The J. Craig Venter Institute filed an application to patent a minimal genome, consisting of fewer than 400 genes required to sustain life, with the aim, apparently, of cornering the market in synthetic life-forms designed to produce ethanol or hydrogen fuel. Researchers working on the creation of cyborg computer chips successfully stored information in live neurons for the first time; other researchers unveiled a sensor chip controlled by a slime mold. Scientists came up with a new, relatively easy technique for reprogramming the skin cells of mice into embryonic stem cells, and it was discovered that mouse mothers and fathers are more interested in the distress calls of mouse ...