Lee Talbot, an environmental science professor at Virginia's George Mason University, has been racing – in a formula car, oval-track sports racer, or vintage roadster – since 1948. At age 73, he shows no signs of slowing down. "I've been winning well over half the events I've entered, and this is against people who are on average 50 years younger than I am!"His wife and two sons travel to North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia to watch him compete in what he describes as an enforced

1. What does it mean to age?More than just annual birthday parties, wrinkles, and gray hairs, aging has two main components: primary aging, which is the natural process of senescence; and secondary aging, due to age-related diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, and macular degeneration.2. What's responsible for aging in humans?Outside of gender (see next question) only 25% of lifespan variability is due to genetics; the rest depends on behavior and the

Exhumations, DNA testing of historical figures draw interest, but ethics are questioned

1. Which databases get a lot of traffic?The three largest International DNA databases are the European Bioinformatics Institute's (EBI) EMBL, the US National Center for Biotechnology Information's (NCBI) GenBank, and the DNA Data Bank of Japan. They rank at the top of the list for traffic, followed by the EBI's Swiss Prot, a protein sequence database, and EnsEMBL, EBI's annotated metazoan genome browser. Filling out the toolbox are the model organism databases (MODs), including WormBase and FlyB

Some criticize move by Dept of Defense to award $240,000 to Lund University researchers

1. What is this powerful tool?Courtesy of Sirna TherapeuticsRNA interference (RNAi) is a type of posttranscriptional genetic regulation that occurs naturally in the cytoplasm to protect the cell against excess and foreign RNAs. Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), an unusual type of nucleic acid encoded in viral genomes and transposable elements, triggers a process that regulates gene expression without touching the genome.2. What do we know about it?Scientists know that RNAi protects the cell against v

Sunbathers at the beach could soon be applying DNA for protection rather than the highest SPF. Researchers led by David Goukassian and Barbara Gilchrest at the Boston University School of Medicine found that topical application of oligonucleotides increases DNA-repair after extensive UV exposure, thus reducing incidence of skin cancer in mice.Goukassian's team applied thymidine dinucleotide (pTT) to hairless mice prone to skin cancer.1 The topical DNA treatment upregulated and activated p53, enh

1. What is a molecular motor?Tom Sephton, http://www.funhousefilms.comIt's any protein that uses chemical energy, specifically ATP hydrolysis, to produce physical force.2. How many types of motors are there?Proteins that transport molecules and vesicles along the cytoskeleton; enzymes involved in DNA strand separation and replication, such as helicases, gyrases, and topoisomerases; and ATPases that move ions and large organic molecules across membrances are all motor proteins. Their genes have t

© 2004 AACRBacterially induced gut cancers may solidify the role of oxidative stress in tumorigenesis. Medical oncologist Fong-Fong Chu and colleagues at City of Hope's Beckman Research Institute, Duarte, Calif., found that mice missing the glutathione peroxi-dase genes Gpx1 and Gpx2 are more likely to get intestinal cancer if exposed to bacteria, including Helicobacter hepaticus.1Both genes protect organisms from oxidative stress, strengthening the belief, says Chu, that such stress can le

Scientific groups angry at loss of Elizabeth Blackburn from group considering stem cells

What is intellectual property?It's any product of the human mind that has commercial value. This can include literary works or a concept for a new tool; for life scientists, this may mean a lab technique or a new small molecule. The courts protect intellectual property with patents and copyrights.If I'm listed as the inventor on a patent, does that mean I own it?No, in most cases the inventor's institution – be it a private company, university, or government-run organization – keeps

Courtesy of Jon Eisenback, NemaPixA new mathematical model is turning the conventional notion of predator-prey relationships on its head. David Brown and colleagues at the University of California, Davis, have shown that prey populations can benefit from a high predator density.1Ecologists previously have shown that predators can have indirect positive effects on their prey through nutrient cycling and mineralization. Brown's group, however, modeled predators' direct positive effects on the prey