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If you're a scientist with some spare time to work on extracurricular projects, there's a company that wants to reward you with as much as $100,000.

The way Detlev Ganten, head of Berlin's Charite University Medical Center, tells the story, he was enjoying dinner in early March at the British Embassy in Berlin with a small group of scientists, when the topic of conversation turned to Germany's lack of a National Academy of Sciences.

This time last year, the British research community was fuming over a piece of draft legislation that was, in the general view, a potential disaster for science.

These papers were selected from multiple disciplines from the Faculty of 1000, a Web-based literature awareness tool http://www.facultyof1000.com.S. Cabantous et al., "Protein tagging and detection with engineered self-assembling fragments of green fluorescent protein," Nat Biotechnol, 23:102–7, Jan. 5, 2005.A split [green fluorescent] protein-tagging and detection system was developed that can be easily used in high-throughput screens to obtain soluble, well-folded (recombinant) proteins.

Researchers have moved a step forward in understanding how calorie restriction is linked to lifespan extension in mammals.

according to Dutch and German researchers led by Johannes Hackstein of Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands.

Methylation at regulatory regions, especially promoters, correlates with transcriptional activity: Sequences near silent genes generally are methylated, whereas those near active regions are not.

Microrobots and other miniature machines all have the same problem: Where do you plug them in?

A new nanotech-enabled drug recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration promises to make life a little easier for patients with breast cancer.

In a move to enhance US economic competitiveness, the State Department in February extended the period for visa security clearances for non-US citizens working in "sensitive areas," such as chemistry, pharmacology, and engineering.

A group that represents senior scientists and others at the National Institutes of Health is proposing less restrictive regulations concerning the ownership of stock in drug and biotech companies, and the ability to consult with universities and academic institutions.

Premieres on PBS, April 17.