Stem cell vote fails
The US Congress has again failed to muster enough votes to expand federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research. On 11 April, the Senate backed the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act by 63 votes to 34 鈥� short of the two-thirds majority needed to override an expected veto from President George W. Bush. The House of Representatives similarly failed to achieve a veto-proof majority when it voted in January.
Home for orphans
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A $37 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will buy space for 21 鈥渙rphan鈥� crops 鈥� such as cassava, yam and sweet potato 鈥� in a repository of the world鈥檚 seeds being built by the Global Crop Diversity Trust. Orphan crops are relied on by the world鈥檚 poorest farmers but are largely ignored by modern crop breeders.
Parkinson鈥檚 progress
Gene therapy that involved injecting a virus into the brains of 12 patients with Parkinson鈥檚 disease reduced symptoms by an average of 36 per cent, according to results presented on 16 April at a conference in Washington DC. The virus contained the gene for neurturin, a protein that protects cells damaged by the disease. It will now be evaluated in a further 51 patients.
Ruined river
Some 600 kilometres of the Yangtze, Asia鈥檚 longest river, are irreversibly polluted, and nearly 30 per cent of major tributaries are seriously polluted, according to a report from the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology in China. Aquatic life has suffered significantly.
Space race
US astronaut Sunita Williams became the first person to run a marathon in space on Monday. 鈥淚鈥檓 done! Woo hoo!鈥� Williams radioed NASA鈥檚 Johnson Space Center, after she finished her 鈥淏oston Marathon鈥� on a treadmill aboard the International Space Station.