Transposable elements (TEs), or transposons, form a major fraction of the eukaryotic genome (Kidwell and Lisch 2001). Dismissed for some time as junk DNA, these repetitive sequences are now recognized for their diverse evolutionary roles. In this issue of Genome Research, Bao and Eddy (2002) describe a software tool (RECON) for de novo annotation of transposons in genomic sequence, offering new...

The cosmological redshift drift could lead to the next step in high-precision cosmic geometric observations, becoming a direct and irrefutable test for cosmic acceleration. In order to test the viability and possible properties of this effect, also called Sandage-Loeb (SL) test, we generate a model-independent mock data set in order to compare its constraining power with that of the future mock...

ABSTRACT The Universe is currently undergoing accelerated expansion driven by dark energy. Dark energy’s essential nature remains mysterious: one means of revealing it measuring the Universe’s size at different redshifts. This may be done using baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature, a standard ruler in galaxy two-point correlation function (2PCF). In order to measure distance scale, dilates...

INTRODUCTION Singaporeans are superstitious, and medical staff are no exception to the rule. We conducted a survey to determine the prevalence of superstitious beliefs and practices amongst doctors, nurses and medical students in Singapore. METHODS Internet and face-to-face surveys of 68 respondents, all of whom completed the survey after being threatened with curses and hexes. RESULTS Sixt...