706 5 NOVEMBER 2021 • VOL 374 ISSUE 6568 science.org SCIENCE
RESEARCH | IN OTHER JOURNALS
in mouse models of Alzheimer’s
disease, as well as in humans
afflicted with dementia and
COVD-19, identified an inter-
feron-response network. —LMZ
Brain awab337 (2021).
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY
Cuprates versus
nickelates
The mechanism of cuprate
superconductivity remains one
of the most important puzzles
of condensed-matter physics.
The recently observed super-
conductivity in the nickelates
may offer clues, but just how
far the similarities between
the two systems go is not well
understood. Higashi et al. used
dynamical mean-field theory in
combination with local density
approximation to simulate the
results of three x-ray spec-
troscopic techniques applied
to the parent compound of
superconducting nickelates,
NdNiO 2 , and compared them
with experimental results. They
concluded that NdNiO 2 can
be described by a single-band
model and is proximate to,
but not in, the Mott insulator
state. In the superconducting
nickelates, doped holes do not
predominantly reside in the
oxygen orbitals as they do in
the cuprates. —JS
Phys. Rev. X 11 , 041009 (2021).MICROBIAL METABOLISM
Sinking fast,
degrading faster
Within the water column of
the ocean, organic matter
from the productive surface
gradually sinks to lower layers.
The amount of carbon and
other nutrients that reache
the bottom depends on the
balance of rates of sinking
and degradation by attached
microorganisms. Alcolombri
et al. studied particle degrada-
tion rates in a microfluidics
setup that allows for various
flow rates around a stationary
polysaccharide particle, mim-
icking the flow that would occur
during sinking. They found that
degradation increased with flow
rate and performed follow-up
experiments to show that a
major factor was the removalof degradation products that
would otherwise accumu-
late and inhibit the enzymes
responsible for depolymerizing
the model particles. Although
real sinking particles are
heterogeneous, these results
illustrate the complex interplay
of physical and biochemical
processes occurring within the
water column. —MAF
Nat. Geosci. 14 , 775 (2021).IMMUNOLOGY
DNA webs in
allergic asthma
Eosinophils are important in
allergic immune responses,
and their infiltration of lung
tissue is a key feature of
asthma. Chromatin webs laced
with proteins are known to
be produced by neutrophils.
Eosinophils can also produce
extracellular chromatin webs
called eosinophil extracellular
traps (EETs), but their function
is less well understood. Lu et
al. found that EETs occurred
in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid
from individuals with asthma,
and their occurrence correlatedwith asthma severity. EETs
were produced in response to
clinically relevant allergens in
mice, in which they activated
pulmonary neuroendocrine
cells to amplify the allergic
response. Neuroendocrine cells
activated by EETs may offer a
target for the treatment of aller-
gic asthma. —GKA
Nat. Cell Biol. 23 , 1060 (2021).SOLAR ENERGY
Cheaper, cleaner, better
In the race to develop economi-
cally attractive alternatives to
fossil fuels, no choice shines
more brightly than solar
photovoltaic power. Lu et al.
demonstrate that current
trends should allow China, the
world’s largest carbon diox-
ide emitter, to generate more
than 40% of its energy needs
with photovoltaic power by
2060—and at a price far below
even that of coal. Combined
solar power and storage could
become a cheaper alternative
to coal-fired electricity in China
as soon as 2023. —HJS
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 118 ,
e2103471118 (2021). CREDIT: LEE D. SIMON/SCIENCE SCIENCESIGNAL TRANSDUCTIONSignaling phage defenses
in bacteria
C
yclic nucleoside monophosphates are
ubiquitous signaling molecules. Indeed, cyclic
adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) is an
essential signaling molecule for most organ-
isms. Tal et al. have been investigating the
function of the more enigmatic cyclic 3′,5′-cyclic
cytosine monophosphate (cCMP) and 3′,5′-cyclic
uridine monophosphate (cUMP). These cyclic
pyrimidines seemed to act as signaling molecules
for bacterial immune effectors. Their apparent
targets appear to be a transmembrane protein that
may help to kill infected cells by breaking mem-
brane integrity and a nucleosidase called NADase,
which is known in other bacterial defense systems
to prevent phage infection. Whether similar roles
for cyclic pyrimidine nucleotides occur in eukary-
otes remains an open question. —LBR
Cell 10.1016/j.cell.2021.09.031 (2021).Color-enhanced transmission electron micrograph
showing T2 phage attacking Escherichia coli cells