A type of DNA once thought to be little more than genetic clutter may play a role in gene expression in mammalian eggs and newly formed embryos. (p. 243)

Twin rovers on opposite sides of the Red Planet have found additional evidence that liquid water once flowed there. (p. 243)

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to three scientists for their discovery of how cells mark proteins for destruction with a molecular tag called ubiquitin, otherwise known as the kiss of death. (p. 244)

Two research teams have pinpointed one group of fly-brain neurons keeping time for morning activity and a different neuron group performing the same function for evening activity. (p. 244)

New evidence indicates that blind people estimate the locations of distant sounds more accurately than sighted people do, even if sight loss didn't occur until adolescence or young adulthood. (p. 245)

Certain types of dietary fats can magnify PCB damage to artery cells in a way that sets the stage for cardiovascular disease. (p. 245)

Large groups of power-generating windmills could increase wind speed, temperature, and ground-level evaporation, thereby influencing a region's climate. (p. 246)

Excess amounts of a protein called Myc triggers cancer in mice, but ratcheting back this supply sends the malignant cells into dormancy. (p. 246)

Most researchers studying vitamin D agree that many people would benefit from more of the vitamin, but they haven't yet decided just how much. (p. 248)

Scientists and educators increasingly are using analyses of bad science in movies, as well as the good, to inform the public about scientific facts and principles. (p. 250)

Increased precipitation in parts of the Midwest may reduce the temperature increases expected to occur in the next few decades as a result of global warming. (p. 253)

A wrong-headed mixture of liquid starch, water, and a solvent freezes when heated. (p. 253)

Combining data taken from two craft orbiting Mars with images and spectra collected by one of the Mars rovers, a scientist has found evidence that a body of water greater in area than all the Great Lakes combined once covered the Red Planet. (p. 253)

Brain areas typically responsible for visual processing instead contribute to verbal skills in blind people. (p. 253)

Human-derived antibodies can not only prevent infections when given in advance of SARS exposure but also mitigate the symptoms of an infection already in progress. (p. 254)

Serious infections caused by pneumococcus have decreased in both children and adults since the introduction of a childhood vaccine against seven strains of the bacterium, but other pneumococcus strains are now becoming more prevalent among adults with HIV. (p. 254)

Several newly described bacteria appear to share much of the responsibility for causing a common infection in women. (p. 254)

A recently discovered variant of Staphylococcus aureus that is resistant to some antibiotics became a major cause of severe pneumonia among people who caught the flu last winter. (p. 254)

(p. 255)