Editors’ selections from the current scientific literature

In the Report “SCFFbxl3 controls the oscillation of the circadian clock by directing the degradation of cryptochrome proteins” (11 May 2007, p. 900), errors were made during the assembly of figs. S4, S6, and S10. Although a correction to fig. S4 was posted on 10 October 2014, a formal erratum was not issued. Science is now publishing a formal erratum that, in addition to the previous correction to fig. S4, includes the corrections to figs. S6 and S10. Busino et al. retrieved the original blots and corrected the three figures. In figs. S4, B and C, and S10, actin loading controls were duplicated. Actin blots from several experiments were electronically stored as cropped images with similar names, leading to errors in the final assembly of these two figures. Figures S4, B and C, and S10 have been revised to show the correct actin blots. Labels indicating hours of cycloheximide treatment have also been added to fig. S4. In fig. S6, there was a duplication in the c-Jun blot, which occurred after quantification with ImageJ, when blots were pasted back into the original files to keep track of the quantification progress. The Fbxl3 shRNA blot was inadvertently pasted into the LacZ shRNA file, which was then mistakenly used to assemble the c-Jun blot. Figure S6A has been revised to show the correct c-Jun blot. These corrections do not change any of Busino et al.’s conclusions.

In the Research Article “Size, distribution, and vulnerability of the global soil inorganic carbon” (12 April 2024, p. 233), the background of Fig. 4A features a global map. To calculate the carbon budget for each of the top 10 countries shown in Fig. 4A, Huang et al. used two raster datasets: the change of soil inorganic carbon per unit area and TM World Borders Dataset 0.3, which separates countries and provides the area of each grid. Figure 4A originally included a shape file version of the map with smoothed edges; to accurately reflect the data with which Huang et al. performed the carbon budget calculations, the map in Fig. 4A has been changed to the version from TM World Borders Dataset 0.3, and the following credit has been added to the figure legend: “The illustration background global map is based on TM World Borders Dataset 0.3 at a grid resolution of 0.5° × 0.5°.” These changes do not affect any of Huang et al.’s conclusions.

The decreasing cost of electricity worldwide from wind and solar energy, as well as that of end-use technologies such as electric vehicles, reflect substantial progress made toward replacing fossil fuels with alternative energy sources. But a full transition to clean energy can only be realized if numerous challenges are overcome. Many problems can be addressed through the discovery of new materials that improve the efficiency of energy production and consumption; reduce the need for scarce mineral resources; and support the production of green hydrogen, clean ammonia, and carbon-neutral hydrocarbon fuels. However, research and development of new energy materials are not as aggressive as they should be to meet the demands of climate change.

A weekly roundup of information on newly offered instrumentation, apparatus, and laboratory materials of potential interest to researchers.

Marine stratocumulus clouds are the "global reflectors," sharply contrasting with the underlying dark ocean surface and exerting a net cooling on Earth's climate. The magnitude of this cooling remains uncertain in part owing to the averaged representation of microphysical processes, such as the droplet-to-drizzle transition in global climate models (GCMs). Current GCMs parameterize cloud droplet size distributions as broad, cloud-averaged gammas. Using digital holographic measurements of discrete stratocumulus cloud volumes, we found cloud droplet size distributions to be narrower at the centimeter scale, never resembling the cloud average. These local distributions tended to form pockets of similar-looking cloud regions, each characterized by a size distribution shape that is diluted to varying degrees. These observations open the way for new modeling representations of microphysical processes.

Large ensembles of laser-cooled atoms interacting through infinite-range photon-mediated interactions are powerful platforms for quantum simulation and sensing. Here we realize momentum-exchange interactions in which pairs of atoms exchange their momentum states by collective emission and absorption of photons from a common cavity mode, a process equivalent to a spin-exchange or XX collective Heisenberg interaction. The momentum-exchange interaction leads to an observed all-to-all Ising-like interaction in a matter-wave interferometer. A many-body energy gap also emerges, effectively binding interferometer matter-wave packets together to suppress Doppler dephasing in analogy to Mössbauer spectroscopy. The tunable momentum-exchange interaction expands the capabilities of quantum interaction-enhanced matter-wave interferometry and may enable the realization of exotic behaviors, including simulations of superconductors and dynamical gauge fields.

Thomas Südhof's lab is facing scrutiny after admitting mistakes in 15 publications.