Key Cell Division
Mechanism Identified

A key mechanism in the passing of genetic material from a parent cell to daughter cells appears to have been identified by a team of Berkeley researchers. Their study may explain how a complex of proteins, called kinetochores, can recognize and stay attached to microtubules, hollow fibers in the walls of biological cells that are responsible for the faithful segregation of chromosomes during cell division. “In test tube experiments, we’ve found that the kinetochore proteins form rings around the microtubules, and this ring formation promotes microtubule assembly, stabilizes against disassembly, and promotes bundling,” says Berkeley Lab biophysicist Eva Nogales. Full story.

Senate Confirms Bodman
As Energy Secretary

Bodman

The Senate on Monday easily confirmed Samuel Bodman as energy secretary, the seventh new member of President Bush's Cabinet to get congressional approval. Bodman, who served as deputy secretary in both the Commerce and Treasury departments during Bush's first term, was approved by unanimous voice vote shortly before the Senate adjourned for the day. Bodman, 66, has had little experience in energy matters, but senators said his academic and business background make him well suited to head a department that oversees a wide range of research from maintaining nuclear weapons to developing cleaner burning coal for power plants. Full story. Comments from Pete Domenici, Chairman of Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, can be read here.

UC Hosts Summer Math, Science Camp For Teens

Students who love math and science and excel in these subjects have a chance to spend four weeks in residence at a University of California campus this summer learning about astronomy, marine mammal biology, robotics, computer graphics, environmental science and ecology, earthquake engineering, bioinformatics, tissue and tumor biology, physics and technology, and more. The California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science, or COSMOS, seeks to motivate the most creative minds of the new generation of prospective scientists, engineers and mathematicians and to create a community of scholars. Go here for more information.