Water desalination takes a step forward

Student participation in disciplinary discourses: when the teacher takes a step back, who takes a step forward?

This study compares the participation patterns of students across two classrooms, which were involved in a design-based experiment called PATHS. While both classes followed the same curriculum, which encouraged disciplinary engagement in the subjects of history and science, the pedagogical stances of the teachers led to some noticeable differences in the “participatory roles” that students took...

Forward osmosis: Novel desalination of produced water and fracturing flowback

Treatment and reuse of oil and gas (O&G) production wastewater in a cost-effective and environmentally sound manner is critical for sustainable industrial development and for meeting stringent regulations. High salinity, free and emulsified hydrocarbons, silts and clays released from producing formations, and process additives common in O&G drilling wastewater render many conventional treatment...

One step forward

PIWI Takes a Giant Step

piRNA guides the action of PIWI proteins to silence deleterious transposons in animal reproductive tissues. Biogenesis of piRNA-induced silencing complex (piRISC) involves a multi-step process. In this issue, Matsumoto et al. report the first crystal structure of a PIWI-clade protein displaying a guide RNA, ready for action.

PLoS Takes a Step Backward

Ntambwe Malangu The implementation of the comprehensive plan for the care, management, and treatment of HIV and AIDS in South Africa [1] needs to be supported by all. It is encouraging to note that Wilson and Blower [2] used South Africa to develop a novel method to determine the optimal strategy for allocating antiretroviral treatment (ART) sites among healthcare facilities (HCFs) in KwaZulu–N...