Martian orders
The crew for an 18-month simulated mission to Mars is taking shape. Two Europeans were added to the roster for the Mars 500 mission this week. In June, a six-member crew will step into a sealed chamber for 500 days at the Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow. Contact with the outside world will be limited to delayed email.
Secret summit-tapes
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An audio recording of the closed negotiations that sealed the fate of the Copenhagen climate talks has been obtained by German magazine Der Spiegel. It gives a vivid flavour of the rift between the US and Europe on one hand, and India and China on the other, and confirms that the latter group kept legally binding cuts out of the final deal.
Red-wine drug downer
Clinical trials of a red wine ingredient thought to slow the ageing process have been halted. GlaxoSmithKline stopped the trial of a potent form of resveratrol. The aim was to test its ability to treat multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, but five of the trial鈥檚 24 participants developed potentially dangerous kidney damage.
Drugstore genetics
Fancy a genetic test? If you live in the US, head to your pharmacy. Currently, consumers can only buy such tests online, but this week, 6000 US drugstores will start selling them. Buyers will have to send saliva samples to Pathway Genomics of San Diego, California, which then assesses their DNA for health risks, such as Alzheimer鈥檚 disease.
Bill bounces back
The champions of a US climate bill, senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, were set to unveil a revamped energy and climate bill on Wednesday. It is expected to call for a 17 per cent cut in emissions below 2005 levels, a number which has been bandied around since last year. Will it finally pass into law in 2010?