Science - USA (2022-04-08)

PHOTO: GUENTERGUNI/ISTOCKPHOTO

148 8 APRIL 2022 • VOL 376 ISSUE 6589 science.org SCIENCE

the horizon of possible QED

tests. —YS

Science, abk2502, this issue p. 199

NANOMATERIALS

Imaging particles

and patterns

A key feature of nanoscale

materials is the ability to tune

their properties through small

changes in particle size or

chemical composition. Assembly

into three-dimensional super-

structures provides a platform

for building complex, multi-

functional materials, but it also

makes it harder to understand

PLANT SCIENCE

Increasing wheat

grain yield

In wheat, the numbers of tillers,

spikes, and spikelets determine

how much grain is produced.

Beginning with a cross between

two common wheat cultivars,

Zhang et al. cloned a gene that

affects wheat plant architecture

and, consequently, grain yield

(see the Perspective by van Esse).

Exon capture analyses identified

the same gene in wild emmer

wheat. The gene nonetheless

remains rare among contem-

porary US wheat cultivars. In

field trials in Jiangsu, China,

overexpression of the domi-

nant allele in transgenic wheat

increased grain production by

about 12%. —PJH

Science, abm0717, this issue p. 180;

see also abo7429, p. 133

PHYSICS

Fresh test of quantum

electrodynamics

One of the best ways to

advance our understand-

ing of nature is to challenge

the fundamental theories

developed to describe its laws

mathematically. Quantum

electrodynamics (QED)

theory of the interaction of

matter with light is currently

one of the most accurate

fundamental theories, and

the search for QED deviations

is of considerable interest.

Henson et al. measured and

theoretically calculated the

helium 2^3 S 1 −2^3 P/3^3 P tune-out

frequency with an accuracy

that made it possible to discern

its QED contributions and

previously omitted compo-

nents. The tune-out frequency

is sensitive to a different part

of QED compared with other,

more common atomic structure

probes, and the present work is

an important step in expanding

Edited by Michael Funk

RESEARCH

Sediment from the Ounianga Serir oasis reveals changes in aridity

in the central Sahara over the past several thousand years.

CLIMATOLOGY

Climate history

of the central Sahara

O

ur understanding of the climate history of the

Sahara, Earth’s largest warm desert, is limited by a

paucity of local records, because all of the previously

available records are from the fringes of the desert. Van

der Meeren et al. describe a new record from the central Sahara

that provides important constraints on the developmental history of the

desert over the past several thousand years. The authors found evidence that

before 4200 years ago, the Sahara was even more arid than today, and that

the central Saharan climate over the past 3000 years is closely linked with the

intensity of the tropical West African monsoon. —KVH

Sci. Adv. 10.1126/sciadv.abk1261 (2022).

IN SCIENCE JOURNALS