Table Of Contents Page, PNAS Volume 121, Number 38
This Week in PNAS
Retrospective
Commentaries
Perspectives
Modern life requires many different metal ions, which enable diverse biochemical functions.
It is commonly assumed that metal ions’ environmental availabilities controlled the
evolution of early life. We argue that evolution can only explore the chemistry ...
We discuss a relatively new meta-scientific research design: many-analyst studies
that attempt to assess the replicability and credibility of research based on large-scale
observational data. In these studies, a large number of analysts try to answer the
...
Letters
Physical Sciences
Applied Mathematics
A major next step in hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) biology is to enhance our quantitative
understanding of cellular and evolutionary dynamics involved in undisturbed hematopoiesis.
Mathematical models have been and continue to be key in this respect, and ...
One of the longstanding aims of network neuroscience is to link a connectome’s topological
properties—i.e., features defined from connectivity alone–with an organism’s neurobiology.
One approach for doing so is to compare connectome properties with ...
Applied Physical Sciences
Dynein is the primary molecular motor responsible for retrograde intracellular transport
of a variety of cargoes, performing successive nanometer-sized steps within milliseconds.
Due to the limited spatiotemporal precision of established methods for ...
Capillarity-driven transport in nanoporous solids is widespread in nature and crucial
for modern liquid-infused engineering materials. During imbibition, curved menisci
driven by high negative Laplace pressures exert an enormous contractile load on the
...
Higher-order topological phases in non-Hermitian photonics revolutionize the understanding
of wave propagation and modulation, which lead to hierarchical states in open systems.
However, intrinsic insulating properties endorsed by the lattice symmetry of ...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
Despite longstanding excitement and progress toward understanding liquid–liquid phase
separation in natural and artificial membranes, fundamental questions have persisted
about which molecules are required for this phenomenon. Except in extraordinary ...
Chemistry
The transport of biopolymers across nanopores is an important biological process currently
under investigation for the rapid analysis of DNA and proteins. While the transport
of DNA is generally understood, methods to induce unfolded protein translocation ...
Human voltage-gated proton (hHv1) channels are crucial for regulating essential biological
processes such as immune cell respiratory burst, sperm capacitation, and cancer cell
migration. Despite the significant concentration difference between protons and ...
Understanding the structure in the nanoscopic region of water that is in direct contact
with solid surfaces, so-called contact layer, is key to quantifying macroscopic properties
that are of interest to e.g. catalysis, ice nucleation, nanofluidics, gas ...
The electrochemical series is a useful tool in electrochemistry, but its effectiveness
in materials chemistry is limited by the fact that the standard electrochemical series
is based on a relatively small set of reactions, many of which are measured in ...
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Urbanization has accelerated dramatically across the world over the past decades.
Urban influence on surface temperatures is now being considered as a correction term
in climatological datasets. Although prior research has investigated urban influences
on ...
Small bubbles in fluids rise to the surface due to Archimede’s force. Remarkably,
in turbulent flows this process is severely hindered by the presence of vortex filaments,
which act as moving potential wells, dynamically trapping light particles and ...
In rivers, the addition of finer sediment to a coarser riverbed is known to increase
the mobility of the coarser fraction. Two mechanisms have been suggested for this:
a geometric mechanism whereby smaller sizes smooth the bed, increasing near-bed ...
Engineering
Singlet oxygen (1O2) is important in the environmental remediation field, however, its efficient production
has been severely hindered by the ultrafast self-quenching of the as-generated radical
precursors in the Fenton-like reactions. Herein, we ...
Environmental Sciences
The existence of viable human pathogens in bioaerosols which can cause infection or
affect human health has been the subject of little research. In this study, data provided
by 10 tropospheric aircraft surveys over Japan in 2014 confirm the existence of a
...
View related content:
Mathematics
Here we announce the construction and properties of a big commutative subalgebra of
the Kirillov algebra attached to a finite dimensional irreducible representation of
a complex semisimple Lie group. They are commutative finite flat algebras over the
...
Sustainability Science
Urbanization has accelerated dramatically across the world over the past decades.
Urban influence on surface temperatures is now being considered as a correction term
in climatological datasets. Although prior research has investigated urban influences
on ...
Social Sciences
Environmental Sciences
Although it is well documented that exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) increases the risk of several adverse health outcomes, less is known about its relationship
with economic opportunity. Previous studies have relied on regression modeling, ...
Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
Over the past decade, there has been a shift in the way charities deliver humanitarian
aid. Historically, the most prevalent way to help the global poor was by providing
in-kind asset transfers. Recently, alternatives to in-kind aid, such as cash aid,
...
Social Sciences
Despite growing scientific alarm about anthropogenic climate change, the world is
not on track to solve the crisis. Inaction may be partially explained by skepticism
about climate change and resistance to proenvironmental policies from people who are
...
Are members of marginalized communities silenced on social media when they share personal
experiences of racism? Here, we investigate the role of algorithms, humans, and platform
guidelines in suppressing disclosures of racial discrimination. In a field ...
Biological Sciences
Biochemistry
The transport of biopolymers across nanopores is an important biological process currently
under investigation for the rapid analysis of DNA and proteins. While the transport
of DNA is generally understood, methods to induce unfolded protein translocation ...
The acquisition of new RNA functions through evolutionary processes was essential
for the diversification of RNA-based primordial biology and its subsequent transition
to modern biology. However, the mechanisms by which RNAs access new functions remain
...
Biophysics and Computational Biology
Dynein is the primary molecular motor responsible for retrograde intracellular transport
of a variety of cargoes, performing successive nanometer-sized steps within milliseconds.
Due to the limited spatiotemporal precision of established methods for ...
Human voltage-gated proton (hHv1) channels are crucial for regulating essential biological
processes such as immune cell respiratory burst, sperm capacitation, and cancer cell
migration. Despite the significant concentration difference between protons and ...
Cell Biology
Blood platelets are produced by megakaryocytes (MKs), their parent cells, which are
in the bone marrow. Once mature, MK pierces through the sinusoid vessel, and the initial
protrusion further elongates as proplatelet or buds to release platelets. The ...
Ecology
The existence of viable human pathogens in bioaerosols which can cause infection or
affect human health has been the subject of little research. In this study, data provided
by 10 tropospheric aircraft surveys over Japan in 2014 confirm the existence of a
...
View related content:
Evolution
A major next step in hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) biology is to enhance our quantitative
understanding of cellular and evolutionary dynamics involved in undisturbed hematopoiesis.
Mathematical models have been and continue to be key in this respect, and ...
More than 50% of all animal species are insects that undergo complete metamorphosis.
The key innovation of these holometabolous insects is a pupal stage between the larva
and adult when most structures are completely rebuilt. Why this extreme lifestyle
...
Hamilton’s rule provides the cornerstone for our understanding of the evolution of
all forms of social behavior, from altruism to spite, across all organisms, from viruses
to humans. In contrast to the standard prediction from Hamilton’s rule, recent ...
Genetics
Family-based genome-wide association studies (GWASs) are often claimed to provide
an unbiased estimate of the average causal effects (or average treatment effects;
ATEs) of alleles, on the basis of an analogy between the random transmission of alleles
...
Immunology and Inflammation
Endometriosis negatively impacts the health-related quality of life of 190 million
women worldwide. Novel advances in nonhormonal treatments for this debilitating condition
are desperately needed. Macrophages play a vital role in the pathophysiology of ...
Detection of cytosolic DNA by the cyclic GMP-AMP (cGAMP) synthase (cGAS)–stimulator
of interferon genes (STING) pathway provides immune defense against pathogens and
cancer but can also cause autoimmunity when overactivated. The exonuclease three prime
...
Chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) is a selective form of autophagy that contributes
to the maintenance of cellular homeostasis. CMA activity declines with age in most
tissues and systems, including the immune system, due to a reduction in levels of
...
Microbiology
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) cause hundreds of millions of diarrheal illnesses annually ranging from mildly
symptomatic cases to severe, life-threatening cholera-like diarrhea. Although ETEC
are associated with long-term sequelae including ...
Cryptococcus neoformans has emerged as a frontrunner among deadly fungal pathogens and is particularly life-threatening
for many HIV-infected individuals with compromised immunity. Multiple virulence factors
contribute to the growth and survival of C. ...
Neuroscience
One of the longstanding aims of network neuroscience is to link a connectome’s topological
properties—i.e., features defined from connectivity alone–with an organism’s neurobiology.
One approach for doing so is to compare connectome properties with ...
Animals are born with extensive innate behavioral capabilities, which arise from neural
circuits encoded in the genome. However, the information capacity of the genome is
orders of magnitude smaller than that needed to specify the connectivity of an ...
The in vivo three-dimensional genomic architecture of adult mature neurons at homeostasis
and after medically relevant perturbations such as axonal injury remains elusive.
Here, we address this knowledge gap by mapping the three-dimensional chromatin ...
Adolescence is a period of substantial social–emotional development, accompanied by
dramatic changes to brain structure and function. Social isolation due to lockdowns
that were imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic had a detrimental impact on ...
Psychological and Cognitive Sciences
We know little about the mechanisms through which leader–follower dynamics during
dyadic play shape infants’ language acquisition. We hypothesized that infants’ decisions
to visually explore a specific object signal focal increases in endogenous attention,...
In interval reproduction tasks, animals must remember the event starting the interval
and anticipate the time of the planned response to terminate the interval. The interval
reproduction task thus allows for studying both memory for the past and ...
Sustainability Science
The presence of livestock inside protected areas, or “livestock encroachment,” is
a global conservation concern because livestock is broadly thought to negatively affect
wildlife. The Maasai Mara National Reserve (MMNR), Kenya, exemplifies this tension
as ...
Systems Biology
Synechococcus elongatus is an important cyanobacterium that serves as a versatile and robust model for studying
circadian biology and photosynthetic metabolism. Its transcriptional regulatory network
(TRN) is of fundamental interest, as it orchestrates ...
During homeostasis, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) maintains productive transmembrane
and secretory protein folding that is vital for proper cellular function. The ER-resident
HSP70 chaperone, binding immunoglobulin protein (BiP), plays a pivotal role in ...
Correction
SI Correction
Cover image: Pictured is a megakaryocyte (cyan) with microtubules (magenta) in a 3D hydrogel. Ines Guinard et al. examined megakaryocytes, which mature in the confined microenvironment of the bone marrow and produce platelets in the bloodstream. The authors found that mechanical confinement activates the megakaryocytes’ Rho-GTPase signaling pathway, increasing intracellular tension and preventing platelet formation. According to the authors, the cytoskeletal structures that maintain intracellular tension disappear when megakaryocytes reach the bloodstream. See the article by Guinard et al. e2407829121. Image credit: Catherine Léon.
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