MOLECULAR BIOLOGY: Immune Regulator Tied to Bone Building
In a paper that makes the leap from immunology to bone biology, Laurie Glimcher, Melvin Glimcher, and colleagues report that knocking out an immune-system signaling protein, Schnurri-3, in mice created animals that form bone more than four times faster than do wild-type mice. The researchers identified the molecular mechanism behind this unexpected phenotype and now are looking for small molecules that disrupt the Schnurri-3 pathway that naturally inhibits bone growth. Molecules that appear effective would be therapeutic candidates against the bone-wasting disease osteoporosis. Their research appears in the May 26 Science.

GENOMICS: DNA Yields Details of Human–Chimp Split
A study published online in Nature on May 17, led by David Reich, gives genetic evidence that the split between humans and chimpanzees occurred later than the fossil record suggests. The team discovered that different parts of the genomes diverged at widely different times, and the X chromosomes of the two primates are surprisingly alike. The scientists have put forward a hypothesis to explain their data: that humans and chimps may have split initially but then interbred before separating for good.

MEDICAL REPORTING: Prescription for More Reliable Health News Reporting
A colloquium at the Harvard School of Public Health, with Jay Winsten and colleagues, discussed the tendency of health coverage to distort facts and potentially undermine the credibility of the research it is based on. Health news needs more caveats and nuances said the panelists. Winsten offers 10 steps for improving the coverage of health research.

CELL BIOLOGY: Agent Stops Cell Traffic at Point of Entry
The protein dynamin is thought to play an important role in the formation of clathrin-coated pits, a type of cargo-carrying vesicle in the cell. Dynamin comes in at the end of the process and essentially pinches off the completed vesicle from the cell membrane. Yet Tomas Kirchhausen and his colleagues report in the June 6 Developmental Cell that dynamin seems to play a dual role: not only does it detach the completed vesicle, but it also plays a part earlier in the process, at the point of early pit formation. The researchers made their traffic-stopping discovery by identifying a molecule, dynasore, with the ability to block dynamin activity. The blocker may serve as a research tool for tracing numerous molecular pathways.