From: Patrick Wilken (patrickw@cs.monash.edu.au)
Date: Mon May 05 1997 - 05:33:52 MDT
I just joined the Science-News list and thought it might be of some
interest to people on this list. The first summary I received seemed to
have several issues of interest to those on this list. If anyone knows the
background of the list I'd be interested.
I've attached this weeks mailout so people can assess it to see whether it
before joining.
best, patrick
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SCIENCE-NEWS via prismx@earthlink.net A Weekly Digest
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The SCIENCE-NEWS List
A Weekly Digest of Science News
May 1, 1997
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"Science keeps moving us away from the Apes.
Of course, if one wants to be an ape, one
objects to the movement."
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Reported in this Issue:
NASA Abandons Monkey Space Experiment
Nader Group Calls AIDS Trials Unethical
Chinese Scientists Have Success Predicting Earthquakes
Catalytic Component of Telomerase Apparently Identified
New Controversy Over Origin of Gamma Ray Bursts
Claim of a Cosmic Axis Disputed
Possible Function for Breast Cancer Genes Identified
New Vaccines Reported for Urinary Tract Infections
Supposed Cancer Gene Appears in Development
A Novel Class of Molecular Crystals
Development of a Single-Electron Transistor Microscope
Neurogenesis Observed in Postnatal Spinal Cord
Continuous in Vitro Evolution of Catalytic Function
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NASA ABANDONS MONKEY SPACE EXPERIMENT
Following pressure from animal-rights advocates and their
political allies, NASA has announced it will abandon the Bion
life sciences project undertaken with Russia and France that
tests the effects of weightlessness on monkeys in space. A death
of one of the monkeys in January apparently provoked the review
and decision to eliminate the program.
NADER GROUP CALLS AIDS TRIALS UNETHICAL
Ralph Nader's Public Citizen's Organization has charged that
international AIDS therapy trials in developing countries are
unethical. The basis of the accusation is that patients given
placebos rather than the drug AZT are compromised by not re-
ceiving the most effective treatment for the disease. Health
officials state that on the contrary the studies are ethical
and are vital for international treatment of the AIDS epidemic.
Nader held a press conference on 22 April.
CHINESE SCIENTISTS HAVE SUCCESS PREDICTING EARTHQUAKES
Earthquakes in a region occur either in isolation or in groups.
Chinese seismologists have now reported success in imminent
prediction of earthquakes that occur in a group. Apparently,
during the past several months, hundreds of thousands of people
were evacuated on short notice in the interior of China,
avoiding many deaths that might have resulted from the
magnitude-6 earthquakes in the region. Western seismologists,
who have not yet seen the data of their Chinese colleagues, are
reserved but are not all skeptical.
CATALYTIC COMPONENT OF TELOMERASE APPARENTLY IDENTIFIED
Telomerase, the enzyme that rebuilds chromosome ends after cell
division, and an enzyme that may play a key role in cancer and
aging, has been under intensive investigation in many
laboratories. J. Lingner, et al, of the University of Colorado
(Boulder CO), the Baylor College of Medicine (Houston TX), and
the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (Heidelberg, Germany)
have now isolated and identified a protein subunit of telomerase
which apparently acts as the catalytic component of the enzyme.
NEW CONTROVERSY OVER ORIGIN OF GAMMA RAY BURSTS
Flashes of gamma rays in outer space, called Gamma Ray Bursts,
are mysterious occurrences whose origins are unresolved.
Astronomers differ as to whether GRBs originate close to our
galaxy or billions of light years away. Now conflicting
interpretations of orbiting earth satellite data and data from
the Hubble Space Telescope have made the controversy even
sharper, with one group reporting their analysis of the data
indicates the source of a recent GRB is in movement. Astronomers
are hopeful further data from the Hubble Space Telescope will
resolve the issue.
CLAIM OF A COSMIC AXIS DISPUTED
The recent claim of a discovered asymmetry in the universe by
Noland (University of Rochester) and Ralston (University of
Kansas) has come under fire from physicists and radio
astronomers. No one has detected a fatal error in the
Noland-Ralston calculations, but critics say their analysis used
old data and ignored much of the more recent observations of
signals from radio galaxies. What everyone agrees upon is that
such asymmetry, if it exists, would overturn much of cosmology,
including Einstein's Theory of Relativity. A consensus appears
to be forming that the supposed asymmetry will vanish once
better data are used for analysis.
POSSIBLE FUNCTION FOR BREAST CANCER GENES IDENTIFIED
BRCA1 and BRCA2 are known breast cancer susceptibility genes,
discovered in 1994 and 1995. Allan Bradley (Baylor College of
Medicine, Houston TX) and Paul Hasty (Lexicon Genetics Inc., The
Woodlands TX) have now reported that a protein made by BRCA2
plays a critical role in cell repair of DNA damage. It has been
thought that both cancer genes are somehow involved in tumor
suppression, but it now appears the role of these genes may be
in producing proteins vital for DNA repair and the suppression
of mutations.
NEW VACCINES REPORTED FOR URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS
Urinary tract infections (UTI) occur in 8.5 million women in the
U.S. each year, and in many millions more women elsewhere. The
culprit is usually the bacterium E. Coli. Researchers at
MedImmune, a Maryland research company, and at Washington
University (St. Louis MO) have reported they have developed a
genetically engineered injectable vaccine that prevents UTI in
mice. Human trials of a vaccine delivered via suppository are
already underway at the University of Wisconsin (Madison WI).
SUPPOSED CANCER GENE APPEARS IN DEVELOPMENT
The gene DCC has been previously implicated in colorectal
cancer, its absence used as a marker in such cancers, and the
prevailing idea has been that it is a tumor suppressor gene
whose absence provokes carcinogenesis. Three independent groups
of researchers are now reporting that DCC plays an important
role in the development of the embryonic nervous system, DCC and
related genes producing receptor proteins that interpret
directional signals used by migrating cells or developing
neurons. DCC, therefore, may not be a cancer gene at all, but
merely a tag-along to an actual tumor suppressor gene.
A NOVEL CLASS OF MOLECULAR CRYSTALS
Victoria A. Russell and her colleagues at the University of
Minnesota report the crystal engineering of molecular sandwiches
with adjustable porosity. The arrays are a new class of
molecular crystals based on two-dimensional hydrogen-bond
networks. The adjustable flexibility of the networks will allow
crystal engineers to design arrays specific for particular guest
molecules.
DEVELOPMENT OF A SINGLE-ELECTRON TRANSISTOR MICROSCOPE
M. J. Yoo (Lucent Technologies, Bell Labs., presently at Philips
Labs.) reports the construction and use of a single-electron
transistor scanning microscope capable of mapping static
electric fields and charges with 100-nanometer spatial
resolution and a charge sensitivity of a small fraction of an
electron. The device should be of significance in determining
the detailed architecture of semiconductor surfaces.
NEUROGENESIS OBSERVED IN POSTNATAL SPINAL CORD
Permanent paralysis resulting from spinal cord injuries is due
to the inability of the adult mammalian spinal cord to replace
damaged neurons. Lois J. Kehl and her colleagues at the
University of Minnesota report the presence of neuronal
precursor cells in rat postnatal spinal cord, such cells
retaining the ability to be transformed into functional neurons.
Results are of importance to therapeutic approaches to
restoration of function in humans with spinal cord injuries.
CONTINUOUS IN VITRO EVOLUTION OF CATALYTIC FUNCTION
Martin C. Wright and Gerald F. Joyce (Scripps Research
Institute) have subjected a population of RNA molecules to
repeated rounds of selective amplification and mutation,
specifically 300 selective rounds in 52 hours. The result was
the evolution of a population of RNA molecules with
substantially improved catalytic power. They report this
continuous in vitro evolution can be perpetuated indefinitely.
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