Poor Mojo's Newswire

If scientists can find a drug or chemical that blocks these infection-promoting proteins, it would go a long way toward development of a microbicide, a vaginal cream or gel that could protect women against AIDS.

What is catching scientists' attention is the 100,000-fold increase. "I was so surprised that I did not believe the numbers," said Dr. Frank Kirchhoff, leader of the University of Ulm laboratory that found the protein. "But we did the experiment multiple times, and the results were always the same."

A team of scientists led by Kong Il-keun at Gyeongsang National University, South Korea, cloned the cats after manipulating a gene to change their skin colour.

The fluffy white Turkish Angora cats now glow red when exposed to ultraviolet light and the scientists believe the process could be used to develop treatments for a range of genetic illnesses. The technology can also help clone endangered animals like tigers, leopards and wildcats.

Evolution provided them with slight differences from men in their lower backs and hip joints, allowing them to adjust their center of gravity, new research shows.

This elegant engineering is seen only in female humans and our immediate ancestors who walked on two feet, but not in chimps and apes, according to a study published in Thursday's journal Nature.

"That's a big load that's pulling you forward," said Liza Shapiro, an anthropology professor at the University of Texas and the only one of the study's three authors who has actually been pregnant. "You experience discomfort. Maybe it would be a lot worse if (the design changes) were not there."

In the week since the picture was released amid much fanfare in Beijing, there have been widespread rumors that the photo was a fake, copied from an old picture collected by a U.S. space probe.

The good news for the Chinese is that Planetary Society blogger Emily Lakdawalla's clears them of outright fakery. The bad news is, she found evidence that the photo was badly retouched for public release.

The findings lend credence to traditional beliefs that eating certain foods can influence the sex of offspring.

The conventional wisdom is that the father’s sperm is the main determinant of the sex of a child. But increasingly scientists have found hints that maternal factors might have an influence too. For example, earlier work has suggested that single mothers are more likely to give birth to daughters.