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

Total news: 144
Last news: January 2, 2009 22:02:36

Total news: 19
Last news: December 17, 2008 13:09:13

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).

"Визз Эйр Украина" объявила об открытии с 5 января 2009 г. международного рейса по маршруту Киев (Борисполь) - Осло (Торп). На данный момент это будет единственный авиаперелет, соединяющий Украину и Норвегию, сообщает пресс-служба компании.

Планируете покататься на лыжах в Европе? Как говорят ветераны европейских лыжных курортов, можете и не рассчитывать на снег на большинстве из них до Нового года, пока снежные бури не исправят положение.

Many scientists who got their first grant in the 1950s or 1960s are still going strong. How do they view affirmative action for first-time grantees?

Author: Jocelyn Kaiser - [Read more]

It takes more than one gene, or even a few genes, to make a personality trait. But which ones?

Author: Constance Holden - [Read more]

Author: Constance Holden - [Read more]

How the stock market turmoil, a credit crunch, and a recession will affect scientific research is an urgent question. Among the first to feel the slowdown are charitable foundations and other philanthropies, which provide billions of dollars in funding to scientists each year.

Author: Jennifer Couzin - [Read more]

This region of chromosome 17 has had a storied history, with changes in its DNA of import to human evolution and disease.

Author: Elizabeth Pennisi - [Read more]

A recent meeting on neural prosthetics provided an update on progress and some interesting digressions.

Author: Greg Miller - [Read more]

A 1.2-meter-long chunk of stalagmite from a cave in northern China recorded the waning of Asian monsoon rains that helped bring down the Tang dynasty in 907 C.E., researchers report on page 940 of this weeks issue of Science. A possible culprit, they conclude: a temporary weakening of the sun, which also seems to have contributed to the collapse of Maya civilization in Mesoamerica and the advance of glaciers in the Alps.l warming.

Author: Richard A. Kerr - [Read more]

This week, three reports describe the first African, the first Asian, and the first cancer patient to have their entire DNA deciphered. The sequences provide clues about genome variation and disease; they also demonstrate the potential of a relatively new sequencing technique to mass-produce human genomes.

Author: Elizabeth Pennisi - [Read more]

At a meeting last week, about 40 scientists and ethicists debated how to present the torrent of new findings from gene sequencing studies to the public without using the "fraught" terminology of race.

Author: Constance Holden - [Read more]

An international body has for the first time placed restrictions on experiments designed to fertilize large swaths of the worlds oceans with a view to combating global warming.

Author: Eli Kintisch - [Read more]

Last week on his final day as director of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Elias Zerhouni formalized his policy that since 2007 had set a floor--a numerical quota--for the number of awards made to new investigators.

Author: Jocelyn Kaiser - [Read more]

Когда я только приехал в Таиланд, я еще не представлял, что это за страна такая. Почему-то Бангкок мне напоминал Индию, а люди, на мой взгляд, должны были быть дружественными и мягкими. На самом деле эту страну третьего мира отличает постоянная занятость, суматоха и беготня. Погода во время моего пребывания была столь жаркая, что я долго удивлялся как я смог провести шесть недель в Индии. У вас не получится пройтись по городу, держа руки в кармане. А кто будет обмахиваться газеткой?

At the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting, a group presented the most sophisticated evidence yet that the nasal passages within the crests of lambeosaurs were used for vocalizing, not smelling.

Author: Erik Stokstad - [Read more]

At the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting, researchers presented a single bone, the thighbone of an ancient australopithecine from Galili, Ethiopia, that may add an interesting piece to the puzzle of how our famed ancestor "Lucys" two-legged gait evolved.

Author: Elizabeth Culotta - [Read more]

Snapshots from the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting include the earliest tree-climber, a dinosaur-cruncher, and evidence that dinosaurs were struck down in their prime and that dinosaurs of at least one species were picky eaters as children.

Author: Erik Stokstad - [Read more]

Thirty years ago, Deng Xiaoping opened China to the world and brought scientists in from the cold. As researchers celebrate, some warn that the community still has major problems that need to be solved.

Author: Hao Xin - [Read more]