Gene scan advances fight against AIDS

WASHINGTON -- Researchers have found more than 200 possible new targets for better AIDS drugs by doing a kind of backward search -- looking at human cells to see what resources they have that can be hijacked by the deadly virus. They scanned all the genes in the human genome and found 273 protein-coding genes that the human immunodeficiency virus uses to infect cells and propagate itself.

Mercury in sight

WASHINGTON -- A NASA probe this week will become the first spacecraft in 33 years to fly by Mercury, a sojourn scientists hope will unlock the secrets of the small sun-baked planet. NASA's car-sized MESSENGER spacecraft is scheduled to zip about 124 miles above the cratered, rocky surface of the closest planet to the sun on Monday, part of a mission designed to place it into orbit around Mercury in 2011.

Peering deeper into cells

CHICAGO -- U.S. researchers have made a very small research tool that may one day help scientists probe the activity of genes and proteins in a single cell, opening the door to a new realm of genetic research. The tool is designed to do the work of current gene chip systems used to examine thousands of genes at the same time for mutations or to uncover clues to disease.

Clones cleared to eat

BRUSSELS -- Meat and milk from cloned animals moved a step closer to European Union supermarket shelves on Friday after the bloc's top food safety agency said cloned food products are safe to eat.

Understating nuclear threat

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Energy has overstated the success of a long-standing program to prevent former Soviet nuclear scientists from selling their secrets to the highest bidder, a U.S. watchdog said on Friday. The U.S. Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention program was launched a few years after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union to provide employment to former Soviet scientists involved in weapons of mass destruction development.

Satellite retired

SEOUL -- South Korea is ending the mission of its first multipurpose satellite, launched in 1999, after losing contact with it at the end of December, its space agency said on Friday. The Arirang satellite had an original mission of three years, mapping the Earth's surface. It continued in operation for several more years after that, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute said.