JOURNAL REVIEW February 26 – March 2 (Nature, Science, PNAS, Geology, Nature Communications)

NATURE

1. Carbon dating spots new neurons

Nature 506, 410 (27 February 2014) doi:10.1038/506410b (originally published in Cell)

Human cells renew themselves in the striatum, a brain region involved in cognition and coordinating body movements.

2. Ancient artists' gender is a mystery

Nature 506, 410–411 (27 February 2014) doi:10.1038/506410d (originally published in J. Arch. Sci)

Modern measurements cannot be generalized across populations, casting doubt on the ability of these methods to accurately assign sex to handprints made by long deceased humans, the authors say.

3. Permafrost grows thanks to plants

Nature 506, 411 (27 February 2014) doi:10.1038/506411d

(originally published in Geophys. Res. Lett.)

Despite rising temperatures in the Arctic, permafrost has been expanding around some lakes, probably because of vegetation springing up nearby.

4. A large source of low-volatility secondary organic aerosol

Mikael Ehn, Joel A. Thornton, Einhard Kleist, Mikko Sipilä, Heikki Junninen+ et al.

Nature 506, 476–479 (27 February 2014) doi:10.1038/nature13032

The link between biogenic volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere and their conversion to aerosol particles is unclear, but a direct reaction pathway is now described by which volatile organic compounds lead to low-volatility vapours that can then condense onto aerosol surfaces, producing secondary organic aerosol.

SCIENCE

5. The Tropical Pacific Ocean—Back in the Driver's Seat?

Amy Clement and Pedro DiNezio

Science 28 February 2014: 976-978. [DOI:10.1126/science.1248115]

Persistent cool conditions in the eastern tropical Pacific may explain the current global warming “hiatus.”

6. New Look at Ancient Mineral Could Scrap a Test for Early Oxygen

Richard A. Kerr

Science 28 February 2014: Vol. 343 no. 6174 p. 960 DOI: 10.1126/science.343.6174.960

(original paper in Geol. Soc. of Am. Bul.)

A study of 2.5-billion-year-old Australian rocks suggests that the oxygen-rich mineral hematite in them formed hundreds of millions of years later than had been thought.

7. Out of Beringia?

John F. Hoffecker, Scott A. Elias, and Dennis H. O'Rourke.

Science 28 February 2014: Vol. 343 no. 6174 pp. 979-980 DOI: 10.1126/science.1250768

A flurry of studies suggests that instead of being simply a bridge from Asia to the Americas, Beringia may have beckoned the ancestors of the first Americans to linger.

8. Rapid Thinning of Pine Island Glacier in the Early Holocene

J. S. Johnson, M. J. Bentley, J. A. Smith, R. C. Finkel, D. H. Rood, K. Gohl, G. Balco, R. D. Larter, and J. M. Schaefer

Science 28 February 2014: 999-1001 [DOI:10.1126/science.1247385]

Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica thinned rapidly, as it is doing now, at least once before in the past 8000 years.

8. Resurrecting Surviving Neandertal Lineages from Modern Human Genomes

Benjamin Vernot and Joshua M. Akey

Science 28 February 2014: 1017- [DOI:10.1126/science.1245938]

Ancestral Neandertal sequences within existing humans reveal that positive and purifying selection has occurred.

PNAS

9. A 3,500-year tree-ring record of annual precipitation on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Bao Yang, Chun Qin, Jianglin Wang, Minhui He, Thomas M. Melvin, Timothy J. Osborn, and Keith R. Briffa

PNAS 2014 111 (8) 2903-2908; published ahead of print February 10, 2014, doi:10.1073/pnas.1319238111

An annually resolved and absolutely dated ring-width chronology spanning 4,500 y has been constructed using subfossil, archaeological, and living-tree juniper samples from the northeastern Tibetan Plateau.

10. Urban adaptation can roll back warming of emerging megapolitan regions

Matei Georgescu, Philip E. Morefield, Britta G. Bierwagen, and Christopher P. Weaver

PNAS 2014 111 (8) 2909-2914; doi:10.1073/pnas.1322280111

Megapolitan expansion, alone and separate from greenhouse gas-induced forcing, can be expected to raise near-surface temperatures 1–2 °C not just at the scale of individual cities but over large regional swaths of the country.

11. Afforestation in China cools local land surface temperature

Shu-Shi Peng, Shilong Piao, Zhenzhong Zeng, Philippe Ciais, Liming Zhou, Laurent Z. X. Li, Ranga B. Myneni, Yi Yin, and Hui Zeng

PNAS 2014 111 (8) 2915-2919; doi:10.1073/pnas.1315126111

Here, we used satellite measurements of land surface temperature (LST) from planted forests and adjacent grasslands or croplands in China to understand how afforestation affects LST. Afforestation is found to decrease daytime LST by about 1.1 ± 0.5 °C.

GEOLOGY

12. Increased channelization of subglacial drainage during deglaciation of the Laurentide Ice Sheet

Robert D. Storrar, Chris R. Stokes, and David J.A. Evans

Geology, March 2014, v. 42, p. 239-242, doi:10.1130/G35092.1

This paper uses an unprecedented data set of over 20,000 eskers to reconstruct the evolution of channelized meltwater systems during the final deglaciation of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (13–7 kyr B.P.). We demonstrate that eskers become more frequent during deglaciation and that this coincides with periods of increased rates of ice margin recession and climatic warming.

13. Dominance of tectonics over climate in Himalayan denudation

Vincent Godard, Didier L. Bourlès, Françoise Spinabella, Douglas W. Burbank, Bodo Bookhagen, G. Burch Fisher, Adrien Moulin, and Laëtitia Léanni

Geology, March 2014, v. 42, p. 243-246, first published on January 10, 2014, doi:10.1130/G35342.1

Denudation rates at centennial to millennial time scales were deduced from ¹⁰Be concentrations in detrital sediments in central Nepal. Average denudation rates are  from <0 .5="" 2="" adjust="" at="" by="" changing="" climatic="" conditions="" denudation="" is="" landscapes="" limited="" mainly="" material="" mm="" processes="" propose="" pushed="" quickly="" rate="" span="" such="" tectonic="" that="" the="" to="" upward="" we="" which="" yr.="" yr="">

14. Climate change and tectonic uplift triggered the formation of the Atacama Desert’s giant nitrate deposits

Alida Pérez-Fodich, Martin Reich, Fernanda Álvarez, Glen T. Snyder, Ronny Schoenberg, Gabriel Vargas, Yasuyuki Muramatsu, and Udo Fehn

Geology, March 2014, v. 42, p. 251-254, doi:10.1130/G34969.1

We present the first cosmogenic iodine (¹²⁹I) and stable chromium (δ^53/52Cr) isotope data of nitrates showing that groundwater has played an unforeseen role in the formation of these massive deposits. Our evidence points toward a multi-source genetic model for the these nitrate deposits, where these extensive accumulations were the result of near-surface mineral precipitation driven by groundwater coupled with dry atmospheric deposition and sea spray inputs triggered by increasing aridity and tectonic uplift.

NATURE COMMUNICATIONS

16. Potential climate engineering effectiveness and side effects during a high carbon dioxide-emission scenario

David P. Keller, Ellias Y. Feng & Andreas Oschlies

Nature Communications 5, Article number: 3304 doi:10.1038/ncomms4304

Here we use an Earth system model to compare the effectiveness and side effects of afforestation, artificial ocean upwelling, ocean iron fertilization, ocean alkalinization and solar radiation management during a high carbon dioxide-emission scenario.

17. The dynamic surface tension of atmospheric aerosol surfactants reveals new aspects of cloud activation

Barbara Nozière, Christine Baduel & Jean-Luc Jaffrezo

Nature Communications 5, Article number: 3335 doi:10.1038/ncomms4335

Here we present the first dynamic investigation of the total surfactant fraction of atmospheric aerosols, evidencing adsorption barriers that limit their gradient (partitioning) in particles and should enhance their cloud-forming efficiency compared with current models.

18. Evidence for external forcing of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation since termination of the Little Ice Age

Mads Faurschou Knudsen, Bo Holm Jacobsen, Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz & Jesper Olsen

Nature Communications 5, Article number: 3323 doi:10.1038/ncomms4323

The evidence suggests that external forcing played a dominant role in pacing the AMO after termination of the Little Ice Age (LIA; ca. 1400–1800), with an instantaneous impact on mid-latitude sea-surface temperatures that spread across the North Atlantic over the ensuing ~5 years.