Category Archives: Science Magazine

A Scientist’s Roadmap to Capitol Hill

Follow the money that drives science research in the United States, and more often than not you’ll end up in Washington, D.C. The dollars don’t reach labs on their own, though: Institutions, interest groups, and individuals help legislators decide what to fund — and science competes with every other federal program for resources.

This year scientific research is one of the few areas slated to gain ground in the proposed federal budget, but that budget is not law yet. “If people want to see the research and development funding increase they’re going to need to get up there and say, ‘Look we feel that we need those increases, they’re vital for the future, they’re vital for job creation [and] our future economic competitiveness,'” said Bob Simon, staff director of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, at a session of the American Association of the Advancement of Science conference, on Saturday in San Diego, California.
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Genes for Speed

Thoroughbred horse owners now have a new tool to predict howtheir nags will perform on the track. Last week at the IrishThoroughbred Breeders’ Association Expo in County Kildare, anew company called Equinome rolled out a €1000 DNA test of amuscle factor derived from the Horse Genome Project.

Muscle growth is governed by myostatin, a protein that determineswhether an animal has compact muscles tuned for rapid sprintsor a leaner body suited for endurance. Company co-founder EmmelineHill, left, a genetics researcher at University College Dublin,and colleagues reported last month in PLoS ONE that horses withtwo copies of the myostatin-suppressing C variant of the genewere more likely to win short races up to 6.5 furlongs (1.3kilometers), whereas horses with two T variants did better inraces up to 13.5 furlongs.

Horse Genome Project coordinator Ernest Bailey of the Universityof Kentucky, Lexington, notes that breeders have adopted genetictests for paternity, coat color, and diseases but that performanceprediction is new ground. Hill says breeders have been askingabout genes for temperament. That’s not yet in the offing, shesays, but “we’re investigating gene associations with [other]parameters, such as aerobic capacity.”

See the original Random Sample on Science’s website: [html] or as it appeared in print: [pdf]

This story also appeared as a ScienceNOW: [html]

Coming to America: Doing a postdoc in the U.S.

ameripostdocWhen Swedish neuroscientist Jens Hjerling-Leffler moved to New York University (NYU) in New York City for a postdoc in 2007, he found life so exciting in the city that never sleeps that he never wanted to shut his eyes. “I actually didn’t sleep very much my first year,” he says. “There’s this idea that you’re going to work a lot, and then when you’re done you’ve got the whole city at your doorstep.”

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A Musical Tribute to Darwin and the Earth

ramsayCharles Darwin may have had his biggest impact on biology, but he began his scientific career as a geologist. So it’s appropriate that earlier this year, retired geologist John Ramsay, who had long studied the famed biologist’s life, accepted a commission to compose a Darwin-themed string quartet.

Performed by the Fitzwilliam String Quartet, Ramsay’s composition premiered in Cambridge, U.K., during the Darwin Festival on 7 July 2009. The Darwin Quartet gave its second performance late last month during the triennial Cambridge Music Festival. The two festivals jointly commissioned the piece, and Ramsay hopes the Fitzwilliam Quartet will record the composition next year.

Read the rest of this story at Science Magazine’s Origins blog: [html]