Mouse has a kinky-waltzer. Drosophila has a bride of sevenless. Yeast has a Wee-1. Gene and protein names often are based on the flamboyant, the descriptive, and the intentionally obscure. For many researchers, naming their discovery may be a rare opportunity to imbue their science with creativity. (See list on page 6 for origins of these names.) NOMEN-CLUTTER: Multiple names for genes and gene products causes confusion, says University of Alberta's Lawrence Puente. But creativity plus

DECOY RECEPTORS: Genentech's Avi Ashkenazi suspects that using ligands to bind to decoy receptors present in healthy cells, but not in cancer cells, could trigger apoptosis in tumors. Scientists studying signal transduction have spent the past several years piecing together the cell's apoptotic machinery-the complex signaling mechanisms that tell damaged cells to commit suicide. The discovery of more signaling proteins and their receptors has given biotechnology companies potential tools to fi

STAGED INVASION: Understanding the role of coreceptors CCR5 and CXCR4 provides a clearer picture of AIDS disease progression, says NIAID's Edward Berger. TAKING AIM: Chemokine receptors provided a fixed target for therapy, while the mutating HIV virus is a moving target, remarks NCI's Stephen J. O'Brien. Increased knowledge about the doorways HIV uses to enter cells has opened up new avenues of inquiry for AIDS researchers. Over the past several years, scientists have discovered several chemo

The mortality rate for prostate cancer is twice as high for African American men as it is for white men. The mortality rate for breast cancer is 1.35 times higher for African American women than for white women. Because of these discrepancies, reported by the National Center for Health Statistics, review panels that make cancer research funding decisions should include more African Americans, contend minority cancer advocates. "Without representation, there's not going to be funding," says W.

Edited by: Paul Smaglik T.P. Leary, A.S. Muerhoff, J.N. Simons, T.J. Pilot-Matias, J.C. Erker, M.L. Chalmers, G.G. Schlauder, G.J. Dawson, S.M. Desai, I.K. Mushahwar, "Sequence and genomic organization of GBV-C: A novel member of the Flaviviridae associated with human non-A-E hepatitis," Journal of Medical Virology, 48:60-7, 1996. (Cited more than 150 times since its publication in January 1996) Comments by Thomas P. Leary and Isa K. Mushahwar, Virus Discovery Group, Abbott Laboratories Inc.,

Edited by: Paul Smaglik H. Duan, A.M. Chinnaiyan, P.L. Hudson, J.P. Wing, W. He, V.M. Dixit, "ICE-LAP3, a novel mammalian homologue of the Caenorhabditis elegans cell death protein ced-3, is activated during Fas- and tumor necrosis factor-induced apoptosis," Journal of Biological Chemistry, 271:1621-5, 1996. (Cited in more than 125 publications since its publication in January 1996)Comments by Vishva M. Dixit, Director of Molecular Oncology, Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, Calif. THE EXE

SEARCHING FOR IDENTITY: USDA Undersecretary Mylie Gonzalez wants to give the agency a higher research profile. Image is everything for federal agencies that compete for a frozen pool of research dollars. Congress associates the National Institutes of Health with cancer cures, the National Science Foundation with sound basic research, and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) with subsidies, according to USDA officials. Although USDA will spend $1.6 billion on basic and applied re

The Kyoto Accord to reduce "greenhouse" gas emissions faces a hazy future in the United States. A host of unresolved political and scientific issues swirls around the tentative plan to curb global warming-including the degree to which greenhouse gases actually affect the environment. Kyoto sets the stage for science, politics, and public opinion to interact on the largest possible scale, and, some would say, at the highest possible stakes. Science's pivotal role is to take on a formidable chall

Edited by: Paul Smaglik DEATH DUEL: One TNF receptor 1 pathway activates apoptosis, another triggers gene expression-roles in seeming opposition, says David Goeddel. H. Hsu, H Shu, M. Pan, D.V. Goeddel, "TRADD-TRAF2 and TRADD-FADD interactions define two distinct TNF receptor 1 signal transduction pathways," Cell, 84:299-308, 1996. (Cited in more than 130 publications through November 1997) Comments by David V. Goeddel, Tularik Inc., San Francisco Two of the most important activities of the

Edited by: Paul Smaglik Z. Liu, H. Hsu, D.V. Goeddel, M. Karin, "Dissection of TNF receptor 1 effector functions: JNK activation is not linked to apoptosis, while NF-[kappa]B activation prevents cell death," Cell, 87:565-76, 1996. (Cited more than 70 times through November 1997) Comments by Michael Karin, Department of Pharmacology, Program in Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego SIGNAL DISSECTION: Michael Karin and colleagues picked apart the steps in

The recipients of the 1997 Nobel Prizes in science, who will receive their awards on December 10, have traveled the vigorous intellectual journey of science. 

Grade-school girls ask fewer questions of their science teachers than their boy classmates do. Young women in high school tend to favor social acceptability over scientific proficiency-even though they have the ability for both. Undergraduate women question whether they can balance a career in science with a family. Female graduate students in the hard sciences consider themselves fortunate if they have one woman in their department to serve as a role model or mentor. And postgraduate women sci