AAAS, Science NOW

News Summaries -- The week's news highlights, from Science Magazine

The director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is facing a decision: whether to run the lab's 25-year-old atom smasher, the Tevatron collider, for an additional 3 years through 2014 at the cost of delaying other projects that could enhance the lab's long-term viability.<br><br>Author: Adrian Cho

Data the Phoenix lander returned in 2008 on the isotopic composition of atmospheric carbon dioxide indicate that the martian atmosphere may have been chemically interacting with liquid water recently. And where there's liquid water, of course, there could be life.<br><br>Author: Richard A. Kerr

<i>Science</i>NOW reported this week that a bacterium can purify gold, African bush elephants avoid acacia trees that house swarming ant colonies—and preserve the surrounding landscape in the process, and fish oil fights inflammation by binding to a protein that's involved in inflammation, among other stories.

A remotely operated vehicle surveying the shallow water reefs of the Coral Triangle has captured stunning images of massive corals, as well as unusual crustaceans and fish living at depths never before surveyed, thousands of meters below the surface.<br><br>Author: Dennis Normile

Large-scale deforestation in the Amazon has declined by 47.5% over the past 12 months, according to a preliminary survey by the Brazilian Ministry of Environment using a low-resolution satellite.<br><br>Author: Antonio Regalado

<i>Science</i>Insider reported this week that Stanford University archaeologist Ian Hodder, who has directed excavations at Turkey's Çatalhöyük since 1993, has told the heads of the dig's specialty labs that they will be asked to step down beginning in 2012, among other stories.

After failing to meet its major conservation goal, the Convention on Biological Diversity is setting new targets for stemming the loss of species.<br><br>Author: Erik Stokstad

By sorting out plant names and growing threatened species, botanic gardens are trying to do their part for plant conservation.<br><br>Author: Elizabeth Pennisi

A hot spot for undiscovered flora and fauna, Indonesia is beginning to take steps to preserve its forests and its biological heritage.<br><br>Author: Dennis Normile