As disease resistance to antibiotics and other drugs continues to build, even new methods of discovery such as combinatorial chemistry may not be able to meet the ever-increasing need for more efficient and more effective compounds. According to a core group of researchers, however, an untapped reservoir of powerful new medicines is in the oceans. In fact, so rich is life in the oceans that some seafaring scientists go so far as to say the greatest bounty in the medicine chest of the new millen

It's a simple but haunting question: Can microgravity influence gene expression? Yes, according to a recent study of human cells conducted aboard NASA's space shuttle. In fact, the results are so promising that the investigators believe their continuing research could lead to better toxicology tests, key elements of tissue engineering, and new treatments for various diseases--while broadening the scope of scientific experimentation. Astronaut Katherine P. Hire works with the bioreader system

Neuronal precursors from a particular region of the ventral forebrain--the medial ganglionic eminence (MGE)--are capable of migrating extensively in both the embryonic and adult brain and differentiating into neurons in several brain regions, researchers at Rockefeller University reported recently. The study adds more evidence to the viability of cell transplantation as a treatment for neurogenerative disorders and brain damage.1 "We are for the first time identifying a new population of cells

During the last 100 years of oceanographic research, scientists have discovered the critical role oceans play in human lives. Yet only a glimpse is available today of the vast, untapped resources and diverse forms of life in oceans. That is about to change, some scientists say. The first steps have been taken to establish a monitoring system in oceans and eventually develop a central "clearinghouse" to store research data culled from life and physical scientists' efforts, so that researchers t

INTRAFLAGELLAR TRANSPORT Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have for the first time seen a motor protein moving cargo during intracellular transport in a living organism. "This provides a potentially very exciting assay for studying motor proteins generally in vivo," says Jonathan M. Scholey, senior author of the study published recently in Nature (J.T. Orozco et al., "Movement of motor and cargo along cilia," Nature, 398:674, April 22, 1999). Using fluorescence microscopy, Sch

Studies are slowly restarting at the Veterans Administration Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System (VAGLAHS) after an unprecedented suspension of research last March 26.1 Investigators, meanwhile, are dealing with the fallout, and many are waiting to learn the fates of their protocols. They're also struggling still to understand why such drastic action was taken because of administrative failures. "We're all ... amazed this could happen, and I think all of us feel we're being blamed for what is

MAD LEMURS A study of lemurs infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), clarifies the pathogenesis of the abnormal proteinase-resistant protein (PrP) or "prion" protein now thought to cause encephalopathic diseases. Also, more zoo animals could have the disease than previously thought (N. Bons et al., "Natural and experimental oral infection of nonhuman primates by bovine spongiform encephalopathy agents," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 96:4046-51, March 30, 1999)

It may not be much longer before an oral medication for multiple sclerosis (MS) hits the market. Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, have reported1 successfully treating animals with an oral preparation of glatiramer acetate, also known as Copolymer 1 (Cop1). Moreover, a Phase I trial in humans conducted last summer in France showed that it is safe and well tolerated, according to multiple sources familiar with the unpublished results. Multiple sclerosis--which

Anger, uncertainty, and confusion followed in the wake of the unprecedented suspension of research March 26 at the Veterans Administration Greater Los Angeles Health Care System (VAGLAHS), the largest center of its kind in the country. "Everything has come to a screeching halt," said VAGLAHS spokeswoman Marianne Davis, who estimated some 1,200 protocols and hundreds of researchers were stopped in their tracks. The order--which applies to the five Los Angeles-area facilities and seven outpatien

Mars' "Happy Face" crater On March 4--as the Mars Global Surveyor was locking into the red planet's orbit to begin its mapping mission, and two other spacecraft were hurtling toward Mars on other investigative missions--a multidisciplinary group of scientists, along with teachers, artists, writers, and a theologian, gathered to contemplate the Big Picture. During a long weekend in California's Silicon Valley, an estimated 200 people discussed, listened, and watched as future possibilities and p

Editor's Note: The news items on this page all originated from the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif., Jan. 21-26. Mars: Future homestead? NASA's Astrobiology Institute revealed its definition of astrobiology and a road map of research directions, about six months after its inaugural gathering.1 "Astrobiology is the study of life in the universe, an attempt to answer some of the fundamental questions that have been with us for a long time--ho

Above is a confocal image of new neurons in the dentate gyrus of the macaque monkey. Collaborators at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., and the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Goteborg, Sweden, under the direction of Salk professor Fred H. Gage, recently reported newly formed neurons in the hippocampi of adult humans.1,2 The announcement that neurogenesis-- through which new neurons live and die in the brain well into the later years of adulthood--has been disco