid Bhadelia appraises an analysis of the fraught campaign to contain the 2013–16 crisis.

Barbara Kiser reviews five of the week’s best science picks.

Todd Oakley enjoys a meander through the biology and physics of eyes in organisms from scallops to humans.

Physicist who expanded the family tree of fundamental particles.

Competitive agency positions offer balanced and rewarding science careers.

Be clear about your training plan and goals to boost your chances of a favourable outcome, say Crystal M. Botham and Tanya M. Evans.

Engineering approaches allow biological structures and behaviours to be reconstituted in vitro. A biologist and a physicist discuss the potential and limitations of this bottom-up philosophy in providing insights into complex biological processes.

Efforts to find early traces of life on Earth often focus on structures in ancient rocks, called stromatolites, that formed by microbial activity. One of the oldest proposed stromatolite discoveries has now been questioned.

Understanding the dynamics of quantum systems far from equilibrium is one of the most pressing issues in physics. Three experiments based on ultracold atomic systems provide a major step forward.

External forces can make cells undergo large, irreversible deformations. It emerges that stretched mammalian cells grown in vitro can enter a state called superelasticity, in which large, reversible deformations occur.

Interactions between the B and T cells of the human immune system are implicated in the brain disease multiple sclerosis. It emerges that B cells make a protein that is also made in the brain, and that T cells recognize this protein.

Comparison of transcriptomic data from immune-stimulated cells across different species sheds light on the architecture of the innate immune response.

Theoretical modelling in combination with measurements of tension and shape in epithelial domes of controlled geometry reveals a plateau of tension in tissue that is maintained by heterogeneous strain across cells.

A high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy structure of a complete Tc holotoxin complex reveals the precise mechanism of Tc toxin assembly, gate opening and release of the cytotoxic enzyme into the translocation channel.

High-resolution infrared observations of hard-X-ray-selected black holes show an excess of late-stage mergers in obscured luminous black holes compared with inactive galaxies of similar stellar masses and star formation rates.

The emergence of universal dynamics far from equilibrium is observed by evaluating spatially resolved spin correlations in a quasi-one-dimensional spinor Bose–Einstein condensate.

Degenerate and thermal Bose gases, quenched so that the interparticle interactions are as strong as allowed by quantum mechanics, exhibit dynamics that can be expressed in terms of universal functions.

The momentum distribution of atoms in a one-dimensional Bose gas far from equilibrium exhibits universal scaling in space and time, independent of the initial conditions of the system.

A network of four spin-torque nano-oscillators can be trained in real time to recognize spoken vowels, in a simple and scalable approach that could be exploited for large-scale neural networks.

The mechanism of glycogenesis, initiated by glycogenin, involves three distinct kinetic phases, with the final phase involving a refining process where only glucose is tolerated as a substrate.

In contrast to a previous study of 3,700-million-year-old rocks of the Isua supracrustal belt in Greenland, which presented fossil evidence of stromatolites (macroscopic remains of layered microbial communities), this study shows that these ‘stromatolites’ are features of deformation unconnected to the processes of organic life.

A field study and three experiments demonstrate that people who engage in rare (non-normative) prosocial behaviours will be more effective advocates for those behaviours than people who merely praise the virtues of these prosocial behaviours.

Neuronal stimulation induces protein translation of m⁶A-methylated neuronal mRNAs facilitated by YTHDF1, and this process contributes to learning and memory.

In a mouse model, PTHrP-positive chondrocytes in the resting zone of the growth plate constitute a unique stem-cell population, which is initially unipotent and makes columnar chondrocytes that later exhibit multipotency.

The yeast one-hybrid network for nitrogen-associated metabolism in Arabidopsis reveals the transcription factors that regulate the architecture of root and shoot systems under conditions of changing nitrogen availability.

The ARID1A-containing SWI/SNF complex operates as an inhibitor of the pro-oncogenic transcriptional coactivators YAP and TAZ; this interaction is regulated by cellular mechanotransduction.

Cryo-electron microscopy structures of the serotonin-bound 5-HT_3A serotonin receptor show the receptor populating two distinct states, characterized by twisting in the extracellular and transmembrane domains relative to the apo state, which creates pathways for ion permeation.

Cryo-electron microscopy of the serotonin 5-HT3 receptor in complex with various ligands yields four distinct structures, capturing serotonin binding in detail and increasing understanding of the gating mechanism of the receptor.