NATURE
1. Climate
change: The forecast for 2018 is cloudy with record heat
Jeff Tollefson
Efforts to predict the near-term
climate are taking off, but their record so far has been patchy.
2. Can ovarian follicles fossilize?
Gerald Mayr & Albrecht Manegold
Nature 499, E1 (11 July 2013) doi:10.1038/nature12367
In a recent report Zheng et al.
describe ovarian follicles in three fossil birds from Early Cretaceou.
Fossilization of ovarian follicles would constitute an extraordinary case of
soft tissue preservation, but the morphology of the fossil structures does not
agree with the ovulation mode of coelurosaurs.
3. Allowable
carbon emissions lowered by multiple climate targets
Marco Steinacher, Fortunat Joos &
Thomas F. Stocker
Nature 499, 197–201 (11 July 2013)
doi:10.1038/nature12269
Climate targets are designed to inform
policies that would limit the magnitude and impacts of climate change caused by
anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and other substances. Such global
temperature targets, however, are not sufficient to control many other
quantities. We show that allowable carbon emissions are substantially reduced
when multiple climate targets are set.
4. A third way
to rift continents
W. Roger Buck
Nature 499, 157–159 (11 July 2013) doi:10.1038/499157a
Rifting of continents is usually
explained by one of two mechanisms based on effects that originate far from the
zone of rifting. Laboratory experiments show that this geodynamic process can
also be caused by local effects.
5. Formation of sharp eccentric
rings in debris disks with gas but without planets
W. Lyra & M. Kuchner
Nature 499, 184–187 (11 July 2013)
doi:10.1038/nature12281
The narrow rings seen in some debris
disks, thought to be evidence for hidden exoplanets, might instead be caused by
gas–dust interaction and a recently identified photoelectric instability
6. Characterization and implications of intradecadal
variations in length of day
R. Holme & O. de Viron
Nature 499, 202–204 (11 July 2013) doi:10.1038/nature12282
Received 14 October 2012 Accepted 02
May 2013 Published online 10 July 2013
Variations in Earth's rotation show
clear signals of a 5.9-year oscillation and jumps in Earth’s moment of inertia;
correlation with the geomagnetic field suggests an origin in Earth’s core and
constrains the conductivity and thus the composition and mineralogy of the deep
mantle.
SCIENCE
7. Meteorite Mystery Edges Closer to an Answer—Or the End
of a Field
Richard A. Kerr
Science 12 July 2013: Vol. 341 no.
6142 pp. 126-127
DOI: 10.1126/science.341.6142.126
An improved approach to solving the
core mystery of meteorites—the rocky blobs called chondrules—has yielded a new
way to form the pervasive objects. Can it jump-start the slow-moving field?
8. Search for the Exit: Voyager 1 at Heliosphere’s Border
with the Galaxy
Science 12 July 2013: Vol. 341 no.
6142 pp. 144-147
DOI: 10.1126/science.1235721
Scientists report measurements of
energetic charged particles on Voyager 1 from the interface region between the
heliosheath, dominated by heated solar plasma, and the local interstellar
medium, which is expected to contain cold nonsolar plasma and the galactic
magnetic field.
9. Fossil Musculature of the Most Primitive Jawed
Vertebrates
Science 12 July 2013: Vol. 341 no.
6142 pp. 160-164
DOI: 10.1126/science.1237275
The transition from jawless to jawed
vertebrates (gnathostomes) resulted in the reconfiguration of the muscles and
skeleton of the head. We describe here the only known examples of preserved
musculature from placoderms (extinct armored fishes); Placoderms possess a
regionalized muscular anatomy.
10. Enhanced Remote Earthquake Triggering at
Fluid-Injection Sites in the Midwestern United States
Science 12 July 2013: Vol. 341 no.
6142 pp. 164-167
DOI: 10.1126/science.1238948
Injection of fluids into underground
formations are capable of inducing earthquakes.
Seismologists have found that some of
the largest quakes induced by deep injection of waste water are preceded by
smaller tremors.
11. Seasons of Love?
Kelly Servik
Science 12 July 2013:
Vol. 341 no. 6142 pp. 115-116
DOI: 10.1126/science.341.6142.115-b
Babies conceived at certain times of
the year appear healthier than those conceived during other times. The most
unfavorable time to get pregnant would be between January and May which closely
aligns with the time when the most patients visited the doctors for flue-like
symptoms.
12. Name Those Moons
Science 12 July 2013: Vol. 341 no.
6142 pp. 115-116
DOI: 10.1126/science.341.6142.115-b
Following an Internet poll, two moons
gain underworld-related names (Kerberos and Styx), joining Pluto's three other moons.
PNAS
13. Vibronic origin of sulfur mass-independent isotope
effect in photoexcitation of SO2 and the implications to the early earth’s
atmosphere
Andrew R. Whitehilla,1, Changjian Xieb, Xixi Hub, Daiqian Xieb,1, Hua Guoc, and Shuhei Onoa
PNAS 2013; published ahead of
print July 8, 2013, doi:10.1073/pnas.1306979110
Signatures of mass-independent isotope
fractionation (MIF) are found in the oxygen and sulfur isotope systems and
serve as tracers of past and present atmospheric processes. The physical
chemistry of these isotope effects remains poorly understood. A production of
large sulfur isotope MIF from the broadband excitation of SO2 is reported.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
14. A new sauropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous of
Tunisia with extreme avian-like pneumatization
Federico Fanti, Andrea Cau, Mohsen
Hassine & Michela Contessi
Nature Communications 4, Article number: 2080 doi:10.1038/ncomms3080
The specimen shows a complex pattern
of caudosacral and pelvic pneumatization—including the first report of an
ischial pneumatic foramen among Dinosauria—strongly supporting the presence of
abdominal air sacs.
