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Novel techniques that could help to make human embryonic stem-cell research morally acceptable will not immediately defuse the ethical debate over the work.
Open-access satellite images are revolutionizing responses to disasters. Yet the government of Pakistan has forced aid agencies to remove pictures of earthquake devastation from the Internet.
Biologists, planetary scientists and engineers have gathered in southern Spain to test a robotic drill. They hope some day to probe for life beneath the surface of Mars. Jenny Hogan investigates.
For years it was assumed that tiny differences in our genetic make-up gave us our individual traits. Now it seems that those characteristics are caused by rearrangements of large chunks of our DNA — variations that could be the key to understanding disease. Erika Check investigates.
DNA can shape itself into many forms to achieve its purposes in life. The crystal structure of the junction between two of its forms provides insight into how DNA might accomplish some of these acrobatics.
The chemical industry would be transformed if selective oxidation of hydrocarbons could be achieved efficiently using cheap and clean oxygen from the air. Doing that with gold as a catalyst is a method gaining in allure.
An investigation of brain development in sea spiders provides hints about how the earliest arthropod head evolved. These observations are bound to provoke controversy in an already acrimonious field.
Matter-wave interferometers are unique tools for exposing particles acting like waves — one of the stranger facets of quantum theory. They can even measure the quickening of an atom's ‘pulse’ as it flies past a surface.
Cells have many ways of coping with damage to their DNA, but how are these all coordinated? It seems that BID — a regulator of programmed cell death — stands at the crossroads of several damage-response pathways.
Black holes cannot yet be seen directly, but their influence on surrounding stars is allowing them to be identified with increasing certainty. That those stars are there to be influenced, though, raises other questions.
A comparison of two fruitfly genomes shows that much of their non-coding DNA is controlled by either negative or positive selection, dealing a double blow to the neutral theory of molecular evolution.
DNA microarrays are diversifying in new directions, including in vitro diagnostics. Diane Gershon takes a look at what's around the corner for microarray applications.
Whatever title is afforded today's practitioners of molecular genetics, one thing is certain — success hinges on having a wide set of skills. Ricki Lewis reports.