Life Sciences and Chemistry

Centipede genealogy has scientists and supercomputers foxed

Four-fifths of all known creatures are arthropods. So immense is this family that no one knows who is related to whom. To resolve the relationships between the family members, the insects, spiders, crustaceans and centipedes, two research groups have performed state-of-the-art analyses – and come up with two different answers.

The main problem is the centipedes and millipedes, collectively called the myriapods. One

Two new techniques will assist the rapid cataloguing of proteins’ roles in the cell.

Decoding the human genome sequence was merely a preliminary step towards understanding how living cells work. Two new techniques should assist the next step: working out the functions of all the proteins that the genes encode 1,2 .

Selectively sticking to small molecules is central to most proteins’ function. Proteins generally have delicately sculpted binding sites, clefts i

Embargo until September, 6 2001
E-BioSci is a new, next generation scientific information service initiated by EMBO to meet the future needs of researchers in the life sciences and funded by the European Commission with 2,4 million Euro over three years. The service – aimed at establishing Europe’s leadership in one of the most important and fast moving scientific fields of our day – will offer scientists and other researchers new forms of navigation through the dramatically increasing floo