CAMBRIDGE, England, January 12 /PRNewswire/ --

- GlaxoSmithKline Biotica Technology Enter Collaboration to Discover Develop Novel Erythromycin Macrolides

Biotica Technology Limited, a privately-held biotechnology company, announces a significant Collaboration and License Agreement with GlaxoSmithKline to discover, develop and commercialise novel erythromycin-based macrolides in inflammatory diseases.

"Tasmanian Tiger" is a common name of the extinct thylacine species (Thylacinus cynocephalus), which is more closely related to kangaroos and koalas than to dogs or tigers.   In 1902, the National Zoo brought the endangered animal. By the mid-1930s, the thylacine was extinct, leaving behind only preserved museum specimens. In a new study, researchers used DNA sequencing to analyze preserved thylacines, including one brought to the National Zoo, making novel discoveries in thylacine genomics and the burgeoning field of "museomics."  Thylacines have played a central role in discussions about the possibility of bringing extinct species back to life, but despite the availability of many bones and other remains, previous attempts to read thylacine DNA had been unsuccessful.

In Current Biology, Instituto Gubenkian de Ciencia researchers say they have provided insight into an old mystery in cell biology- and maybe it will offer up new clues to understanding cancer. Inês Cunha Ferreira and Mónica Bettencourt Dias, working with researchers at the universities of Cambridge, UK, and Siena, Italy, say they have unravelled the mystery of how cells count the number of centrosomes, the structure that regulates the cell's skeleton and controls the multiplication of cells, and is often transformed in cancer.

This research addresses an ancient question: how does a cell know how many centrosomes it has? It is equally an important question, since both an excess or absence of centrosomes are associated with disease, from infertility to cancer.

If you've made a New Year's resolution but you keep putting it off, you may not just be unclear on what the word 'resolute' means, you may have an issue putting tasks in concrete terms that make them feel like they need to be completed.

Procrastination is a curse, and a costly one. Putting things off leads not only to lost productivity but also to all sorts of hand wringing and regrets and damaged self-esteem. For all these reasons, psychologists would love to figure out what's going on in the mind that makes it so hard to actually do what we set out to do. Are we programmed for postponement and delay?

DETROIT, January 12 /PRNewswire/ --

- Havoc TV's Live Volvo Broadcast and Interactive Webcast from the North American International Auto Show Helped Put Absent Media Where they Wanted To Be.

Havoc TV, operator of the nation's most-highly viewed video-on-demand (VOD) channels, took its unique interactive platform to the Detroit Auto Show this week. Havoc, which also has a daily four-hour programming block on DIRECTV's 101 Network, used the delivery mechanism and the World Wide Web to invite media to participate in Volvo Car Corporation's press activities in Detroit. This marks the first time that an automobile company has creatively utilized the potential for generating immediate response communication between its executives and remote journalists.

In 1943 the eminent physicist Erwin Schrodinger gave a series of lectures in Dublin that were later published in book form under the title What Is Life? Its success was considerable as it kick-started the new field of molecular biology, but Schrodinger deliberately avoided an investigation into a definition of life, believing that the time was not ripe.

If you're a mouse and you like fatty foods, we have good news for you.   Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have identified a new enzyme that helps control the breakdown of fat and the mice that have had this enzyme disabled remained lean despite eating a high-fat diet and losing a hormone that suppresses appetite.

The enzyme in the spotlight, adipose-specific phospholipase A2 (AdPLA), is found in abundance only in fat tissue. AdPLA sets off a chain of events that increases levels of a signaling molecule called prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), which suppresses the breakdown of fat. Mice that have no AdPLA have lower PGE2 levels and a higher rate of fat metabolism.

Is gardening one of your interests? If so and you live in central or northern Europe the 'killer slug' is probably one of your personal enemies. The slug, which attacks your herbs and vegetables relentlessly, seems immune to control measures.

The killer slug, suffocating lobster, globe trotting televisions and dangerous air particles are just some of the topics featured in EEA Signals 2009, a new annual publication from the European Environment Agency, launched today in Prague by Czech Environment Minister Bursik and Executive Director of the EEA, Professor Jacqueline McGlade.

The EEA, in partnership with its network of 32 member countries, monitors the environment across Europe.