Crystal Ball

A rendered image of the protein shell that surrounds monkey cancer virus Simian Virus SV40 (the image is based on cryo-electronmicroscopy data). Image Credit: Image is from VIrus Particle ExploreR (VIPER)

Crystals on a Ball: Researchers attack 100-year-old puzzle, learn how a single layer of particles can pack on the surface of a sphere
In a discovery that is likely to impact fields as diverse as medicine and nanomanufacture, researchers have determined how nature arranges charged particles in a thin layer around a sphere. The leap forward in understanding this theoretical problem may help reveal structural chinks in the outer armor of viruses and bacteria (revealing potential drug targets) and guide engineers designing new molecules. In the March 14 issue of the journal Science, researchers describe a major breakthrough in the puzzle, supported by experiments with water droplets and tiny, self-assembling beads. The researchers demonstrate how spherical crystals compensate for the curved surface on which they exist by developing “scars,” defects that allow the beads to pack into place.
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Educating for the Future: NSF Joins in ESTME Week Celebration
Excellence in Science, Technology, and Mathematics Education (ESTME) Week is March 16-22, 2003. To celebrate, the Office of Science and Technology Policy of the Executive Office of the President has joined with government agencies, including NSF, and societies, organizations and associations to create activities and events to help parents, teachers, and professionals excite K-12 students about science and mathematics. “By challenging and engaging students in these critical fields, we can lay the groundwork for an exciting future of invention, progress and discovery,” noted President George Bush in a message from the White House.
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White House Announces Nation's Top Science, Engineering, Mathematics Mentors
The White House announced on March 14 the president’s selection of 10 individuals and six institutions to receive the 2002 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics, Science and Engineering Mentoring. The president annually recognizes the people and institutions that have provided broad opportunities for participation by women, minorities and disabled persons in science, mathematics and engineering at the elementary, secondary, undergraduate and graduate education levels.
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Normal larvae (at left) from the nematode Nippostrongylus brasiliensis, which inhabits rat intestines as a parasite, are pictured at 75 X magnification and (at right) same-aged N. brasiliensis larvae three days after exposure to Bt crystal protein known as Cry21A. The scale bar equals 100 microns, or one-tenth of a millimeter. Image Credit: Image courtesy of Raffi Aroian, UCSD

With Toxic Crystals, Bacterium Targets -- and Takes out -- Nematodes
Roundworms, hookworms, watch out. Scientists announced that a soil bacterium's crystal proteins, long an effective weapon against many insect pests, are toxic to some nematodes, too. The crystal proteins -- created by some strains of Bacillus thuringiensis, more commonly known as Bt -- thwart the development of some nematodes and kill others outright. The findings, which appear in the March 4 journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, raise the possibility that these proteins might one day be used to combat parasitic worms that infect nearly one-fourth of the world's human population. Nematodes -- unsegmented, long, round worms pointed at both ends -- are responsible for illnesses that can lead to elephantiasis of the limbs, intestinal lesions, a type of meningitis and "river blindness."
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