http://www.sciencemag.org Summaries of this week's top stories, from Science Magazine American Association for the Advancement of Science Stewart Wills (mailto:swills@aaas.org) Copyright 2008 American Association for the Advancement of Science 2008-05-07T13:52:07-05:00 en http://www.sciencemag.org/icons/banner/title.gif http://www.sciencemag.org http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/320/5877/728?rss=1 A parade of speakers last week gave the U.S. government failing grades for not heeding the recommendations in <i>Rising Above the Gathering Storm</i> calling for bigger research budgets, more undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships, changes in immigration policy, and an improved environment for innovation.<br><br>Author: Jeffrey Mervis Jeffrey Mervis http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/320/5877/729?rss=1 A paper on page <A HREF="http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/320/5877/784">784</A> of this week's issue of <i>Science</i> provides some support for the hypothesis that the first Americans took the coastal route from Asia rather than traveling inland.<br><br>Author: Michael Balter Michael Balter http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/320/5877/730?rss=1 An analysis of the platypus genome reveals how its DNA is an amalgam of mammalian and reptilian features.<br><br>Author: Elizabeth Finkel Elizabeth Finkel http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/320/5877/731a?rss=1 Politicians in five U.S. states are pushing bills to enable educators to teach alternatives to evolution by protecting their "right" to discuss with students the idea of intelligent design.<br><br>Author: Yudhijit Bhattacharjee Yudhijit Bhattacharjee http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/320/5877/732?rss=1 Officials in southern China's Guizhou Province are hoping to head off future attempts at "biopiracy"--the plunder of natural resources--by enshrining the protection of indigenous knowledge into law.<br><br>Author: Richard Stone Richard Stone http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/320/5877/734?rss=1 Neurobiologists, philosophers, psychologists, and legal scholars are probing the nature of human morality using a variety of experimental techniques, including one <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1153651">reported online</a> this week in <i>Science</i>, and moral challenges.<br><br>Author: Greg Miller Greg Miller http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/320/5877/738?rss=1 The Phoenix lander will soon arrive at Mars to perform the first analyses of martian water and to probe the rocky polar soil as a habitat for life; it has been a struggle.<br><br>Author: Richard A. Kerr Richard A. Kerr http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/320/5877/740?rss=1 A surprise hit, the new TV comedy <i>The Big Bang Theory</i> plumbs science for laughs, thanks to aid from physicist David Saltzberg and friend.<br><br>Author: Karen Heyman Karen Heyman http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/320/5877/742?rss=1 Researchers in the emerging field of wildlife reintroduction battle hawks, habitat loss, and poachers to give animals a second chance.<br><br>Author: Virginia Morell Virginia Morell