Top science journal to print stem cell retraction

Science is to publish the most prominent retraction in its long and distinguished history. The Washington-based journal said on Friday it had obtained signed agreement from all 23 South Korean co-authors to withdraw the landmark paper on therapeutic cloning published in May under the leadership of Hwang Woo-suk. For more information.

Trend Of Earlier Puberty Continues Among US Girls

The age at which girls in the U.S.A. reach puberty is continuing to dip, with heavier weights and changing national demographics playing important roles, according to a new study. Research over the years has documented a gradual decline in the average age at which U.S. girls have their first menstrual period - from the age of 12.75 in the 1960s to about 12.5 in the early 1990s. The new findings, published in the Journal of Pediatrics, show that the trend has continued. National data for the years 1999 through 2002 put the average age at menarche - the first menstrual period - at just over 12.3 years, researchers at Tufts University in Boston found. For more information.

South Korean Stem-Cell Researcher Resigns

South Korean researcher Hwang Woo-suk resigned from his university on Friday after the school said he fabricated stem-cell research that had raised hopes of new cures for hard-to-treat diseases. A university panel, releasing initial findings of a probe, accused Hwang of damaging the scientific community with his deception, while South Korea's government rued the scandal surrounding the country's star scientist and said it may pull its funding for his research. For more information.

Scientists Discover New Skin Color Gene

A team at Penn State University has found just one tiny change in a key gene plays a major role in determining skin pigmentation. The finding, published in Science, may help explain why people of European descent have lighter skin than those from Africa. Potentially, it may also lead to the development of new ways to modify skin colour without damaging it by tanning or using harsh chemical lighteners. For more information.

Mona Lisa's Smile 83 Percent Happy

A computer has been used to decipher the enigmatic smile of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, concluding that she was mainly happy. The painting was analysed by a University of Amsterdam computer using "emotion recognition" software. It concluded that the subject was 83% happy, 9% disgusted, 6% fearful and 2% angry. For more information at BBC or AP.

South Korea Stem Cell Success 'Faked'

A doctor who provided human eggs for research by cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-suk said in a broadcast Thursday that the South Korean scientist agreed to withdraw a key research paper because most of the stem cells produced for the article were faked. Roh Sung-il, chairman of the board at Mizmedi Hospital, told KBS television that Hwang had agreed to ask the journal Science to withdraw the paper, published in June to international acclaim. For more information.

Engineered Stem Cells Help Deliver Drugs Into The Brain

One of the great challenges for treating Parkinson's diseases and other neurodegenerative disorders is getting medicine to the right place in the brain. The brain is a complex organ with many different types of cells and structures, and it is fortified with a protective barrier erected by blood vessels and glial cells -- the brain's structural building blocks -- that effectively blocks the delivery of most drugs from the bloodstream. But now scientists have found a new way to sneak drugs past the blood-brain barrier by engineering and implanting progenitor brain cells derived from stem cells to produce and deliver a critical growth factor that has already shown clinical promise for treating Parkinson's disease. For more information.

NIH Launches Cancer Genome Project

Genetic Mapping Could Revolutionize Treatment and Prevention, Health Officials Say. Federal health officials yesterday launched the biggest genetic research endeavor since the landmark human genome project: an ambitious effort to categorize all of the hundreds of molecular glitches that turn normal healthy cells into cancers. The Cancer Genome Atlas, whose total cost could reach $1 billion or more, will for the first time direct the full force of today's sophisticated genetic technologies to the thorough understanding of a single disease -- one that will eventually strike nearly half of all Americans alive. For more information.

Mice Created With Human Brain Cells

Add another creation to the strange scientific menagerie where animal species are being mixed together in ever more exotic combinations. Scientists announced Monday that they had created mice with small amounts of human brain cells in an effort to make realistic models of neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease. Led by Fred Gage of the Salk Institute in San Diego, the researchers created the mice by injecting about 100,000 human embryonic stem cells per mouse into the brains of 14-day-old rodent fetuses. Those mice were each born with about 0.1 percent of human cells in each of their heads, a trace amount that doesn't remotely come close to "humanizing" the rodents. For more information.

Scientists Discover New Cellular Structures
Researchers say they've identified tiny structures that may prepare the groundwork for how new cells form and function. These cellular structures, called GW bodies, play an important role in gene regulation (RNA interference), according to a team from the University of Florida, Gainesville. The discovery marks a major shift in the understanding of cell biology, and could aid the development of treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases. It might also improve gene therapy, the researchers say. GW bodies are located in the jelly-like cytoplasm that surrounds the nucleus, and appear to help regulate genetic material called microRNA. MicroRNA typically switch genes off to control cell reproduction and development, but the Florida team found this process functioned poorly when GW bodies were absent. The study appears in the online issue of Nature Cell Biology. For more information.

Baby, you make my "love molecule" soar

ROME (Reuters) - Your heartbeat accelerates, you have butterflies in the stomach, you feel euphoric and a bit silly. It's all part of falling passionately in love -- and scientists now tell us the feeling won't last more than a year. The powerful emotions that bowl over new lovers are triggered by a molecule known as nerve growth factor (NGF), according to Pavia University researchers. The Italian scientists found far higher levels of NGF in the blood of 58 people who had recently fallen madly in love than in that of a group of singles and people in long-term relationships. But after a year with the same lover, the quantity of the 'love molecule' in their blood had fallen to the same level as that of the other groups. The Italian researchers, publishing their study in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, said it was not clear how falling in love triggers higher levels of NGF, but the molecule clearly has an important role in the "social chemistry" between people at the start of a relationship. For more discussion.

Big brain means small testes

The brainier male bats are, the smaller their testicles, according to a new study. Researchers suggest the correlation exists because both organs require a lot of energy to grow and maintain, leading individual species to find the optimum balance. The analysis of 334 species of bat found that in species where the females were promiscuous, the males had evolved larger testes but had relatively small brains. In species, where the females were monogamous, the situation was reversed. Male fidelity appeared to have no influence over testes or brain size. Both brain tissue and sperm cells require a lot of metabolic energy to produce and maintain. The different species appear to have evolved a preference for developing one organ more than the other, presumably determined by which will help them produce more offspring. “An extraordinary range of testes mass was documented across bat species - from 0.12% to 8.4% of body mass. That exceeds the range of any other mammalian order,” says Scott Pitnick, from Syracuse University in New York, US, one of the research team. Primate testes vary between species from 0.02% and 0.75% of body mass. For more information.