Great New Books Received Today

There are so many interesting books on the new book shelf today! The very impressive, 10-volume ENCYCLOPEDIA OF INORGANIC CHEMISTRY, edited by Bruce King, can keep you happily occupied for hours . Described as "the ultimate resource on inorganic chemistry - new and completely revised, 10 years after publication of the first edition." For the complete list of articles, author and editorial information and the contents from actinides to zirconium, visit: www.wiley.com/eic2.

Other books on display include the stunningly visual UNIVERSE by Robert Dinwiddie and the data rich ONCOGENOMICS HANDBOOK from Humana Press. Glaciation, plasma physics, endocrine agents, microbiology, enzymology, neurobiology, population ecology... it's all there on the new book shelf. Take a look!

News in Science: hominid ancestors lived as prey

Preyed Upon, Hominids Began to Cooperate

Dan Ferber (Science)

“Our hominid ancestors actually lived as prey rather than predators, a researcher argued at the AAAS annual meeting, held in St. Louis from 16 to 20 February. And our past as prey, he speculates, laid the foundations of society by forcing those ancestors to live together peacefully in groups. Biological anthropologist Robert Sussman of Washington University contends that Australopithecus afarensis was stalked by numerous and large predators, including a now-extinct dog as big as a bear, saber-toothed tigers, hyenas, and crocodiles.” (Read more.)

Full story at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/311/5764/1095b?etoc

A somewhat related book, now on the new book shelf, is Frans de Waal's Our Inner Ape. "While the parallels between chimp brutality and human brutality are easy to see, de Waal suggests that the conciliatory bonobo is just as legitimate a model to sudy when we explore our primate heritage. He even connects humanity's desire for fairness and its morality with primate behavior, offering a view of society that contrasts markedly with the caricature some people have of Darwinian evolution." Our Inner Ape: a Leading Primatologist Explains Why We Are Who We Are. Riverhead Books, 2005.

Faculty Publications: Carlton

Terry S. Carlton, Professor Emeritus, Chemistry.

Why the lower-energy term of singlet dioxygen has a doubly occupied [pi]* orbital. Journal of Chemical Education vol. 83, no. 3, March 2006: 477-479.

"This article [presents] a simple physical explanation for the relative erergies of the lowest two singlet terms of O2. The explanation invokes [pi positve] and [pi negative] molecular orbitals, which are eigenfunctions of orbital angular momentum about the molecular axis."

A copy of this article is in the science faculty publications file in the copying/printing room, and may also be read in the print issue in the library or online at the publisher's Web site (from computers on campus).

Check it Out! Greenpeace by Rex Weyler

On the New Book Shelf:

Greenpeace: how a group of ecologists, journalists, and visionaries changed the world. Rex Weyler. Rodale, 2004.

From the book jacket: " 'Ecology? Look it up! You're involved.' With this slogan, posted guerrilla-style on billboards in 1969, the group that would become Greenpeace launched its first campaign... and sparked a mind-shift that literally changed how we think about the world around us. Greenpeace is the definitive record of their journey from a loosely organized protest group into an international phenomenon that went head-to-head against corporations and governments."

The new book shelf is on your right as you enter the science library. Come in and browse! Or browse online: New Book list.

News in Science: climate change

Evangelicals, Scientists Reach Common Ground on Climate Change

Eli Kintisch (Science)

This month, 86 influential leaders in the U.S. Christian evangelical movement came out for "national legislation requiring … economy-wide reductions" in carbon emissions. The 8 February statement is seen as an important boost for supporters of mandatory controls on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. (Read more.)

Full story at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/311/5764/1082a?etoc

Faculty Publications: Laskowski

Marta Laskowski, Biology Department, contributes Teaching Resource to Science : STKE (Signal Transduction Knowledge Environment)

Sci. STKE, Vol. 2006, Issue 322, pp. tr1, 14 February 2006
[DOI: 10.1126/stke.3222006tr1]

Model of the TIR1 Pathway for Auxin-Mediated Gene Expression

Abstract: Auxin mediates numerous plant responses, some of which have been shown to require transcriptional regulation. One auxin response pathway, which depends on the relief of transcriptional repression, is mediated by TIR1 (transport inhibitor response protein 1). TIR1 is an auxin receptor and also a subunit of an SCF-type ubiquitin ligase. In the presence of a low concentration of auxin in the nucleus, members of the Aux/IAA family of transcriptional repressors bind to ARF proteins and inhibit the transcription of specific auxin response genes. Increased nuclear concentrations of auxin promote auxin binding to TIR1, causing the Aux/IAA proteins to associate with TIR1 and leading to their degradation by a proteasome-mediated pathway. This decreases the concentration of Aux/IAA proteins in the nucleus and thereby enables the expression of certain auxin response genes.

Welcome to the Science Library Blog

Speaking of Science - a companion to Reading Girl Speaks - will bring you news from the science library and from science generally. This deliberately broad focus is intended to reach a wide audience, to bring science to members of the community we see seldom while updating those faithful students who are here day in and day out. Your comments and reactions are most welcome! I especially invite responses that lead readers to more information, other resources, and increase understanding of the endlessly fascinating world of scientific discovery.