What is next, after sequencing the mouse genome, is understanding all the proteins. Genes make proteins. Really understanding biology and understanding exactly what happens within disease states, it means that you really want to understand proteins. For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin. This is Science Today.
Selenium is a trace mineral with a controversial history.
In the early Eighties, highly toxic levels of selenium drained into a California reservoir killing wild birds. Since then, earth scientists have been trying to come up with a way to offset selenium contamination in soil and sediment. Satish Myneni, a researcher with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, recently discovered that a natural occurring iron oxide called green rust, converts toxic selenium into a safer form. Few people have found it in natural sediments and soils. The surprising thing in the past, everybody was saying that only bacteria is very critical here to convert from more toxic form to the less toxic forms.