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LAND OF OUR FATHERS?© 1998 David L. Brill/Brill AtlantaA westward view of Ethiopia's Middle Awash Valley, from the Central Awash complex near Aramis.In a dusty, barren area in the Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia, about 140 miles northeast of Addis Ababa, lies a place that holds unique renown among paleontologists. Over the eons, seasonal rains have washed out and exposed bits of the past, including a spectacular, if scattered, assemblage of human ancestors. Here, a triangular area, 310 miles

Courtesy of Theoharis TheoharidesRecent research has drawn links between panic disorder and bladder problems of largely unknown origins. A study of 146 families builds on earlier findings that a familial, possibly pleiotropic syndrome that includes panic disorder (PD) and interstitial cystitis (IC) is linked to chromosome 13.1 In a case-controlled study, Columbia University epidemiologist, Myrna Weissman, found that patients with IC and their first-degree relatives also have increased rates of P

© AAAS; E. Pennisi, Science, 295: 1809–11, 2002Wolbachia pipientis is a biological eye opener. This intracellular bacterium that colonizes insects and filarial nematodes kills male hosts but thrives in females, sometimes even influencing sexual determination. The recent completion of the W. pipientis genome reveals another unique quality: A streamlined genome without the loss of mobile elements and junk DNA."This finding was an enormous surprise," says Jonathan Eisen, investigator at

These papers were selected from multiple disciplines from the Faculty of 1000, a Web-based literature awareness tool http://www.facultyof1000.com.N. Sato et al., "Maintenance of pluripotency in human and mouse embryonic stem cells through activation of Wnt signaling by a pharmacological GSK-3-specific inhibitor," Nat Med, 10:55–63, January 2004.Sato and colleagues argue that inhibition of glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3), resulting in activation of the Wnt-signaling pathway, is sufficient

Recently, I cofounded a small business, and my partner and I decided that we needed capital. Since neither of us had the desire or skills to write the mandatory business plan, we hired Howie, a new MBA and my son's friend, to do it for us. We gave Howie some background information and made some guesses about what things would cost and what we would earn. After getting additional background material, Howie devised a business plan that my potential investors say is just fine.Howie could not have d

Program named for father of Green Revolution against backdrop of nations refusing GM foods

British researchers currently denied access to some space-based medical research

Industry watching FDA anxiously as Sandoz fights EMEA ruling on generic growth hormone

Groups protest decision to allow rice engineered to produce human lactoferrin and lysozyme

Roswell leaves following problems at Florida facility; reasons unrelated to funding issues

Max Planck Institute brings together behavioralists and neuroscientists in Leipzig, Germany

A Catholic charity with close links to the Holy See buys oncology lab from Pfizer