Summaries of this week's top stories, from Science Magazine

Total news: 87
Last news: November 22, 2008 03:13:36

Total news: 14
Last news: November 12, 2008 12:21:54

In the late 1980s, communist dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu sought to demolish the Institute of Cellular Biology and Pathology (ICBP) to make way for his "House of the People." Then came the Christmas revolution of 1989. Ceauşescu didnt survive; ICBP did.

Author: Martin Enserink - [Read more]

A string of successful missions had the European Space Agency riding high and making ambitious plans, but the worldwide financial downturn may bring it back to Earth.

Author: Daniel Clery - [Read more]

The caterpillar-hijacking fungus Cordyceps sinensis is touted as a natural Viagra. But overharvesting has put the peculiar parasites back against the wall.

Author: Richard Stone - [Read more]

A small association of Romanian scientists, many of them working abroad, is fed up with the slow pace of reforms in their country. And politicians are paying attention.

Author: Martin Enserink - [Read more]

In addition to helping to close the divide between the research capabilities of the northern and southern hemispheres, the 871-member Academy of Sciences for the Developing World is now focusing on another divide: the widening gap between the Souths scientific haves and have-nots.

Author: Robert Koenig - [Read more]

Systems biologists describe online in Science this week how fluorescent markers and a time-lapse microscope have allowed them an unprecedented view of the fluctuating locations and levels of about 1000 proteins in individual human cancer cells.

Author: Jocelyn Kaiser - [Read more]

Even those who believe theres plenty of oil left in the ground to meet rising demand are warning that the final crisis could come uncomfortably soon.

Author: Richard A. Kerr - [Read more]

A recent slowdown in the processing of U.S. visas for foreign scientists and some seemingly arbitrary visa denials have prompted a fresh look at how to streamline the process.

Author: Richard Stone - [Read more]

An unexpected abundance of high-energy electrons from space could be evidence of particles of dark matter--the weighty and mysterious stuff whose gravity holds the galaxies together. But if the sightings really do point to dark matter, then physicists may have to revise their ideas about what the stuff is.

Author: Adrian Cho - [Read more]

On 7 November, the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria voted to adopt a new financing system aimed at bringing the best malaria drugs at rock-bottom prices to the local private-sector stores where most Africans buy their drugs--by letting the market do the work.

Author: Martin Enserink - [Read more]

In a series of cleverly designed experiments reported in a paper published online by Science this week, researchers found that if people see one norm or rule being violated (such as graffiti or a vehicle parked illegally), theyre more likely to violate others--such as littering, or even stealing.

Author: Constance Holden - [Read more]

David Tilman wants to mix it up by growing native grasses for energy. Many agronomists disagree.

Author: Eli Kintisch - [Read more]

The banana is endangered and largely ignored by funding agencies, researchers, and breeders. But things might finally be going its way.

Author: David Grimm - [Read more]

Scientists who hoped for a clear statement of support for evolution from the Catholic Church at a closed-door conference on evolutionary origins held at the Vatican last week went home empty-handed. Others, expecting little, were happy with a dtente between science and faith.

Author: John Bohannon - [Read more]

Some experts are calling the 17,800-person JUPITER trial a huge success in preventing cardiovascular disease and proving the value of c-reactive protein, an indicator of inflammation, as a risk marker for heart disease. The trial comes with a host of caveats, however, muddying the picture of inflammations role in cardiovascular disease.

Author: Jennifer Couzin - [Read more]

Unlike other apes, humans depend on their parents for a long period after weaning. But when--and why--did our long childhood evolve?

Author: Ann Gibbons - [Read more]

U.S. scientists hope that last weeks elections will usher in an era of sustained, healthy increases in the federal funding of basic research. But with yawning deficits and urgent demands on the federal treasury, those increases may not happen anytime soon.

Authors: Constance Holden, Andrew Lawler, Eli Kintisch, Jeffrey Mervis, Erik Stokstad - [Read more]

Democratic science powerbrokers in Congress have retained their seats. But a major reshuffling of Senate committee posts is under way that could affect research and training issues.

Author: Jeffrey Mervis - [Read more]

A proposal released last week by the European Commission would ban the use of great apes in medical experiments, although it does not include a complete prohibition on all research on nonhuman primates, for which many animal-welfare groups had vigorously lobbied.

Author: Gretchen Vogel - [Read more]

В связи с запретом Национального банка Украины (НБУ) проводить расчеты в валюте с нерезидентами за импорт продукции, которая не ввезена на территорию Украины, ситуация на туристическом рынке Украины близка к критической. Об этом говорится в заявлении Ассоциации лидеров турбизнеса Украины (АЛТУ).