Brief Points, January 2007

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▪ Scientists have sequenced the genome of the honeybee, Apis mellifera, and hope to learn the genetic basis behind its traits, such as sociability and aggression.

Nature, October 26, 2006

▪ The U.S. can meet its need for iron via recycling of scrap alone. It would both eliminate mining and the most energy-intensive step in steelmaking—the conversion of iron ore into iron.

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, October 31, 2006

▪ Tim Berners-Lee and other Web heavyweights have launched a field called the science of the Web. Among other tasks, the subject will formally explore how the network can grow productively and in socially responsible ways.

World Wide Web Consortium announcement, November 2, 2006

▪ Researchers resurrected a five-million-year-old retrovirus, dubbed Phoenix. It could infect cells only weakly, although some scientists questioned the safety level of the resuscitation, noting that no one could have predicted the infectivity.

Genome Research, published online October 31, 2006

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