(no subject)

Some people are posting a story that Mars will soon be at its closest point to Earth in 50,000 years.

Sorry, but it's not true.

Mars actually made its closest pass to Earth in many centuries in August of 2003. It was quite bright then, but it still looked only like a bright star.

Mars' best showing this year comes in late October and early November.
It will look like a bright orange star, and will briefly shine as the third-brightest object in the night sky after the Moon and the planet Venus.

For August, Mars rises around midnight. It's already quite bright, so it's pretty easy to pick out.

S Korea unveils first dog clone

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4742453.stm

Scientists in South Korea have produced the first dog clones, they report in
Nature magazine this week.

Snuppy (right) may open the door to new medical research

Mapping the Dog

http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/11_01/Dog_feature1.shtml

We are not so different, dogs and people. We love treats and hugs and naps;
we feel better after playing outdoors; and we stick our noses where they do not
belong.

Tess, a Border Collie, goes to work with Elaine Ostrander.

We are not so different when it comes to genes either. The dog genome is
basically the human genome divided into about 70 different pieces and rearranged
on a greater number of chromosomes, according to a new map of the dog genome.
While making the map, the researchers lined up each chromosome segment in the
dog with its corresponding region of the human genome.

"The new map represents a real triumph," says Elaine Ostrander, of the Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, who heads one of three
groups behind the Dog Genome Project. "The genomes of humans and dogs are very,
very similar, and any disease that humans get, dogs get also. Now we have a map
with nearly complete coverage of the canine genome, and this will allow us to
take advantage of the dog as a model system."