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LONDON The UK's National Health Service (NHS) has launched a pilot version of an online library that will provide health care professionals with the knowledge and know-how to support health care decisions. With the stated aim of becoming of becoming "one of the greatest libraries of the world," the National electronic Library for Health (NeLH) will provide fast access to the latest thinking in health care services but will also act as a filter to ensure the reliability of the information it lin

British Members of Parliament have voted in favour of allowing therapeutic cloning.

Since 1997 the US FDA has banned use of 11 prescription drugs because of serious side effects. The FDA says it's not the drug approval process but inappropriate prescribing that is responsible.

magazine's 'Person of the Year'.

The British parliament is to vote on Tuesday 19 December on whether to allow research into stem cell technology to be extended beyond its current boundaries.

Donald Kennedy.

Courtesy of William Ghiorse (2 Termononaspora images) and Margie Romine (Sphingomonas image)The two images at left are of Termononaspora fusca.Right: Sphingomonas aromaticivorans Be forewarned. Visitors to Walnut Creek, Calif., may want to leave their pets at home to keep them from becoming fodder for gene sequencers. The Joint Genome Institute (JGI) at Walnut Creek, genome central for the U.S. Department of Energy, is one of the largest sequencing operations in the world, where "it turns out it

Right to left (standing): Arnold Thackray, president of the Chemical Heritage Foundation; historian of science Tore Frängsmyer of Uppsala University; Alan MacDiarmid (2000 Nobel laureate in chemistry); Joseph Miller of DuPont; historian of science Everett Mendelsohn of Harvard University; Max Perutz (1962); Dudley Herschbach (1986); Rudolph Marcus (1992); and Harold Kroto (1996). Seated: Jerome Karle (1985) and Roald Hoffman (1981). Alfred Nobel, the reclusive inventor of dynamite, probably

Luis Fermin Tenorio, the last polio case in the Western hemisphere The goal to eradicate polio by the end of 2000 remains elusive, and the amount of time left in this month won't change that. On Sept. 27, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rotary International, UNICEF, and various private donors announced at the Polio Partners Summit held at the United Nations that they are joining forces to intensify the eradication campaign, with a new deadline

Next Up for Gene Sequencing: Zebrafish Sequencing of the zebrafish genome will aid annotation of the human genome and facilitate gene identification. Already a widely used genetics animal model, the zebrafish will soon join the ranks of organisms whose genomes have been sequenced, thus boosting the popular aquarium pet's research value even more. The Sanger Centre of Cambridge, U.K., announced on Nov. 21 that it would head zebrafish-sequencing efforts, scheduled to begin in February or March o

Eyewire © 2000 Harkening back to mid-18th century science, Clay M. Armstrong, professor of physiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, tied his ground-breaking research on the ion-channel gating mechanism to Ben Franklin's famous kite and key theories as he accepted the 2000 John Scott Award on Nov. 17. The award's advisory committee also recognized Adriaan Bax for his development of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy applications and Mary-Dell Chilton for her rese

HOUSTON A variety of motives are behind several recent drug company announcements of donations of HIV/AIDS drugs to African countries. Certainly, something needs to be done to control existing cases of HIV/AIDS, in addition to the lifestyle changes that would reduce the number of new AIDS cases. By the end of this year, 36.1 million people will be living with HIV or AIDS, according to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO).WHO and UNAIDS res