SCIENCE sciencemag.org 1 MAY 2020 • VOL 368 ISSUE 6490 485long-distance travel restrictions,
played the largest part in control-
ling SARS-CoV-2 spread. —CA
Science, this issue p. 493CATALYSIS
A water boost for
methanol synthesis
Model catalysts based on metals
and metal oxides can dissociate
methane (CH 4 ) at room tem-
perature, converting it directly to
methanol (CH 3 OH). Liu et al. show
that for one of these catalysts, an
“inverted” CeOx-Cu 2 O oxide on
Cu(111), water tunes the selectiv-
ity from forming CO and CO 2 to
forming surface CH 3 O groups,
as revealed by ambient-pressure
x-ray photoelectron spectros-
copy. Theoretical modeling
showed that adsorbed water
blocks O 2 dissociation and O 2
instead oxidizes the reduced
catalyst. Hydroxyl groups from
water generate the CH 3 O species
from dissociated CH 4 , and water
then goes on to form and displace
CH 3 OH to the gas phase. —PDS
Science, this issue p. 513CERAMICS
Speedy ceramic sintering
Synthesizing ceramics can
require heating for long times
at high temperatures, making
the screening of high-through-
put materials challenging. C.
Wang et al. developed a new
ceramic-sintering technique
that uses resistive heating of
thin carbon strips to ramp up
and ramp down temperature
quickly. This method allows
for the quick synthesis of a
wide variety of ceramics whilePHYSICS
A pseudo-real
combination
Straining graphene can generate
pseudomagnetic fields, which
lead to some of the same effects
as real magnetic fields. One of
those effects is the formation
of the so-called Landau energylevels, which can be probed
through scanning tunneling
spectroscopy. Li et al. used this
technique to study the energy
spectra along a nanoscale
ripple in graphene. The non-
uniform pseudomagnetic field
generated on the ripple, in
combination with a real applied
magnetic field, caused a spatiallymitigating the loss of volatile
elements. Ultrafast sintering
is ideal for synthesizing many
compositions to screen for
ideal properties for a variety
of applications, including the
development of new solid-state
electrolytes. —BG
Science, this issue p. 521TISSUE REGENERATION
Equal opportunity tissue
regeneration
Tissue regeneration is thought
to be driven primarily by rare
stem cells with distinctive
properties. Single-cell RNA
sequencing allows rigorous test-
ing of this hypothesis. Karthaus
et al. examined the regeneration
of normal prostate tissue in
mice after androgen ablation, a
common treatment for prostate
cancer (see the Perspective
by Kelly). Unexpectedly, they
found that in addition to rare
stem cells, a large population
of differentiated cells was a
major contributor to prostate
regeneration, a result that they
confirmed in a study of human
prostate tissue. Investigation of
the molecular mechanism by
which the differentiated cells
acquired regenerative poten-
tial yielded insights that could
potentially lead to improved
therapies for prostate cancer.
— PA K
Science, this issue p. 497;
see also p. 467SUPERCONDUCTIVITY
An unexpected order
The phase diagram of cuprate
superconductors, in addition
to superconductivity, contains
many ordered states such as
antiferromagnetism, charge
density waves, and nematicity.
Sarkar et al. show that ferro-
magnetism should be added to
this list. Studying thin films of
La2–xCexCuO 4 at high dopings,
past the point at which super-
conductivity disappears, the
researchers found signatures
of ferromagnetism in both the
transport and optical properties
of the films. —JS
Science, this issue p. 532Cardiac muscle cells, shown in this light micrograph, can regain some
capacity to regenerate on treatment with transcription factors present
in neonatal cells.A complex silicon oxycarbide
structure fabricated by ultrafast
CREDITS (FROM LEFT): WANG high-temperature sintering
ET AL
.; JOSE CALVO/SCIENCE SOURCE
REGENERATIONMending broken hearts
A
dult heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) cannot
regenerate after ischemic injury. However, neonatal
cardiomyocytes do regenerate. Cui et al. undertook sin-
gle-nucleus RNA sequencing of cardiomyocytes to find
out how mice of various ages respond to heart injury. The
gene expression profiles showed that several subsets of car-
diomyocytes enter the cell cycle after injury, but these become
depleted as mice age, and thus heart regeneration capacity
declines. The authors identified two transcription factors
involved in driving these responses to injury. Retrovirus-
mediated expression of these factors in cardiomyocytes in
mature mice helped to protect heart tissue from ischemic
injury. These findings might inform new therapeutic strategies
to treat patients with ischemic heart disease. —GKA
Dev. Cell 53 , 102 (2020).IN OTHER JOURNALS
Edited byCaroline Ash
and Jesse Smith