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APRIL 25, 2005
Edited by Catherine Arnst BIOLOGY Truly, Lord Of The Flies Mind control is getting less theoretical -- at least for flies. Researchers at Yale University have created genetically engineered fruit flies that jump, beat their wings, and fly on command in response to laser pulses. This is more than a parlor trick. Gero Miesenbock, associate professor of cell biology, and graduate student Susana Lima reported in the Apr. 8 issue of Cell that similar techniques might one day be used to restore neural signals lost through disease or injuries to the spinal cord. The researchers started by identifying a small subset of neurons in a section of the fly's brain called the giant fiber system, which controls movements such as jumping and flight initiation. They then genetically encoded these cells to be activated by certain ion channels, proteins in the brain that allow charged particles to pass through a cell membrane. The channels are sensitive to ultraviolet laser light. Sure enough, when altered flies were zapped with millisecond pulses of the laser, they began escape movements such as extending their legs and rapidly flapping their wings. CHEMISTRY Whose Molecules Are These? The National Institutes of Health thought it had a great idea for advancing science -- but its concept is threatening the world's largest scientific society. The plan: Put information about a vast number of molecules, which could be used to probe genes and biological functions, into a public database, dubbed PubChem. Scientists then could use the data to uncover new knowledge or new drugs. The information would come from other public databases, scientific papers, and publicly funded research. But the project has run into fierce opposition from the 158,000-member American Chemical Society (ACS). The nonprofit group has its own database of 22 million molecules, the Chemical Abstracts Service, that typically costs thousands of dollars to access and accounts for more than half of the society's $421 million annual budget. The two databases are complementary, argues NIH's Dr. Francis Collins: "We have no intention of duplicating information." But ACS com-plains that PubChem, which already contains data on 850,000 molecules, looks virtually identical to its offer-ing. "Do taxpayers want their money to be used for some-thing that's already done well in the private sector?" asks ACS Executive Director Madeleine Jacobs. The warring factions have agreed to try to work out a solution. "I hope we can resolve this in a way that does not put us out of business," says Jacobs. By John Carey   MINING A Bug's Life: Working Underground Mining companies have experimented for years with mineral-eating microbes that can separate gold and other metals from their natural ores. However, the bugs continue to break down the ore and release metals into waste water after a mine is closed. These metals may be toxic -- or useful, if they could be retrieved, say scientists at the University of Wales at Bangor, who have developed another bacterial process to salvage the runoff. The process is called metal biorecovery. Usually, rock-eating bacteria help render sulfide minerals water-soluble, allowing miners to separate them from the desired metal. In the new system, different microbes turn those sulfides back into insoluble metals so they can be recaptured, says lead researcher Barrie Johnson. By Jordan Burke INNOVATIONS Tiny Drones And Smokers' Grandkids -- A remote-controlled spy plane the size of this magazine may one day help troops figure out what's on the other side of a hill. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) flight-tested the 6-ounce, 13-inch wide Wasp, designed by AeroVironment of Monrovia, Calif., during naval exercises in March. It is launched by a flick of the wrist, carries two video cameras, and is powered by lithium-ion batteries that can keep it going for almost two hours. The Wasp is tough to see from the ground, making it ideal for quick reconnaissance missions. -- A child whose grandmother smoked is twice as likely to develop asthma as the child of a nonsmoking grandmother, even if the mother didn't smoke, according to researchers at the University of Southern California. The scientists, reporting in the April issue of Chest, based their findings on interviews with the parents or guardians of 908 children. They speculate that when a pregnant woman smokes, the tobacco may alter the DNA of the fetus. That damage may increase the child's susceptibility to asthma, which is in turn passed down to her children.
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