[REVIEW] Toward a Systems Approach to Understanding Plant Cell Walls
Authors: Chris Somerville, Stefan Bauer, Ginger Brininstool, Michelle Facette, Thorsten Hamann, Jennifer Milne, Erin Osborne, Alex Paredez, Staffan Persson, Ted Raab, Sonja Vorwerk, Heather Youngs
[PERSPECTIVES] MICROBIOLOGY: Peptide Signals Sense and Destroy Target Cells
It is well established that bacteria secrete signals enabling them to communicate with other members of the same species and also with other bacterial populations. In an illuminating Perspective, Garsin discusses a cytolysin signal produced by a human pathogen, Enterococcus faecalis, that enables the bacterium to sense host target cells from afar and to ramp up production of cytolysin such that target cells are efficiently lysed (Coburn et al.).
Author: Danielle A. Garsin
[PERSPECTIVES] ECOLOGY: A Head Start for Some Redstarts
Most ornithologists working in Europe, Canada, and North America arduously study breeding patterns of migratory birds, while ignoring molting, migration, and the time migratory birds spend in their southern wintering grounds. In his Perspective, Hill comments that the introduction of new techniques that measure, for example, isotope ratios in bird feathers is enabling ornithologists to analyze these long-ignored aspects of the annual life cycle of migratory birds (Norris et al.).
Author: Geoffrey E. Hill
How 9/11 Made Everyone a Conspiracy Theorist
Crackpot theories were once the stuff of shortwave radio, but September 11 unleashed the Age of Alex Jones.
[PERSPECTIVES] PHYSICS: The Electronic Structure of Liquid Lead
The atomic and electronic structure of liquid metals is poorly understood because of the lack of long-range periodicity in liquids. In his Perspective, Petroff highlights the report by Baumberger et al., who have succeeded in measuring the band structure of a liquid layer of lead. The measurements were possible because the authors deposited the layer on a support that interferes minimally with the liquid lead. By measuring the band structure both for a liquid and for a solid lead layer, the authors gain insights into the detailed electronic properties of liquid lead.
Author: Yves Petroff
[PERSPECTIVES] MICROBIOLOGY: Microbial Life Breathes Deep
It may not seem like a hospitable habitat, but deep within the sediments of the ocean floor reside thriving communities of microbes. In his Perspective, DeLong discusses a new study of sediment cores from the equatorial Pacific Ocean (D'Hondt et al.) that reveals surprising facts about the microbes living in this environment and the contribution of their metabolic activities to the ocean's energy cycle.
Author: Edward F. DeLong