Weekly Headlines (excerpts)

1. Is the snake that just bit you deadly? Venom ‘pregnancy test’ could tell

A simple, rapid snakebite test could save lives. But how close is it to reality?

BY CHRISTIE WILCOX  29 FEB 2024 

2. News at a glance: Moon landing, scientific bounty hunters, and postdocs facing hunger

The latest in science and policy

BY SCIENCE NEWS STAFF 29 FEB 2024 

3. ‘A tough experience.’ Why would a scientist serve as an expert witness?

Sharing their expertise in court carries risks and rewards, researchers say

BY DAN CHARLES 29 FEB 2024 

4. Surprise RNAs solve mystery of how butterfly wings get their colorful patterns

Understudied means of regulating genes likely widespread in butterflies—and perhaps other animals

BY ELIZABETH PENNISI 29 FEB 2024 

5. Dehydrate the stratosphere to curb global warming? Scientists float risky new strategy

Seeding clouds above the western Pacific would keep water vapor, a greenhouse gas, from reaching the atmosphere’s rooftop

BY PAUL VOOSEN 28 FEB 2024 

6. Why are all proteins ‘left-handed’? New theory could solve origin of life mystery

Experiments suggest chemical reaction rates explain how amino acid pairs, and perhaps DNA and RNA, get biased toward one handedness

BY ROBERT F. SERVICE 28 FEB 2024 

7. International panel calls for tighter oversight of risky pathogen studies

Pathogen Project’s report does not rule out gain-of-function research and virus hunting, but urges better biosafety and biosecurity

BY JOCELYN KAISER 28 FEB 2024 

8. The world’s stockpile of cholera vaccine is empty—but relief is on the way

A dramatic shortage of the oral vaccine may ease in the years ahead as more companies enter the market

BY PRATIK PAWAR 27 FEB 2024 

9. ‘Kangaroo Time’ hops into top spot of Science’s latest ‘Dance Your Ph.D.’ contest

Runners-up in Science’s annual competition include dances of streambank erosion and moth mating

BY SEAN CUMMINGS 26 FEB 2024 

10. Watch a marlin flash bright stripes before a deadly strike

Rapid color changes may prevent these predators from impaling one another during group attacks

BY CHRISTIE WILCOX  26 FEB 2024 

11. Native architecture of a human GBP1 defense complex for cell-autonomous immunity to infection

BY SHIWEI ZHU, CLINTON J. BRADFIELD, ET AL  1 Mar 2024 

Architecture of a human GBP1 defense complex.

(Left) 3D reconstruction of human GBP1 on the outer membrane (OM) of Salmonella bacteria from cryo-ET. IM, inner membrane. Size of scale bar shown in Angstroms. (Right) Pseudomodel showing the extended upright GBP1 conformer inserting into the OM LPS layer. Release of LPS by GBP1 insertion subsequently activated caspase-4 following its coassembly on the same bacterial surface.

12. The changing nature of groundwater in the global water cycle

BY XINGXING KUANG, JUNGUO LIU, ET AL   1 Mar 2024

Simplified global water cycle with its components.

Groundwater is becoming increasingly more dynamic in the global water cycle.

13. Lunar phobia, turning blue cheese red, and more stories you might have missed this week

A roundup of some of our favorite items from the Science Adviser daily newsletter

BY PHIE JACOBS  1 MAR 2024 

14. Puzzling skin side effects stymie advance of promising HIV vaccine

Strategy of multiple, Moderna-made mRNA shots to hone powerful antibodies hits a pothole

BY JON COHEN  1 MAR 2024