PHRED AND THE HUMAN GENOME PROJECT: As the race between a public consortium and its commercial rival, the Celera Corporation, to sequence the human genome heats up, the New York Times took a look at the one factor that may determine who wins: Phred. The program, created by associate professor of molecular biotechnology Philip Green, provides highly accurate sequences. But Green needs to update Phred soon, said Celera, in order for the company to beat the public entity, which includes the UW, working on the project. Green said that he “may have enough data by the end of the summer” to update Phred.

WHERE’S THE FOOD: In a New York Times story about the eating and dieting habits of men and women, Adam Drewnowski, director of the Nutrition Sciences Program, offered his insights into the male relationship with food. “Men will exercise rather than diet,” Drewnowski said. “Dieting is a last resort.” But when men do diet and succumb to tasty temptations, they want fat and salt. “That means hot dogs, pizza and nachos,” he said. For half the human race, that adds up to one fine, exquisitely balanced meal, added the Times.

MORE FAMILY DOCS HEALING THE BRAIN: A story on how family doctors are getting more involved in their patients’ mental health care, the Wall Street Journal asked psychiatry professor Wayne Keaton for his take. Keaton said better physician training and drugs that are easier to prescribe, such as Prozac, have helped family doctors address mental health issues. “Doctors are fix-it people; when they get a good tool, they’re more interested in the disease.

QUANTUM LEAPS, COSMIC INSIGHTS: Physics and astronomy professor Craig Hogan told USA Today in a story about why the universe looks the way it does that the vacuum of space has a magical property. Instead of pulling two objects closer together, the vacuum exerts a repulsive gravitational force that pushes objects away from each other and has created such an enormous universe, he said.

Newsmakers is a periodic column reporting on the coverage of the University of Washington by the national press and broadcasting services.¶