As co-founder and chief scientist of Sun Microsystems, Bill Joy can match technophile credentials with anybody on the planet. So when he argued that research into nanotechnology and other fields should be stopped before it wipes out humanity, humanity took notice. But most researchers think he's overstating the case.

Medical Laboratory Science↗

PubMed2000

Powering the nanoworld.

Devens Gust, a chemist at Arizona State University in Tempe, and a handful of colleagues have built tiny refineries that convert the energy in sunlight to chemical fuel to power nanomachines. The fuel in this case is adenosine triphosphate, the same energy-rich molecule that powers chemical reactions inside cells. At last August's meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, D.C., Gust reported that he and his colleagues had collaborated with other groups to run their protein-based molecular machines on little more than sunlight.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMed2000

Genomics. Structural biology gets a $150 million boost.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Academies and Institutes↗

PubMed2000

Appointments. Salk Institute goes north for new CEO.

The revolving door at the top of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, took another spin last week with the appointment of neuroscientist Richard Murphy as president and CEO. Murphy, director of the Montreal Neurological Institute, will become Salk's fourth chief executive in 4 years when he takes up the reins on 1 October. Murphy, 56, says his main job will be to raise enough money to keep the endowment-poor research institute in the scientific big leagues.

Academies and Institutes↗

PubMed2000

Biochemistry. Protein arrays step out of DNA's shadow.

As technical obstacles yield, en masse protein testing is poised to take one of biochemistry's most exciting techniques into the heart of cellular chemistry. On page 1760 of this issue, researchers report creating arrays of over 10,000 proteins on a piece of glass just half the size of a microscope slide. They then used their arrays to study a variety of protein functions, including identifying members of the array that bind to other free-floating proteins and to small, druglike molecules.

Biochemistry↗

PubMed2000

Scientific publishing. Chemists toy with the preprint future.

Last week, the giant publishing house Elsevier Science launched the first electronic archive for chemistry preprints through its ChemWeb subsidiary. The new site (preprint.chemweb.com) will be a common repository for reports on a wide range of chemistry topics and a forum for authors and readers to discuss the results. But ChemWeb could face an uphill battle in convincing authors to post their papers on the site, as many of the field's premier journals decline to accept papers that have already been posted on the Web.

Chemical Phenomena↗

PubMed2000

Tissue engineers build new bone.

Bone repair may be one of the first major applications of tissue engineering; efforts to encourage the growth of new bone using novel matrices, bone morphogenic proteins, gene therapy, and stem cells are all showing promise. But the commercial stakes are so high that some researchers are worried that patent claims, and a reluctance to test competing technologies in combination, could delay progress in the field.

Animals↗

PubMed2000

Body chemistry. Where dead men really do tell tales.

Here at the "Body Farm," a research plot where human corpses are studied as they decompose, the corpses are teaching scientists much about how to reconstruct the manner and circumstances of unexplained deaths. In fact, new techniques developed at the site, officially known as the University of Tennessee, Knoxville's, Anthropological Research Facility, are already beginning to land criminals behind bars.

Cadaver↗

PubMed2000

Molecular biology. Creation's seventh day.

Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute are attempting to find out what life would look like if DNA contained more than four nucleotide bases and proteins more than 20 amino acids. By reengineering DNA, RNA, and the proteins that interact with them, they hope to create synthetic organisms with a chemical makeup fundamentally different from all life that has existed on Earth for the last 3.8 billion years. If they succeed, their biochemical reengineering could have a profound effect on everything from basic molecular biology to industrial chemistry.

Amino Acids↗