Science - 20 May 2022

152 Pages·2022·46 MB·English

Forests are expanding—which could Problematic internet use Policy implications of research
be bad news for climate parallels drug addiction on biological sex
p. 788 p. 798 p. 802
$15
20 MAY 2022
science.org
LASTING
IMPRESSIONS
FFossiill iimpriintts shhow tthhe resiilliience
of nannoplankton
pp. 795 & 853
Thank you to the
2021 members
of the AAAS
Corporate Circle
AAAS is thankful to last year’s members
whose philanthropic contributions provide
critical support to AAAS and its programs.
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Stories that captivated youth in 2021 included AI-driven approaches to predicting protein structure.
2021 Tencent–Science Breakthroughs:
Continuous Curiosity and Innovation
Despite challenges spurred by the ongoing pandemic, last year was a wellspring for component of grain as well as an important industrial feedstock. In nature, it is
scientific discovery, exploration, and innovation. From the launch of a massive new mainly produced by green plants fixing CO through photosynthesis, and for crops
2
space station and “microflyers” inspired by maple seeds to new methods for predicting the theoretical energy conversion efficiency of this process is no more than 2%.
protein structure and manufacturing starch from carbon dioxide, and from enlightening Since it does not rely on plant photosynthesis, this new technology requires only
discoveries about the obesity gene to revelations about the muon’s magnetism that could carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and electricity as raw materials, saving extensive farming,
upend the Standard Model of particle physics, 2021 gave us gift upon gift of scientific fertilizing, and processing of large quantities of crops. The novel artificial route
delights. We marveled at the identification of a skull belonging to a previously unknown designed by researchers consists of only 11 core reactions to convert CO into starch,
2
species that could be an even closer ancestor to modern humans than we’ve ever seen with an efficiency 8.5-fold higher than starch biosynthesis in maize. Synthesizing
before, and we got closer to potentially harnessing fusion energy. It’s fitting that we starch will be a significant disruptive technology in today’s world. It allows us to
pause a moment and honor those whose tireless yearning for discovery contributed to see more possibilities: A shift in the agricultural mode from traditional planting
our knowledge about nature’s systems and structures in spectacular ways. to industrial manufacturing, which helps address the pressing issues of food
For more than 30 years, Science magazine has been recognizing the intersection production, arable land, ecology, and climate. And even further into the future, this
of human curiosity and the gusto of people who want to give back through technology will prove to be indispensable for space colonization.
innovation. The 2021 breakthroughs described below were collected by the News Expanded capacity and innovative methodology has emboldened us,
team at Science with suggestions from the next generation of science’s movers and engendering a renewal of the human spirit to take on the most formidable
shakers: kids. Tencent—a world-leading internet company and artificial intelligence challenges. As scientists and engineers collaborate in harmony, prompted only
(AI) leader—leveraged its social, data, and analysis services, and collected votes by a dedication to excellence and a commitment to serve, we witness
from over 3.4 million young users via Tencent Docs, QQ Browser, and Sogou breakthroughs that help us to see the world differently. But perhaps more
Wenwen. After fully gauging the interests of these teens, Tencent and editorial and importantly, these breakthroughs enable us to see ourselves differently—as
news teams of Science chose the final 10 breakthrough topics. better, stronger, more agile, and more committed to excellence than ever before.
This year, the breakthroughs have two especially interesting themes: Each This selection of annual breakthroughs is more than just a review of achievements
OM showcases humanity’s ever-increasing capacity to tackle tough problems, while in the past year. More importantly, it carries forward the spirit of science from
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OC it also takes a significant step in shaping how we will explore the next frontier of generation to generation. We hope that by passing the torch of science, more
RST
UTTE the unknown. For example, when scientists utilized two AI-driven approaches to talented young minds will be inspired to devote themselves to scientific careers
G/SH predict protein structure—an amazing discovery given the high complexity and and press ahead with a passion for seeking the truth and the audacity to
N PERI large quantity of these twisty, geometric shapes—they ticked multiple boxes. By overcome the greatest hardships.
CTIO demonstrating that AI could help solve this knotty problem, they further opened the Sponsored by
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OD door to AI’s expanding power as a tool for pursuing other scientific investigations.
R
O: © P Another 2021 breakthrough involved Chinese scientists discovering a de novo
HOT route for artificial starch synthesis from carbon dioxide (CO). Starch is the major
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CONTENTS
20 MAY 2022 • VOLUME 376 • ISSUE 6595
788
Forests produce water vapor and other compounds that promote cloud formation, helping to cool the planet.
NEWS FEATURES 798 Can internet use become addictive?
788 The forest forecast Problematic internet use parallels drug
addiction, but the mechanisms are not yet
Climate change could lead to a net expansion
of global forests. But will a more forested clear By M. Brand
IN BRIEF world actually be cooler?
800 Electric buzz in a glass
780 News at a glance By F. Pearce of pure water
Hydrogen bond charge transfer in water
IN DEPTH INSIGHTS may have far-reaching chemical implications
782 ‘COVID-ization’ of research By D. Ben-Amotz
levels off
Researchers who pivoted from distant POLICY FORUM
disciplines produced lower impact work, PERSPECTIVES 802 Law, policy, biology, and sex:
study finds By J. Brainard 792 Managing forests for Critical issues for researchers
competing goals Researchers should be aware of
783 Do you hate your face mask? Tree plantations face difficult trade-offs how sex-difference science is (mis)applied
There’s hope between production and ecological goals in legal and policy contexts
A U.S. government contest has By J. Gurevitch By M. Sudai et al.
10 companies competing to make RESEARCH ARTICLE p. 839;
better face coverings REPORT p. 865 BOOKS ET AL.
By J. Cohen 805 Shaping Earth in our image
794 Mitochondrial complex
An interdisciplinary interrogation of
complexification
785 Shadow of Milky Way’s giant the Anthropocene misses the
Variation in complex composition provides
black hole revealed chance to probe broader and deeper
clues about the function of individual
Scene resembles earlier image from a By E. C. Ellis and M. Maslin
subunits By M. A. Huynen and D. M. Elurbe
distant galaxy, as Einstein’s theory predicts
By D. Clery RESEARCH ARTICLE p. 831 806 The fastest R&D lab on the planet
NDEN PICTURES P78O6D CSAoSiTls’ coating helps keep 7oM9fa 5trhi nFeeo p spashsiyltt iomplparniknttosn f srohomw o ncoetaanbsle Fminrtooomt oo rtcshapero rs raatr fieenntnyao tsvo aB rtyoi oLan.d V h dinaessse silgpnil,l ed over
O/MI dust storms at bay resilience during extreme ocean states
HOT Breakdown of “biocrusts” allows wind to By J. Henderiks LETTERS
OSP attack dryland soils By E. Pennisi REPORT p. 853 809 Good science requires
RY/BI better animal welfare
HEN 787 NIH rolls out stricter disclosure 796 T cell immune responses deciphered By V. Neville et al.
PE rules for sexual harrassment A machine-learning approach reveals antigen
P
HILI Institutions now legally required to inform encoding that predicts T cell responses 810 Indigenous lands protect
P
O: agency if grantees are “disciplined” for By A. Nourmohammad Brazil’s agribusiness
PHOT workplace misbehavior By J. Kaiser REPORT p. 880 By L. Ferrante and P. M. Fearnside
SCIENCE science.org 20 MAY 2022 • VOL 376 ISSUE 6595 777
CONTENTS
860 Superconductivity
860 Enhanced charge density wave
coherence in a light-quenched,
high-temperature superconductor
S. Wandel et al.
865 Forestry
Multispecies forest plantations
outyield monocultures across a broad
range of conditions Y. Feng et al.
PERSPECTIVE p. 792
869 Biocatalysis
Directed evolution of nonheme iron enzymes
to access abiological radical-relay C(sp3)−H
azidation J. Rui et al.
874 Geophysics
Optical interferometry–based array
of seafloor environmental sensors using
a transoceanic submarine cable
A pulse of light enhances the coherence of charge density waves in a high-temperature superconductor. G. Marra et al.
880 Immunology
810 Irrawaddy dolphins continue 823 Molecular evolution Universal antigen encoding of T cell activation
to decline Epistatic drift causes gradual from high-dimensional cytokine dynamics
By C. Sonne et al. decay of predictability in S. R. Achar et al.
protein evolution Y. Park et al.
PERSPECTIVE p. 796
RESEARCH 831 Structural biology
Structures of Tetrahymena’s DEPARTMENTS
respiratory chain reveal the diversity
779 Editorial
of eukaryotic core metabolism
The Court is ignoring science
IN BRIEF L. Zhou et al.
By D. G. Foster
812 From Science and other journals PERSPECTIVE p. 794
886 Working Life
839 Forest ecology
RESEARCH ARTICLES Don’t panic By S. Holzer
The biodiversity and ecosystem
815 Microtubules
service contributions and
Posttranslational modification of
trade-offs of forest restoration
microtubules by the MATCAP detyrosinase ON THE COVER
approaches F. Hua et al.
L. Landskron et al. Scanning electron micrograph of minuscule
PERSPECTIVE p. 792
coccolithophorid plankton cell wall coverings
RESEARCH ARTICLE SUMMARY; FOR FULL TEXT:
DOI.ORG/10.1126/SCIENCE.ABN6020 844 Kinetochore preserved as exquisite fossil impressions on
the surface of 183-million-year-old Jurassic
Structure of the human inner
816 Topological matter organic matter. Coccolithophores are a type
All topological bands of all nonmagnetic kinetochore bound to a of microscopic marine phytoplankton, and
stoichiometric materials M. G. Vergniory et al. centromeric CENP-A nucleosome their hard calcareous plates, called coc-
S. Yatskevich et al. coliths (~5 micrometers long), are normally
RESEARCH ARTICLE SUMMARY; FOR FULL TEXT:
DOI.ORG/10.1126/SCIENCE.ABG9094 abundant in the fossil record. Here they have
REPORTS dissolved from these RY
O
817 Neurodevelopment 853 Fossil record ancient rocks deposited RAT
Oligodendrocyte precursors guide during a global warming BO
interneuron migration by unidirectional Global record of “ghost” nannofossils interval, leaving only their R LA
contact repulsion F. Lepiemme et al. reveals plankton resilience to imprint “ghosts” behind. ATO
RDEOSI.EOARRGC/H10 A.1R1T2I6C/LSEC SIEUNMCMEA.ARBYN; 6FO20R4 FULL TEXT: hPEigRhS CPEOC2T aInVdE wp.a 7r9m5ing S. M. Slater et al. SCreeed pita: Sgaems 7M9.5 S alantedr ,8 P5a3u.l ACCELER
Bown, Richard J. Twitchett, AL
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818 Cell biology 857 Plant science Silvia Danise, Vivi Vajda ATIO
The deubiquitinase USP8 targets Recognition of pathogen-derived C N
A
ESCRT-III to promote incomplete cell sphingolipids in Arabidopsis SL
division J. Mathieu et al. H. Kato et al. Science Careers ........................................885 WART,
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778 20 MAY 2022 • VOL 376 ISSUE 6595 science.org SCIENCE
EDITORIAL
The Court is ignoring science
A
recently leaked draft opinion indicated that the The research revealed that patients who were able
US Supreme Court is prepared to overturn Roe to receive an abortion were more than six times more
v. Wade as early as next month in the matter likely to report aspirational 1-year plans than those
of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organiza- who were denied one. They are more likely to have
tion. In doing so, the Justices won’t just be dis- a wanted child later and better able to take care of
regarding decades of precedent. They’ll also be the children they already have. Because the majority of
disregarding ample evidence of abortion’s posi- abortion patients are already parents, this means that
tive impact on patients’ health and well-being. being able to obtain an abortion has powerful, multi-
Diana Greene Foster
In Roe v. Wade (1973), the Court struck down a Texas generational impacts.
is a professor in
law criminalizing abortion and held that the Consti- By contrast, if people are forced to carry a pregnancy
the Department
tution protects the right to decide whether to end a to term, they are more likely to experience lasting finan-
of Obstetrics,
pregnancy. Justice Samuel Alito’s leaked opinion in cial hardships. After being denied an abortion, women
Gynecology, and
Dobbs stems from the idea that abortion rights are not had three times greater odds of being unemployed
Reproductive
mentioned in the Constitution or rooted in US history. than those who obtained abortions and had four times
But we, as a society, are equipped with more factual higher odds of being below the federal poverty level. Sciences and
information today than the framers of the Constitu- Their physical and mental health are also at risk: director of research
tion were. There is a long history of Supreme Court Women unable to obtain an abortion said they had at Advancing
abortion decisions drawing on evi- more symptoms of anxiety, lower New Standards
dence. In Whole Woman’s Health self-esteem, and lower life satis- in Reproductive
v. Hellerstedt (2016), the Court faction. They were more likely to Health, University
“It is critical now
emphasized the importance of report “fair or poor” health than of California San
considering data when reviewing those who had received abortions. Francisco, CA, USA.
that the Court…
abortion restrictions. It is critical And, again, their families feel the diana.foster@
now that the Court adhere to prec- effects: Patients report more diffi- ucsf.edu
be guided by
edent and insist that constitutional culty bonding with their baby, and
rights be guided by evidence, not their older children have worse
evidence,
by ideology. developmental outcomes and are
The Turnaway Study, which I more likely to live in poverty.
led, was designed to contribute to not by ideology.” The clearest finding from the
that body of evidence. Launched in Turnaway Study is that people
2007, more than 40 scientists from know what is best for themselves
nine universities and four research and their families. The results are
institutes worked on the study. We were inspired to do not theories or guesses. They are not anecdotes to be
so by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who raised the ques- trotted out at politically expedient moments. They are
tion of an abortion’s effect on a pregnant woman in based on a large set of data in which statistically sig-
Gonzalez v. Carhart (2006), a case that considered nificant patterns emerged across many people. And
the constitutionality of a federal ban on one abortion they are the basis for more than 50 articles that have
procedure. In his majority opinion, Justice Kennedy been published in high-quality, peer-reviewed scien-
argued that there were “no reliable data to measure tific journals*.
the phenomenon” of potential abortion regret, and the As a researcher, I believe that science should not
Court thus upheld the law. be merely an ivory-tower pursuit, divorced from the
My colleagues and I resolved to find that data—so world around it. Understanding the nature, causes,
that Supreme Court Justices and policy-makers could and solutions to human problems is one of the primary
base their decisions not on conjecture, but on hard sci- goals and great gifts of science. Science is clearly rel-
ence. To that end, the Turnaway Study followed almost evant to the controversial issues of our time, including
1000 women across the country for 5 years to see how abortion access in the United States—in fact, science is
having an abortion, or being denied one, affected their especially critical in these moments. The highest court
physical health, mental health, finances, relationships, in the United States should not ignore it.
and children.
What we found was staggering. –Diana Greene Foster
NE
REE
G
A
R
SID * https://www.ansirh.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/
O: turnawaystudyannotatedbibliography.pdf Published online 16 May 2022; 10.1126/science.adc9968
OT
H
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SCIENCE science.org 20 MAY 2022 • VOL 376 ISSUE 6595 779
NEWS
“We don’t think that [China’s zero COVID-19 policy]
is sustainable, considering the behavior of the virus.”
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization, referring
to strict lockdowns to prevent spread. China called the remark “irresponsible” and censored it.
IN BRIEF Edited by Shots cut risks of Long Covid
Jeffrey Brainard
PUBLIC HEALTH | A study of more than
1 million Americans has found vaccination
is linked to substantially lower risk
of lingering symptoms after COVID-19
infections, often called Long Covid.
The result, published on 7 May in Open
Forum Infectious Diseases, confirms
similar findings from smaller studies.
Researchers at Case Western Reserve
University used electronic medical
records to compare symptoms in vac-
cinated and unvaccinated people
before and 3 months after an infection,
both before and after vaccines became
available. The data include about
1.5 million unvaccinated U.S. residents
and 25,000 who had been vaccinated.
All participants had infections confirmed
by polymerase chain reaction testing. The
researchers looked for a range of new
health concerns after infection, such as
diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension.
They also examined the persistence of
symptoms associated with COVID-19,
such as fatigue and body aches. For each
symptom or diagnosis studied, rates
were lower in the vaccinated cohort. For
A worker disinfects a store in Pyongyang, North Korea, as an illness believed to be COVID-19 spreads.
example, rates of persistent headaches
and body aches in the vaccinated group
COVID-19 were roughly half.
A ‘fever’ hits unprotected North Korea
Antidepressant nixed as COVID Rx
A id agencies are gearing up for a robust response against what DRUG DEVELOPMENT | The U.S. Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) decided this
North Korea calls a “malignant fever” sweeping the country that
week not to approve the antidepressant
is almost certainly COVID-19. As Science went to press, new fluvoxamine to treat COVID-19.
cases of the illness appeared to be doubling every 2 days in the Fluvoxamine is a selective serotonin
world’s last large population, some 25 million people, lacking reuptake inhibitor typically prescribed
for depression or obsessive-compulsive
immunity to the disease from vaccination or infection. “We’re
disorder. In October 2021, a randomized,
looking at a major, major catastrophe,” says Kee Park, a global health controlled trial in Brazil showed unvac-
specialist at Harvard Medical School. Early in the pandemic, North cinated people with preexisting conditions
Korea closed itself off from the world in a bid to keep the virus at bay. who took the drug were 32% less likely
than those who took a placebo to be
That strategy largely succeeded for 2 years, despite occasional reports hospitalized or need prolonged medical GES
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offers of COVID-19 vaccines. But the “great upheaval,” as North Korea’s treatments for COVID-19, including the WS/
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780 20 MAY 2022 • VOL 376 ISSUE 6595 science.org SCIENCE
A 1380-ton section of
the ITER fusion reactor
is one of nine that
will be welded together.
ENERGY RESEARCH
Leader who revamped fusion project dies
B ernard Bigot, who as director-general of the giant ITER say. In fact, the parts for the ITER reactor are now more than
fusion test reactor under construction in France was 75% complete. Last week, ITER announced the installation of
credited with turning around the behind-schedule and the first of nine segments of its 11-meter-tall, doughnut-shaped
overbudget project, died last week at age 72 after an vacuum chamber—although further work is paused as regula-
illness. A theoretical chemist, Bigot took control of the tors look into certain safety issues. When it starts up in 2025,
world’s biggest science project in 2015, as some politicians in the facility, costing more than €17 billion, aims to fuse hydrogen
the United States were pushing to withdraw from the seven- nuclei to form helium, ultimately yielding 10 times more energy
member partnership. Bigot transformed ITER from an industrial than is needed to produce the plasma. Bigot will be succeeded
stimulus program to a bona fide scientific experiment, observers on an interim basis by Deputy Director-General Eisuke Tada.
Tooth puts Denisovans in Laos China probes academic database Energy science office head OK’d
ARCHAEOLOGY | A molar recovered from PUBLISHING | China’s market regulation LEADERSHIP | The U.S. Senate last week
a cave in northeastern Laos in 2018 closely agency last week announced it is inves- confirmed a soil scientist as chief of the
resembles the few known examples of tigating whether the country’s largest U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of
molars of the mysterious extinct human academic database engages in monopolis- Science, the nation’s single largest funder
species known as Denisovans, close cousins tic behavior. China National Knowledge of the physical sciences. Asmeret Asefaw
of the Neanderthals. Previous Denisovan Infrastructure (CNKI), launched in 1996 Berhe of the University of California
fossils have been found in Siberia and Tibet. by Tsinghua University and a state-owned (UC), Merced, studies how soil absorbs
The new finding, from Southeast Asia, software firm, provides access to the atmospheric carbon dioxide. Some physi-
greatly expands Denisovans’ known range full text of 280 million papers and dis- cists complained that Berhe, who served
and suggests they occupied several eco- sertations in both Chinese and English as interim associate dean of UC Merced’s
RG/ logically diverse landscapes. The research collected from more than 90% of the graduate division, lacks leadership
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HTT DNA, they managed to identify strands of mulation of papers has led to copyright on physics research. But some previ-
N/ ancient proteins within the enamel that disputes, and the database has faced ous directors of the office argued the
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ANIZ genus, Homo, and was most likely female, Chinese Academy of Sciences refused to researchers cheered her selection. The
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O: persists in modern human populations, par- service, preventing access to the database Berhe becomes the first Black person to
HOT ticularly in people from Southeast Asia. by its more than 100 research institutes. lead the office.
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SCIENCE science.org 20 MAY 2022 • VOL 376 ISSUE 6595 781
IN DEPTH
PANDEMIC SCIENCE
‘COVID-ization’ of research levels off
Researchers who pivoted from distant disciplines produced lower impact work, study finds
By Jeffrey Brainard table, below). And in fields more distant from analyses. That’s not necessarily a bad thing,
pandemic science, the share of COVID-19 pa- he adds: “There are many other priority
I n early 2020, as the COVID-19 pan- pers is declining, suggesting researchers are killer [infectious] diseases which have been
demic took hold, a lab run by virologist returning to their core interests. neglected during the COVID-19 era that need
John Schoggins at the University of Those developments are not surprising, attention.” Other evidence suggests that in
Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Cen- observers say. “Now that many of the clini- some fields, researchers who plunged into
ter became one of many around the cal and epidemiological knowledge gaps COVID-19 studies didn’t always produce their
world to shift its full attention to the have been [filled], the research focus of most best work.
crisis. He and his seven-person lab offered clinicians and epidemiologists is rightfully The pandemic prompted a massive in-
help to other scientists and physicians—by moving back towards their own specialist flux of scientists into related research. As
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handful of pandemic-related research papers. lege London, who was not involved in the appeared, according to an analysis of the V:21
But in recent months, as vaccines Dimensions bibliographic database RXI
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The rise in COVID-19 papers has slowed in some fields and peaked in others. R.
ing on COVID-19. With so many Data for this year are through mid-April only. Percentages are rounded. publications make up just 4% or D BY
researchers piling into the field, so of all scientific papers published USE
Sofc hsoatgugriantsi osna.y” sA, s“ tah errees uwlta, sh ias sPehn.Dse. % OFO PRA RPEELRAST AEDBO DUISTE CAOSVEID-19 PCEHRACNENGTEA IGNE tfhroem s u2r0ge19 o ft hpraopuegrhs oeanr lay ntehwis tyoepairc, CE DATA
candidates began looking elsewhere 2019 2020 2021 2022 POINTS, 2021–22 was unmatched in the history of sci- CIEN
for promising dissertation topics. Virology 3.1% 17.4% 28.4% 37.1% 8.8 ence. In certain disciplines the shift OF S
Schoggins’s lab is part of a wider Infectious diseases 0.8% 13.2% 23% 23.8% 0.9 was especially dramatic. Shapira’s WEB
prseuivcgeognte tas wta.n aOayvl fyersroeamsll ,o Ctfh OpeVu nbIuDlims-1hb9in errge s otefr aeprnacdnhs-, Pocucbulipca etniovniraoln hmeaelnthtal 0.2% 7.8% 17.0% 17.5% 0.5 abviniroaoRllyoxsgiivys ,— tphprere espshreainnrtete— do fs hpioanwp esr asn tf hoacAtu pserinidl RTAS; (DATA)
demic-related papers appears set to on coronaviruses and the diseases HUE
decline this year, after explosive and Emergency medicine 0.0% 7.8% 11.4% 8.0% –3.3 they cause went from roughly 3% in ATTY
unprecedented growth in 2020 and 2019 to 28% in 2021, and in infec- N) K
2021 (see graph, p. 783). In key dis- Medical informatics 0.0% 6.3% 13.8% 11.5% –2.3 tious diseases the share rose from ATIO
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ciplines such as infectious diseases less than 1% to 23%. UST
aonf dn epwu pbalipce rhse daeltvho, tethd et op CroOpVoIrDti-o1n9 Respiratory system 0.1% 6.3% 10.1% 9.5% –0.6 cerSnusc ha bnouumt bwehrsa th asovem era issceiden ctiosnts- DITS: (ILL
appears to be flattening out (see All science fields 0.0% 1.7% 3.7% 3.9% 0.3 call the COVID-ization of research. CRE
782 20 MAY 2022 • VOL 376 ISSUE 6595 science.org SCIENCE