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In early 2004, the virus was traced to the gravitational disturbances, the probe

STR/AP wild-animal markets in Guangdong that contains gyroscopes made with immense sold palm civets, prompting a cull of up to precision, which can measure movements of 4,000 animals. But the new report casts as a little as one hundred-thousandth of a some doubt on the link between civets and degree. At the heart of each is a chunk of transmission to humans. The province’s quartz the size of a ping-pong ball, milled to SARS research team found that market within 40 atomic layers of a perfect sphere. workers who handled civets were less likely Each sphere is contained in a near-perfect to show clinical signs of being exposed to vacuum with a pressure ten times less than the SARS virus than other workers. the void of empty space. And the whole thing is cooled to ǁ271 ᑻC to prevent the Gravity probe struggles to equipment being affected by heat. Initial In the frame: palm civets on sale in China’s results are expected in 2006. markets may have been the source of SARS. get off the ground Washington A spacecraft designed to test California rejects plan Einstein’s general theory of relativity missed Foxes and shrews its first launch window in California on 19 for drug-producing rice identified as potential April. But several other windows, each only a San Diego A proposal to begin commercial- second long, are planned for this week. scale growth of drug-producing transgenic carriers of SARS virus NASA’s Gravity Probe B will orbit Earth’s rice in California suffered a setback last Tokyo Foxes and hedge-shrews have been poles for about 16 months, looking for tiny week when state officials declined to added to the list of animals that harbour the gravitational distortions in the fabric of authorize the planting. virus that causes severe acute respiratory space, which Einstein’s theory predicts Ventria Bioscience of Sacramento had syndrome (SARS) in humans. The list also should be caused by the mass of our planet. sought approval to plant 50 hectares of the includes cats and ferrets, although the This test of general relativity will be 100 rice on plots far from traditional rice fields masked palm civet remains the prime times more sensitive than any previous in northern California (see Nature 428, 591; suspect as the reservoir for the virus. efforts, says Sasha Buchman, science mission 2004). The genetically modified rice China’s official news agency said that manager for the experiment at Stanford produces the proteins lysozyme and some foxes and hedge-shrews in University, California. lactoferrin, which can be used to treat a Guangdong, where SARS first emerged in First proposed in 1959, the experiment has range of medical conditions. But officials at November 2002, had tested positive for the cost US$700 million, and has been threatened the state’s food and agriculture department coronavirus that causes the disease. with cancellation numerous times. To detect refused the request, saying that more public

790 NATURE | VOL 428 | 22 APRIL 2004 | www.nature.com/nature news in brief input was required along with an additional federal permit. Engineers bang their barge for bridge safety Ventria is also seeking permission to Washington Civil engineers this continue growing smaller experimental week are deliberately ramming a plots of the rice this spring. 635-tonne barge into a concrete support that formed part of an old Database provides active bridge crossing Apalachicola Bay in Florida. But these are no carefree link for human genes joy-riders — the stanchion is Tokyo An international research team bristling with sensors that will D. BLANKENSHIP/UNIV. FLORIDA has pieced together one of the most gather data about the impact. comprehensive databases of human genes Engineers believe that this will help available. It contains information on more them to design safer bridges. scale tests of barges striking bridges,” says than 21,000 genes pooled from six existing The team plans to carry out about 12 Gary Consolazio of the University of Florida, collections of human complementary DNAs, collisions at speeds of up to 9 km per hour, and who is lead engineer on the project. To see the researchers report in a forthcoming issue have already conducted seven crashes. “To the video footage of the crashes, visit of PLoS Biology (T. Imanishi et al. PLoS Biol. best of our knowledge, no one has done full- www.nature.com/nsu/bridge doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0020162; 2004). That is two-thirds to three-quarters of the estimated total number of human genes. Although databases of genes are already prescription through genetic profiling. Called the H-Invitational Database, the available to scientists, this is the first time The project, called GENDEP,will new resource carries information on active that active genes have been pulled together follow about 1,000 depressed patients in genes, including expression patterns in more as one resource. The project took three years, 13 European centres as they take one of than 60 human body tissues, predictions of and more genes will be added in the future. two common antidepressant drugs. The the proteins they encode and the individual ± www.jbirc.aist.go.jp/hinv/index.jsp study aims to help clinicians diagnose and variations in genes that distinguish one manage patients with depression. person from another. Researchers can Europe backs bid to Researchers, led by Peter McGuffin from request many of the cDNAs by mail, and use London’s Institute of Psychiatry, will study them to study a gene’s function themselves, tailor antidepressants changes in gene and protein expression and says Takashi Gojobori, who led the project at London The European Union has donated look to see if certain molecules are the Center for Information Biology and E9 million (US$10.8 million) to a study associated with a particularly good or bad DNA Data Bank of Japan in Mishima, Japan. seeking to improve antidepressant clinical outcome.

NATURE | VOL 428 | 22 APRIL 2004 | www.nature.com/nature 791