In 1997, a second species of coelacanth wasdiscovered near the Indonesian island ofManado Tua.

Germany looks to sequencebacterial genomesMunich The German government haslaunched an initiative in microbiology thatwill concentrate on investigating bacterialgenomes.

Under the GenoMik initiative, the federalscience ministry plans to spend DM40million (US$18 million) over the next threeyears studying these genomes. It hopes thework will lead not only to treatments forhuman disease, but also to a betterunderstanding of bulk processes that may

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Europe’s patentoffice skips debateon biotech rulesMunich Member states of the European PatentOffice (EPO), meeting last week, disappoint-ed both researchers and opponentsof genepatenting when they declined to clarify European rules for the protection ofdiscoveries in biotechnology.

“Considering the European Union’sleading political and legislative role in thisarea, the EPO decided not to start a paralleldiscussion,” said Roland Grossenbacher,president of the EPO.

The meeting did agree that computerprograms should not be patented. Critics saythis rule drives software companies fromEurope to the United States or Japan, whereprograms can be patented.

The EPO also agreed on steps to increasethe efficiency of the European patent system,such as allowing patent applications to befiled in any language.

Japan targets environmentand nanotechnologyTokyo Japan’s Council for Science and Tech-nology, chaired by Prime Minister YoshiroMori, has released a draft five-year plan for

science and technology, giving top priority toresearch in the life sciences, the environment,nanotechnology and information technology.

Research funding for 2001–2005, theperiod covered in the plan, will total ¥24trillion (US$216 billion), including adoubling of competitive grants from ¥300billion to ¥600 billion each year.

The plan will also push for mobilityamong young researchers in governmentlaboratories by putting those under 35 onfixed-term five-year contracts. It will alsoallocate money for a more thorough systemof research evaluation, involving moreexternal and international review of projects.

Coelacanth stars inSouth African filmCape Town The coelacanth, an ancient fishthat has existed for at least 360 million years,has been filmed for the first time in decades by divers exploring a reef at Sordwana Bay,just south of South Africa’s border withMozambique.

Michael Bruton, secretary of theCoelacanth Conservation Council, says thereis absolutely no doubt that the pictures are ofa coelacanth. The species, which was thoughtto be extinct until the last sighting in SouthAfrican waters in 1938, has also beenobserved off Madagascar and Mozambique.

Caught on camera: the ancient South Africancoelacanth was considered at risk of extinction.

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have potential applications in industry or forcleaning up the environment.

The initiative completes a portfolio offederal funding for research on human andplant genomics. Both academic andindustrial institutions are eligible toparticipate.

Royal Society calls forbetter communicationLondon Britain’s Royal Society is to spend£1 million (US$1.5 million) on encouragingscientists to communicate more effectivelywith the public.

Details of the Science and Societyprogramme remain to be thrashed out, but it will be headed by Paul Nurse, director-general of the Imperial Cancer ResearchFund. He has asked outside consultants toevaluate and cost different ways ofcommunicating science to the public. Theirreport is expected later this month.

Projects may include communicationtraining for scientists, awards for researcherswho explain their work to a wider audience,and links between science museums andresearch agencies. The five-year initiative was announced last week by the society’soutgoing president, Aaron Klug, in hisfarewell address, and will be paid for by agrant from the Kohn Foundation.

Biomedical whistleblowersto receive protectionSan Diego New rules to protect ‘whistle-blowers’ who inform on people suspected ofresearch misconduct have been proposed bythe US government.

The rules will require institutionsreceiving grants from the Public HealthService — which includes the NationalInstitutes of Health — to produce writtenprocedures aimed at preventing retaliationagainst whistleblowers who expose scientificor financial misconduct.

Interested parties have 60 days tocomment on the rules, which were drawn upby the Office of Research Integrity. ➧ http://www.ori.hhs.gov

Large celestial objectstuns astronomersWashington The Solar System gained a newassociate member last week, whenastronomers in Tucson, Arizona, found anobject that may be half as large as Pluto in theKuiper belt, beyond the orbit of Neptune.

The object, now designated as WR106,was spotted by the Arizona Spacewatch teamduring routine scans for potentiallydangerous objects crossing the Earth’s orbit.Brian Marsden of the Harvard-Smithsonian

Center for Astrophysics in Massachusettsestimates that it is about 1,000 kilometres indiameter.

WR106 is so bright that Marsden believesit will show up in photos taken over the past40 years by the Palomar Sky Survey. Thesedata, together with further observations overthe next two months, should allowastronomers to determine its orbit.

HIV-positive men offeredhope of healthy childrenTokyo In an experiment that could allow menwith AIDS to have healthy children, doctors atNiigata University plan to perform in vitrofertilization this month using HIV-positivesperm from which the virus has beenremoved. The virus-removal method, developed by researchers at Ogikubo Hospitaland Keio University, involves breaking downviral RNA or DNA within the semen and usinga centrifuge to recover the sperm.

Researchers say the method will allow theselection of sperm with a less than one in a100,000 chance of being tainted by HIV. They add that, even if the embryo happenedto be infected, the use of in vitro fertilizationdecreases the chances of the mother beinginfected. The experiment has been approvedby the ethics committees of the relevantuniversities.

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NATURE | VOL 408 | 7 DECEMBER 2000 | www.nature.com 633© 2000 Macmillan Magazines Ltd