Notebook

Notebook Modern Genetics Turns 40 The scientific community recently marked the 40th anniversary of the discovery of the world's most famous molecule, the DNA double helix, as dozens of molecular biologists traveled to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York to help its discoverers, James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick, celebrate. The pair shared the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in 1962 for their discovery of the messenger of genetic information, which they produced in 1953 at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, England. More than 125 scientists, including several Nobel Prize winners, came to Cold Spring Harbor to honor Watson and Crick and discuss the history and future of DNA in talks on the applications of DNA science in understanding the brain, diagnosing and curing genetic disease, and agriculture. Watson, 64, director of Cold Spring Harbor, presented the 76-year-old Crick with a golden replica of their molecule, designed by local sculptor Charles Reina. Watson Moves Upstairs In other Cold Spring Harbor news, the laboratory recently announced that Watson, director of the lab since 1968, will become its president, a newly created position, beginning in January 1994. He will be replaced as director by current assistant director Bruce Stillman. In his new job, Watson, also the former director of the National Institutes of Health's component of the Human Genome Project, will be responsible for overseeing laboratory policy, as well as supervising Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, DNA Learning Center, and the Banbury Conference Center. Stillman will be in charge of the lab's science program. Stillman, 40, came to Cold Spring Harbor from Australian National University as a postdoc in 1979. He became a staff investigator in 1981, and is considered one of the world experts on DNA replication. He became assistant director in 1991. Seeing The Forest And The Trees A team of botanists from the New York Botanical Garden has discovered an area of forest in Brazil with the highest tree diversity in the world. The team, led by Wyat Thomas, made the discovery in a privately owned forest of about 2,500 acres near Serra Grande in Bahia. The botanists documented a plot of 2 1/2 acres and found 450 species of trees. Among the species observed in Brazil were 13 that were new to science. The inventory of the Brazilian forest is critical, according to Thomas, because the areas under study are among the world's most endangered and are unique. One further chilling note: The record-breaking number of species counted represents only 2 percent to 5 percent of the original forest cover. New Bedtime Story The teenager's timeless plea to stay up late may have more to do with biology than a desire to hang out on the corner with friends, according to Brown University sleep researcher Mary Carskadon and colleagues. Writing in the April issue of Sleep (16[3]:258-62), the journal of the American Sleep Disorders Association and the Sleep Research Society, Carskadon and colleagues claim there is evidence that sleeping patterns change with the advent of puberty. The researchers surveyed nearly 500 children in the fourth through sixth grades. The children answered questions about their sleeping patterns, and the researchers took into account many social factors that might affect bedtimes. They found that more physically mature students chose to go to bed later on weekdays and weekends than those just starting puberty, and chose to get up later on weekends, the most flexible point in their schedule. The results may cause academic administrators to reevaluate traditional school times. "The widespread practice . . . for the opening bell to ring earlier at high schools than junior high schools, and earlier in junior high schools than primary schools, may run precisely counter to children's biological needs," the researchers write. Informatics, Please The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation is accepting proposals for planning grants designed to "explore alternative means to deliver the broadest array of chemical information most effectively to the largest number of chemical scientists, students, and the public." The foundation will award 10 grants of $15,000 to colleges, universities, or other library centers to develop these chemical informatics proposals, from which the organization will award up to two $75,000 implementation grants. Deadline for proposals is June 15. For information, contact Robert L. Lichter, Executive Director, The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Inc., 555 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10022- 3301; (212) 753-1760. Donut Diet Iowa State University researchers have developed a product that eventually may save the lives of thousands of police officers across the U.S. It's not a new and improved bulletproof vest, but rather a low-fat donut. The food scientists have developed a recipe that reduces the high-fat content--generally 25 percent to 35 percent--of one of America's favorite comestibles by substituting the nonfat powdered milk found in many commercial donut recipes with dry soymilk. The theory was that purified soybean proteins reduce fat uptake. Because a lot of fat is absorbed from the oil during the deep-frying process used to make donuts, the researchers hoped using the milk might lessen the fat absorption. What they found was that soymilk reduced fat soaked up by 22.6 percent and cut calories by 5.5 percent. Now, if they could just do something about the coffee....

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