The dry, dusty, treeless expanse of Chile's Atacama Desert is the most lifeless spot on the face of the Earth, and that's why Alison Skelley and Richard Mathies joined a team of NASA scientists there earlier this month.

The University of California, Berkeley, scientists knew that if the Mars Organic Analyzer (MOA) they'd built could detect life in that crusty, arid land, then it would have a good chance some day of detecting life on the planet Mars.

Six million children could be saved if $5.1 billion in new resources for preventive and therapeutic interventions were provided each year, according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions. Approximately 90 percent of all child deaths occur in 42 countries around the world. In those countries, the average cost per child saved would be $887 or $1.23 per capita. With the recent publication of the potential impact of proven interventions that are feasible to deliver in low-income settings to children younger than age 5 years, this is the first time the global cost of implementing child survival programs could be estimated. The study is published in the June 25, 2005, issue of The Lancet.

A new method for manipulating macromolecules has been developed by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The technique uses double-stranded DNA to direct the behavior of other molecules.

In previous DNA nanotechnology efforts, duplex DNA has been used as a static lattice to construct geometrical objects in three dimensions. Instead of manipulating DNA alone into such shapes, the researchers are using DNA to control the folding and resulting structure of RNA. Eventually, they envision building supramolecular machines whose inner workings are governed by twisted strands of DNA.

For the first time, an environmentally friendly weapon against Desert Locusts has been successfully tested under large-scale field conditions, FAO said today.

During a field trial organized jointly by the plant protection authorities of Algeria and FAO near El Oued in eastern Algeria, the biopesticide, called Green Muscle®, was sprayed on more than 1 400 hectares of land infested by Desert Locust larvae. Locusts were clearly weakened and started moving slowly after four days and were then eaten by birds, lizards and ants.

According to a new study the amount of money spent treating obesity-related health problems in the U.S. has increased tenfold over 15 years.

Eighty-eight percent of women rely on their healthcare providers to learn about gynecological issues, yet only 19 percent said their doctor has talked to them about cervical cancer and its cause - the human papillomavirus (HPV) - according to a new survey released by the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP). HPV is extremely common, affecting an estimated 80 percent of sexually active adults in their lifetime, in some cases staying dormant until years after the initial infection. Yet few are talking about the relationship between HPV and cervical cancer despite the fact that advanced screening is available, which can detect the virus early and help prevent cervical cancer.

Johns Hopkins infectious disease specialists who have spent more than two decades leading efforts to combat HIV and AIDS worldwide are warning that limited international relief supplies of antiretroviral therapies currently being distributed in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean will not get to those who can least afford to pay for them.

Researchers in the area of Vegetable Production Vegetal of the Department of Agricultural Production at the Public University of Navarra have been awarded the prize for the best research in the area of viticulture. The presentation took place at the V Iberian Congress of Horticultural Science recently held in Oporto (Portugal). The awarded work, entitled "Recovery of photosynthetic activity in 4 grape varieties after a hydric stress event", studied the response to the hydric stress event of the grape, in order to enable suitable land irrigation policies to be made and actions carried out while taking into account the peculiarities of each variety.