While it is well understood that the evolution of new genes leads to adaptations that help species survive, gene loss may also afford a selective advantage.

A group of scientists has investigated this less-studied idea, carrying out the first systematic computational analysis to identify long-established genes that have been lost across millions of years of evolution leading to the human species. Their findings appear in the December 14 issue of PLoS Computational Biology.

Dr. David Haussler and five others in his group at the University of California, Santa Cruz — postdoc Jingchun Zhu, graduate students Zack Sanborn and Craig Lowe, technical projects manager Mark Diekhans, and evolutionary biologist Tom Pringle — are co-authors on the paper.

Kamilla Miskowiak, author of a new study published in the December 1st issue of Biological Psychiatry, reports findings that support the evaluation of a potential new antidepressant agent.

The researchers evaluated the effects of erythropoietin (Epo), a hormone naturally produced by the kidneys that stimulates the formation of red blood cells and is known as a treatment for anemia. The authors explain that new evidence shows that Epo also “has neuroprotective and neurotrophic effects in animal models and affects cognitive and associated neural responses in humans,” suggesting that it may be a candidate in the treatment of depression.

LONDON, December 11 /PRNewswire/ --

The MS Society has today (Wednesday) spoken out in support of a call for better care for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) following new research that suggests people with neurological conditions are left in an information void.

Results of the Taking Control survey, published jointly by the Neurological Alliance, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) and Ask About Medicines, highlight how the UK healthcare system is failing people with MS by not ensuring access to appropriate information and specialist advice.

HOUSTON, December 11 /PRNewswire/ --

Hercules Offshore, Inc. (Nasdaq: HERO) announced today that it has scheduled a conference call to discuss its fourth-quarter 2007 and full year financial results on January 31, 2008. The call will take place at 10:00 a.m. CST (11:00 a.m. EST). The financial results are scheduled to be released publicly prior to market opening in the United States on that same day.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050601/DAW092LOGO )

To participate in the conference call by telephone, please call 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time, one of the following telephone numbers:

+1-800-299-9630 (Domestic) +1-617-786-2904 (International) The access or confirmation code is 32636004.

LONDON, December 12 /PRNewswire/ --

- "By 2020 the Global Carbon Market Could be Worth EUR 240-450 Billion" says Lord Nicholas Stern, Vice Chairman of IDEAGlobal Group, in the inaugural issue of CARBONfirst

The year-end in climate change is dominated by the Bali conference. In the inaugural issue of CARBONfirst, Lord Stern outlines his views on the impact of the summit on the global carbon market. "The main objective of the summit is to agree on a roadmap for a Kyoto successor by the end of 2009".

Four billion years ago, says Steve Desch, assistant professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, Uranus and Neptune switched places.

His research work appears in this week’s Astrophysical Journal. Desch based his conclusion on his calculations of the surface density of the solar nebula. The solar nebula is the disk of gas and dust out of which all of the planets formed. The surface density – or mass per area – of the solar nebula protoplanetary disk is a fundamental quantity needed to calculate everything from how fast planets grow to the types of chemicals they are likely to contain.

Surrounding the small islands of genes within the human genome is a vast sea of non-coding DNA. While most of this DNA is junk, some of it is used to help genes turn on and off.

Hopkins researchers write in Genome Research that they have now found that regulatory DNA, which contributes to inherited diseases like Parkinson’s or mental disorders, may be more abundant than we realized.

By conducting an exhaustive analysis of the DNA sequence around a gene required for neuronal development, Andrew McCallion, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, and his team found that current computer programs that scan the genome looking for regulatory DNA can miss more than 60 percent of these important DNA regions.

LONDON and MENLO PARK, California, December 11 /PRNewswire/ --

- Feature Notifies Consumers If Items They Own Are Recalled

MyThings, Inc., (http://www.mythings.com) the global online registry of belongings, announces the launch of MyThings Recall Alert, a free new feature that allows people to be notified about product recalls that affect things they own. Unlike other services that send mass emails for every recall issued, MyThings Recall Alert only sends notices to members who own the item in question.

At a Monday meeting of the American Geophysical Union, NASA's Associate Administrator for Science Alan Stern announced the selection of a new mission that will peer deep inside the moon to reveal its anatomy and history.

The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, mission is a part of NASA's Discovery Program. It will cost $375 million and is scheduled to launch in 2011. GRAIL will fly twin spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field in unprecedented detail. The mission also will answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon and provide scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed.

A hydrogen fuel cell works by pumping hydrogen gas through a proton exchange membrane causing the hydrogen to give up electrons in the form of electricity, which combines with oxygen gas to form water as the by-product. It can also work in reverse – when current is applied, water is split into its component gases, hydrogen and oxygen.

Fuel-cell cars are on the verge of being commercially viable but, despite their promise, scientists have struggled to explain just how the fuel-cell’s central component, that proton exchange membrane, really works.

A team of researchers at the Ames Laboratory has offered a new model that provides the best explanation to date for the membrane’s structure and how it functions.