Mars probe reboot
NASA was due to attempt a risky reboot of its Mars Odyssey orbiter on Tuesday. Odyssey is the main communications link between NASA鈥檚 Mars rovers and Earth, and if it wakes up after the reboot its memory should be cleared of the build-up of errors that resulted from cosmic-ray bombardment. It may also restore back-up power circuits to health.
Artificial ribosome
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In a step towards the creation of artificial life, George Church of Harvard Medical School in Boston claimed on 7 March that he has built a ribosome from scratch. Ribosomes, which are found in all cells, make proteins. The ones Church says he has built make luciferase, which gives fireflies their glow.
Plundering the depths
Trawlers go deep, but the damage they do goes deeper. Populations of fish as far as 2.5 kilometres down in the north-east Atlantic are suffering serious decline, although trawling only reaches down to 1.6 kilometres (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, ). Researchers comparing populations before and after the fishery opened in 1990 found declines in nine of 15 species.
Firebomb attack in LA
An animal rights group has claimed responsibility for a firebomb on 6 March. The attack destroyed a car belonging to a neuroscientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who studies schizophrenia and drug addiction. The FBI is investigating the incident.
Cholera on the wane
As the rainy season ends, the cholera epidemic originating in Zimbabwe appears to be declining. Cases are now being diagnosed at a quarter the rate they were in January. The outbreak has so far led to at least 90,000 people in Zimbabwe becoming ill, and has killed 4000.