A gene variant associated with mental illness goes hand-in-hand with enlargement of a brain region that handles negative emotions, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System have found.

Scientists from Max Planck Institute (Germany) and the ESRF have just discovered the way deformation at the nanoscale takes place in a bone by studying it with the synchrotron X-rays. This study explains the enor-mous stability and deformability of bones. The hierarchical structure of bones makes them able to sustain large strains without breaking, de-spite being made of essentially rigid units at the molecular level. The re-sults are published this week in the PNAS online edition.

Using a radically new strategy featuring radioactive "guided missiles," researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have successfully targeted and destroyed human immune cells infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

The ocean is full of life--large, small, and microscopic. Bacteriophage (phage) viruses are minute, self-replicating bundles that alter microorganisms' genetic material and moderate their communities through predation and parasitism. Despite their small size, they are astoundingly abundant with about as many of them in a bucket full of seawater as there are humans on the planet. As a result, they can have a huge impact ecologically.

We have often heard that a new male contraceptive is "five to ten years" away. But are we getting any closer? The answer may finally be "yes." This week marked the announcement of one hot new lead and one dead end.

A research team at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) has discovered a new route for the transport of proteins in plant cells, a discovery that will enable the biotechnological design of plant factories. Amongst other applications, these can be used to produce oral vaccines which, upon being ingested, will be able to immunise against diseases. Moreover, this discovery opens the door to the design of protein-manufacturing plants of great interest therapeutically and in the development of vaccine antigens.

Styracosaurus skull A "spectacular beast" is coming back to its original stomping grounds and making a new home at the University of Alberta--a coup that will allow its researchers to study the rare dinosaur skull up close.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could become a valuable tool for predicting the risk of muscle injury during and following radiation therapy, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Biologists have learned where and how some plant seeds store iron, a valuable discovery for scientists working to improve the iron content of plants. Their research helps address the worldwide problem of iron deficiency and malnutrition in humans.

Now that the Protein Structure Initiative (PSI) has established efficient pipelines for determining the three-dimensional shapes of proteins, it is creating new mechanisms for sharing the resources it has developed with the scientific community.

Patients with lung cancer that has spread to mediastinal lymph nodes – located between the chest, breastbone and spine – who receive radiation after surgery and chemotherapy live twice as long as patients who do not receive radiation after surgery, according to a study presented at the plenary session November 6, 2006, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 48th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.