2017-01-06
封面上展示的是英国最大的德拉克斯燃煤电厂，总发电量高达3 960兆瓦，预计在2017年将燃烧750万吨生物质，主要是来自美国森林的木屑棒。许多国家将木材分类为碳中性燃料，并鼓励使用木材发电。但是通过这种方式为全球气候所带来的好处也要经过几十年才能实现。

The 3960-megawatt Drax power station, the largest in the United Kingdom, is expected to burn 7.5 million metric tons of biomass in 2017, mainly wood pellets from U.S. forests. Many countries classify wood as a carbon-neutral fuel and encourage its use to produce electricity. But any climate benefits may take decades to materialize.

2017-01-13
封面上展示的是一个由电子衍射（白色部分是氢原子；周围的“发光”部分代表了一种静电势的示意图）所确定的磷酸钴铝材料的原子结构。许多有机和无机化合物仅仅形成非常小的晶体形式，但是通过足够的敏感度，科学家们现在就可以确定其晶体结构，从而揭示出甚至是最轻的（氢）原子的位置。

Atomic structure of a cobalt aluminophosphate material, determined by electron diffraction (white, hydrogen atoms; the surrounding "glow" represents a map of electrostatic potential). Many organic and inorganic compounds form only very small crystals, the structures of which can now be determined with sufficient sensitivity to reveal the positions of even the lightest (hydrogen) atoms.

2017-01-20
封面上展示的是美国黄石国家公园里的大棱镜温泉，其斑斓的色彩生动地说明了地球生命从炙热（中间部分）到寒冷环境（边缘部分）的进化过程。具有不同生存温度的细菌造就了温泉的彩色温标。为了研究酶的热适应机制，Nguyen等人重建了在超过30亿年的时间里，酶的活性反应如何应对温度逐渐变冷的过程。

Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, illustrating the evolution of life on Earth from hot (middle) to colder environments (edges). Bacteria with different survival temperatures create the color scale. To study the mechanisms of enzymatic thermoadaptation, Nguyen et al. reconstructed enzyme activity over 3 billion years in response to cooling temperatures.

2017-01-27
封面上展示的是“糖一般的”番茄。消费者们不太喜欢现代商业生产的番茄味道，尤其是与传统品种相比。科学家们通过对数以百计的现代和传统番茄品种进行化学及遗传分析对比，揭示了为什么现代品种并不是那么美味，并且提供了必要的信息，从而为我们能够通过育种分子遗传学使现代番茄恢复良好的味道。

Solanum lycopersicum "sugary" tomatoes. Consumers love to hate the flavor of modern commercial tomatoes, especially compared with heirloom varieties. Chemical and genetic profiling of hundreds of modern and heirloom tomatoes shows why modern varieties are less flavorful and provides the information necessary for recovery of good flavor through breeding guided by molecular genetics.
（陶 陶　编译）■