Concern over teen suicides extends flu-drug probe

Japan is widening its investigation into whether certain influenza drugs could have dangerous side effects, including psychiatric problems and suicidal tendencies, in certain groups of people.

In March, the Japanese health ministry advised doctors that they should not prescribe teenagers the flu drug Tamiflu (oseltamivir) — made by Roche — after reports of some young people on the drug throwing themselves from buildings (see Nature 446, 358–359; doi:10.1038/446358a 2007). Last week, the health ministry said that it would also look into the flu drugs Relenza (zanamivir) — made by GlaxoSmithKline — and amantadine.

A study that ended in 2006 flagged up all three drugs for their potential side effects, but found no clear evidence that Tamiflu was to blame for the teenagers' abnormal behaviour. The latest investigation is expected to report its results by this winter's flu season.

Power cut endangers marine lab experiments

An island research lab off the coast of California scrambled to save a number of marine experiments earlier this month because it had no back-up generators when an unexpected wildfire shut down power.

The Wrigley Marine Science Center, on Catalina Island about 30 kilometres from Los Angeles, lost power shortly after the 10 May brush fire burned down power poles. Operated by the University of Southern California, the centre's biggest loss was about 100 million oyster larvae, which were being used in a genomics study to examine gene expression in various environments. With power out, electrical seawater pumps could not be operated, so the larvae were put to sea.

Staff members imported boatloads of dry ice to save a decade's worth of frozen specimens.

US gives green light to rice with breast-milk proteins

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved one of the first large-scale plantings of a food crop genetically modified to contain human proteins. The crop will be planted in Kansas.

Ventria Bioscience in Sacramento, California, has made strains of rice that produce proteins found in breast milk — lysozyme, lactoferrin and human serum albumin. Ventria says it aims to use the rice to make drinks that can combat diarrhoea, and dietary supplements to treat anaemia.

The USDA approved the crop after receiving 29 positive comments from the public and 20,005 negative ones. In the end, the department decided that fears the rice would escape into the environment or the food supply were not warranted.

Telescope on a plane takes to the skies — at last

Airborne observatory SOFIA is several years late. Credit: C. THOMAS/NASA

After years of being grounded by budgetary delays, the US/German Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is getting airborne at last.

The 2.5-metre telescope is mounted aboard a Boeing 747 that will fly above atmospheric water vapour. NASA rededicated the plane, the Clipper Lindbergh, on 21 May, the eightieth anniversary of Charles Lindbergh's solo flight across the Atlantic.

In the past month SOFIA has successfully completed its first two test flights, says Eric Becklin, chief scientist for the project at the Universities Space Research Association, the Columbia, Maryland-based nonprofit organization overseeing the project.

SOFIA, which cost US$700 million, will soon move from Waco, Texas, where it was built, to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California, for further tests. It is expected to make its first science observations in early 2009.

Creationist museum to open in Kentucky

American families looking for an educational activity this summer could find themselves lured into the newest and splashiest museum in Petersburg, Kentucky — a $27 million Creation Museum.

Minister Ken Ham and his Answers in Genesis group say they built the museum as a counterpoint to traditional science and natural-history museums. Exhibits include baby Tyrannosaurus playing with human children, and a reproduction of part of the Grand Canyon, explained as being formed by Noah's flood.

There is a Museum of Creation and Earth History in Southern California, but the Kentucky museum is larger and expects to draw families on themed outings.

Protesters are planning a 'Rally for Reason' at the museum's 28 May opening. Science advocates have complained, saying the museum misrepresents scientific understanding of Earth history.

Virtual journey to the centre of the Earth

The Earth Simulator Center in Yokohama, Japan, has a new attraction along with its supercomputer: a mini-theatre that will allow scientists to interact with data in three dimensions.

The theatre extends the experience of working with complex dynamic systems. “You can place a massless virtual dust particle in the middle of a typhoon and watch what happens to it in the same way that a golf player drops grass to test the wind,” says Akira Kageyama, a simulation specialist at the centre. He hopes the facility will open to all Earth Simulator users in the near future.

Visitors have been known to duck to avoid oncoming objects thrown by a virtual typhoon or even to run into the walls while viewing the inside of Earth's core.