The Good News

• Comtan, an existing medication for Parkinson’s disease, could also be used to fight drug-resistant tuberculosis, say biochemists at the University of California at San Diego.
• An international team of researchers reports that indium selenide crystals efficiently convert heat into electricity. Such thermoelectric materials could recover waste heat in cars and elsewhere, then put it to good use.
• The first-ever phase III clinical trial for a malaria vaccine is getting under way in seven countries in Africa. The vaccine may be widely available by 2012.

The Bad News

• New GPS satellites may not launch in time to replace failing older equipment, which could impair both military and civilian applications, according to the Government Accountability Office.
• Even if all greenhouse emissions were to stop today, atmospheric carbon dioxide will remain high for millennia, and ocean surface temperatures will stay elevated even longer, a new study predicts.
• A strain of the ebola virus has turned up in pigs for the first time, the World Health Organization announced. This version of the virus, called Reston, has infected humans, but so far it does not appear to have caused illness.