Biochemistry

The tearful and tearless both cry on William Frey's shoulder. Among those seeking his help since he published "Crying: The Mystery of Tears" three years ago were a woman whose husband alternated bouts of tears and laughter, and a restaurateur whose cooks cried chopping onions. For the restaurant owner, the answer was easy and time-honored: Chop the onions under a mist of water. Other times, it's more complicated.

Harvard biologists have brought new meaning to the term "fine print" by devising microscopic tiles made of DNA that self-assemble into letters, Chinese characters, emoticons and other shapes. More than mere doodling , their advance, detailed this week in the journal Nature, could make it easier and cheaper to build tiny DNA devices capable of delivering drugs or aiding the study of biochemistry, scientists said. "This technique will accelerate the research field of DNA nanotechnology," said Ebbe Sloth Andersen, a researcher at Aarhus University in Denmark who collaborated on an editorial that accompanied the report.

Was Michael Jordan born to be a great pressure player? Is there something in his genetic blueprint that makes him more dependable in times of duress? Are athletes predisposed to success or failure? Can you test your 10-year-old Jimmy to see if he is cut out to be a relief pitcher? More important, does Laker phenom Kobe Bryant have what it takes between the ears to become the next Jordan? The answers, according to Jonathan P. Niednagel, are yes, yes, yes, yes and, um, no.

Milton P. Gordon, 75, who documented the cleansing effects of trees on the environment and became a pioneer of genetic engineering in plants, died July 5 at his home of Shy-Drager syndrome, a degenerative disease, said his wife, Elaine "Sunnie" Gordon. Gordon was a University of Washington professor and associate editor of the journal Biochemistry for more than three decades.

Scientists have created the first enzyme completely built in the laboratory, a step that should pave the way for the development of an assortment of useful "designer enzymes," according to a report last week in the journal Science. Researchers at the University of Colorado used computers to design the enzyme, dubbed chymohelizyme-1, then constructed and tested it in the laboratory.

Nathan Kaplan, whose work in developing a colony of hairless mice at UC San Diego helped advance cancer research, died Tuesday at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, a university spokeswoman said. He was 68. UCSD officials said Kaplan will be remembered as a man whose career added measurably to the school's science and research programs. "Dr.

Recent news stories have reported that marijuana sparks the sex drive by raising testosterone levels, tranquilizers prolong male "staying power," substances isolated from human sweat enhance sexual desire, room deodorants intensify orgasms, neurotransmitter boosters extend arousal for hours and antidepressants "drive" women to new sexual highs.

Scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine reported last week in the journal Cell that they have found a chemical impulse that turns off a chromosome's reproductive machinery in Escherichia coli, a common bacterium. The start and finish of DNA synthesis are key processes in the life of a cell because they regulate how cells of embryos multiply and differentiate into all the varied organs that make life possible--lungs, hearts, brains, livers, blood and so forth.

Milton P. Gordon, 75, who documented the cleansing effects of trees on the environment and became a pioneer of genetic engineering in plants, died July 5 at his home of Shy-Drager syndrome, a degenerative disease, said his wife, Elaine "Sunnie" Gordon. Gordon was a University of Washington professor and associate editor of the journal Biochemistry for more than three decades.

Pity America's universities. First they had to worry about being "politically correct." Now they have to worry about being "industrially correct." Thanks to critical references in Michael Crichton's best-selling novel, "Rising Sun," and a recent "news" segment on ABC's 20/20 news magazine program, UC Irvine has come under scrutiny for cutting a special deal with Hitachi Chemical, one of Japan's most diversified chemical companies.

Vivid blossoms signal spring has arrived, but how do plants know when it's time to flower? Scientists have known for 80 years that plants have internal clocks that enable them to adjust leaves to maximize capture of sunlight and minimize loss of water, but they haven't understood how it worked. Now, researchers in Germany say they have isolated genes and proteins that are the biochemical equivalent of gears in a clock.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, reversing an earlier decision to regulate all genetically altered animals, announced on Tuesday that it sees no need to scrutinize a tropical zebra fish bioengineered to glow red and headed for sale in pet stores next month. A Texas-based company and a pair of tropical fish farms in Florida plan to market the trademarked GloFish beginning Jan.

There were two missing schoolgirls and too many coincidences. After police found two corpses in Ward Weaver's backyard, near the apartment building where Miranda Gaddis, 13, and Ashley Pond, 12, had lived, even case-hardened homicide detectives were queasy. Had they not seen this once before? For there are two Ward Weavers. One lives on death row in San Quentin. The other is his son. The father -- Ward Weaver Jr.

The wasting that comes with age--wrinkled skin, weakened bones and nagging physical complaints--may result from genetic mistakes that begin in midlife as cells lose their ability to reproduce properly, a new study concludes. The research, published today in Science, offers a tantalizing--and tentative--explanation for the physical ravages of time.

America's collective nostrils are working overtime these days, sniffing out myriad new products to help them relax, work harder, sleep better, awaken creative energy and develop appetites for food and sex. The nose has become the new gateway to enlightenment--a super-sensory filter for the ever-blooming (and ever-changing) wafts of pop culture, fashion and beauty, arts and entertainment, travel, fitness and a burgeoning holistic market for self-healing and self-discovery.

Until they start putting brains in golf balls, it's probably going to be up to that person standing there with the club in his hands to figure out how to succeed in the game. And, as we have discovered time and again, that's a lot of pressure. Of course, help is available. Now, there are coaches in all sports, but golf is positively overrun with them. They're all over the place--swing doctors, putting gurus, short-game Svengalis, iron inveiglers, sand specialists, practice-range pontiffs.

Veronique Le Guen, who for 111 days lived in dank underworld isolation, has been found dead in a car, an apparent suicide, police said Thursday. The cave explorer was 33 and died of an apparent overdose of barbiturates. Her body was discovered in a car in northeastern Paris, said police, who called the death a suicide. There was no indication how long she had been in the car.

The wasting that comes with age--wrinkled skin, weakened bones and nagging physical complaints--may result from genetic mistakes that begin in midlife as cells lose their ability to reproduce properly, a new study concludes. The research, published today in Science, offers a tantalizing--and tentative--explanation for the physical ravages of time.

It almost never fails. Any time a big league pitcher can't find home plate with his fastball, Steve Blass gets a telephone call. Any second now, he can expect Atlanta pitcher Mark Wohlers' agent to break in with an emergency call. "They say, 'We'd like you to talk to this guy,' " Blass says, "and I say, 'I'm the last guy you want to talk to him!' " Blass is baseball's most enduring mental mystery.

Was Michael Jordan born to be a great pressure player? Is there something in his genetic blueprint that makes him more dependable in times of duress? Are athletes predisposed to success or failure? Can you test your 10-year-old Jimmy to see if he is cut out to be a relief pitcher? More important, does Laker phenom Kobe Bryant have what it takes between the ears to become the next Jordan? The answers, according to Jonathan P. Niednagel, are yes, yes, yes, yes and, um, no.