Advance on deadly cancers

Effective treatments for two cancers may be a step closer thanks to studies of their genetic blueprints. The results of analyses of pancreatic and brain tumours are reported in two papers published online on Friday by the journal Science. Glioblastoma multiforme, known in the UK as grade 4 astrocytoma, is the most aggressive form of brain cancer. A team at Johns Hopkins University in the US has sequenced 20,000 genes from 20 different GBM tumours. It found a mutation of a single gene - IDH1 - was most common in patients aged under 35 and in those with secondary tumours.

"Patients with IDH1 mutations seem to be different from other patients with GBM, both clinically and biologically," said Victor Velculescu, associate professor of oncology. Screening for this genetic marker may lead to better treatments.

In another study of 24 pancreatic cancer tumours researchers found 12 biological pathways present in at least two-thirds of the tumours studied. Drugs may be developed to target these specific pathways.

"We used to think we had one enemy that was well defined," said Kenneth Kinzler of the Ludwig Center at Johns Hopkins. "Now we see that there are a lot of these enemies. It's more like guerrilla warfare."

Bird duets are not all harmony

A paper in Thursday's Current Biology may explain why some birds sing impressive duets.

Pairs of rufous-and-white wrens sing in concert to keep track of each other. A "call and response" song allows the birds to find each other in the forest.

The wrens' songs are often so closely co-ordinated that human listeners mistake the call for that of a single bird. But Daniel Mennill of the University of Windsor in Canada, says these songs may have more sinister undertones.

"Your first impression after you hear the duet of a pair of tropical birds is one of great harmony and co-operation, but there is a darker side to duets; tropical birds also perform duets in very aggressive contexts, and respond with special aggression to rival individuals of the same sex," said Mr Mennill.

Remembering The Simpsons

A neuron that fires in response to videos of The Simpsons and Seinfeld is telling scientists how memory works, according to a study published online by the journal Science.

In severe epilepsy, patients may have an electrode implanted in the brain to understand better their seizures. These electrodes give a unique insight into the working of the mind. Thirteen epilepsy patients volunteered for a study of memory by Hagar Gelbard-Sagiv and US and Israeli colleagues.

They were shown 48 short video clips of famous people and places. In many of the patients, one neuron responded every time they saw a particular video.

Researchers then asked volunteers to tell them when any of the videos came to mind. A neuron typically sprang into action a second and a half before the volunteers mentioned a video that it had previously responded to, suggesting the memory was "replayed" in the volunteer's mind.