You should definitively check out the last news item about gene therapy and parkinson; it's really encouraging for further applications of the technology, and not only for Parkinson. After the fiasco some years ago (where a patient died after gene therapy), gene therapy needs every good news it can get.

• Female bats keep it in the family
• Suicide Among Male Prisoners 5 Times That of General Population
• Lethal amphibian fungus 'in UK'
• Zimbabwe and China in tiger deal
• U.N.: Antarctic ozone hole nears record size
• Serpent first: egg-laying snakes care for young
• Hunting threat to big amphibians

Investigators report safety findings and statistically significant improvements in clinical measures of movement, PET Scans at 19th Annual Symposia on the Etiology, Pathogenesis and Treatment of Parkinson's Disease and Other Movement DisordersNeurologix's Phase I trial showed positive interim results in patients with Parkinson's disease. One year following treatment, patients exhibited a statistically significant improvement in motor function on the side of their body correlating to the treated part of the brain. Further, PET scans at one year revealed that the treated side of the brain exhibited a statistically significant decrease in abnormal metabolism, results considered similar to those achieved with STN Deep Brain Stimulation.

The US military wants to buy large quantities of anthrax, in a controversial move that is likely to raise questions over its commitment to treaties designed to limit the spread of biological weapons.

Use of minuscule devices to spot cancer markers could lead to ultra-powerful new diagnostics

Harvard University researchers have found that molecular markers indicating the presence of cancer in the body are readily detected in blood scanned by special arrays of silicon nanowires -- even when these cancer markers constitute only one hundred-billionth of the protein present in a drop of blood. In addition to this exceptional accuracy and sensitivity, the minuscule devices also promise to pinpoint the exact type of cancer present with a speed not currently available to clinicians.

One of the remaining challenges for evolutionary developmental studies of mammals, whose evolution is best known from their teeth, is how their tooth shape is altered during development. Researchers of the University of Helsinki together with their Japanese colleagues from the University of Kioto now propose a 'balance of induction' mechanism directing the placement of tooth shape features called cusps. Position and shape of cusps determine whether a tooth shape belongs to human or mouse, for example. Whereas developmental initiation of cusp formation is known to involve several developmental genes at the places of future cusps, it has remained unknown how cusps form at the right places.

This image shows P-bodies, in red, surrounding the nucleus of a human tumor cell. The red color indicates that the P-bodies contain the protein RCK. Photo credit: John Bloom.Cells can reuse the chemical messengers that carry genetic information to the machinery that makes proteins. Sometimes cells shuttle the messengers to storage and later reactivate them to make proteins, according to new research.

Neuralgic Amyotrophy is a painful disorder of the peripheral nervous system. This heritable disease causes prolonged acute attacks of pain in the shoulder or arm, followed by temporary paralysis. Researchers from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) connected to the University of Antwerp, have uncovered a small piece of the molecular puzzle of this disease by identifying the defects in the gene responsible for this disorder.

As Hurricane Rita entered the Gulf of Mexico, ESA's Envisat satellite's radar was able to pierce through swirling clouds to directly show how the storm churns the sea surface. This image has then been used to derive Rita's wind field speeds.

Daily multispectral observations from Envisat's MERIS sensor are being combined with a sophisticated processing algorithm and powerful Grid computing to reveal global photosynthesis activity on land. This permits researchers to trace the state of health of terrestrial plant cover, identifying areas under stress and assessing damage from drought or fires.