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(American Institute of Biological Sciences) The American Institute of Biological Sciences has selected Meredith Niles, a graduate student at the University of California, Davis, Ryan Richards, a graduate student at the University of Maryland, College Park, and Leslie Smith, a graduate student at the University of Rhode Island, to receive the 2010 AIBS Emerging Public Policy Leadership Award (EPPLA).

(Kansas State University) Dolores Takemoto, a K-State professor of biochemistry who was researching protein kinase C gamma in the lens of the human eye, found her work taking a fascinating turn when she discovered a correlation between the protein Coonexin46 and hypoxia -- a deficiency of oxygen which kills normal tissue cells. Takemoto believes the findings will lead to serious advancements in treating retinoblastoma, a cancer that forms in the tissue of the retina.

(Purdue University) For decades, the traditional practice in animal testing has been standardization, but a study involving Purdue University has shown that adding as few as two controlled environmental variables to preclinical mice tests can greatly reduce costly false positives, the number of animals needed for testing and the cost of pharmaceutical trials.

(Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres) The extremely strong earthquake in Chile on 27 February this year was a complicated rupture process. Scientists ofthe GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences analyzed the first 134 seconds of the quake.

(VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland) Kemira Oyj and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland will establish a Centre of Water Efficiency Excellence to Finland. The present Finnish competence of the water sector is being gathered into one center. The aim is to construct a new and unique competence of the water sector in Finland and to create new business opportunities for companies in the environmental technology sector.

(University of Warwick) An international team of astronomers, including Professor Tom Marsh and Dr. Danny Steeghs from the University of Warwick, have shown that the two stars in the binary HM Cancri definitely revolve around each other in a mere 5.4 minutes. This makes HM Cancri the binary star with by far the shortest known orbital period. It is also the smallest known binary.

(Case Western Reserve University) Melissa Knothe Tate, of Case Western Reserve University, and Ulf Knothe, of the Cleveland Clinic, have shown that the stem-cell rich periosteum sheath around bone can be used to mend serious bone loss faster and more simply than bone grafts. The pair has developed an artificial periosteum that can be implanted in patients who have too little of the natural covering left.

(National Science Foundation) After more than three decades of service to researchers and staff stationed at the bottom of the world, the dome at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station was deconstructed this austral summer.

(Cornell University) Consider this T-shirt: It can monitor your heart rate and breathing, analyze your sweat and even cool you off on a hot summer's day. Or a solar-powered dress that can charge your ipod or MP4 player? This is not science fiction -- this is cotton in 2010.

(Vilcek Foundation) The Vilcek Foundation is pleased to announce the granting of the 2010 Vilcek Prize for Biomedical Science and the Vilcek Prize, for Creative Promise. Both prizes are awarded only to foreign-born American citizens to reflect the guiding philosophy, values, and mission of the Vilcek Foundation and its founders -- Dr. Jan and Marica Vilcek -- who immigrated to this country from Czechoslovakia in the 1960s.