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This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I'm SarahLong.

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And I'm Bob Doughty. On our program this week: more pressure onpublishers over the costs of scientific literature.

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An expert on Chinese history says Genghis Khan could read andwrite.

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Bulgarian scientists find anancient gold mask fit for a king.

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And, science and sports meet with "marathon mice."

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Prices for published research on science, medicine and othersubjects have been rising. This has been a problem for manylibraries, schools and individuals. In Britain, for example, theaverage price of an academic journal rose fifty-eight percentbetween nineteen ninety-eight and two thousand three.

Recently, British and American lawmakers have proposed measurestoward what is called open access publishing. Researchers would payto have their studies published. They would also be permitted tokeep the right to reprint their own work. And, if a government paysfor a study, the findings would be free for the public to read onthe Internet.

In Washington, there are proposals from the House AppropriationsCommittee. The committee said the National Institutes of Healthshould provide free access to any research it finances. Such accesswould normally be provided six months after a study has beenpublished in a journal. However, if a scientist used federal moneyto pay any publication costs, then the research would go on theInternet immediately.

These proposals now go to the Senate. The Science and TechnologyCommittee in the House of Commons made similar recommendations lastmonth to the British government.

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Critics, however, say such changes would decrease the number ofjournals. They say scientific publications would not have enoughmoney to stay in business.

Crispin Davis heads the publishing company Reed Elsevier inBritain. Mister Davis notes that many publishing companies alreadyoffer free access to some materials. But he says this kind ofliterature currently makes up only about one percent of what ispublished. As a result, he says he does not believe the "scholarpays" business model will succeed. Critics also say research couldbe influenced by whoever pays to publish the work, such as drugcompanies.

But supporters argue that open access publishing will helpresearchers in developing countries especially. If the proposalsbecome law, supporters say more experts from around the world willbe able to influence scientific discovery.

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This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm BobDoughty.

A Chinese history expert says he has found new evidence aboutGenghis Khan, the thirteenth century ruler of Mongolia. TengusBayaryn of Inner Mongolia University says the evidence shows thatGenghis Khan could both read and write. Historians have widelybelieved that he could do neither. Genghis Khan was over forty yearsold before there was a written Mongolian language.

The new evidence is a group of ancient documents. The professorsays these include a letter apparently written by Genghis Khan inthe year twelve nineteen. The message praises the writings of aTaoist religious leader. And it says the Mongolian ruler will readthe writings personally.

Professor Bayaryn says the letter was written in Mongolian andthe use of the word "personally" clearly suggests that Genghis Khancould read.

Genghis Khan unified Mongolian tribes to create a fighting forcethat controlled China and Central Asia. He became the Great Khan ofthe Mongol Empire. Later, he was declared Genghis Khan, or universalruler. His territory reached from Asia to present day Europe. Hedied in twelve twenty-seven.

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Bulgarian scientists have found a solid gold mask in the burialplace of a Thracian king from two thousand four hundred years ago.Thrace was an ancient country on the Balkan Peninsula insoutheastern Europe.

The research team found the mask near a village east of theBulgarian capital, Sofia. Georgi Kitov of the Institute ofArchaeology and Museum in Sofia says it is the first Thracian maskof solid gold ever found. Professor Kitov says the mask weighs fivehundred grams and shows a human face. He says the face may be thatof King Seutus the third.

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The Thracians were a tribal people. They lived in parts of whatis now Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Turkey and Greece. They livedat the same time as the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. TheThracians sometimes clashed with these other cultures. The Thraciansdisappeared as a people almost two thousand years ago. They had nowritten language.

The researchers who found the gold mask also found a ring nearby.It shows a man rowing a boat in what appears to be an Olympiccompetition. Professor Kitov had suggested that the discovery shouldbring good luck to the Bulgarian rowers at the Athens Olympics.Maybe it did. Rowers Ivo Yanakiev and Rumyana Neykova both finishedthird in their individual events.

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The Olympics closed Sunday after the men's marathon in Athens.Those athletes ran fast and far. Now imagine if those runners hadthe strength to go two times as far before getting tired. Scientistshave reported progress toward creating such an athlete. But, thisathlete would have trouble entering the Olympics.

Ronald Evans of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in LaJolla, California, led the research. He says his team of geneticscientists created mice that ran for one thousand eight hundredmeters on treadmill machines. A group of normal mice ran only ninehundred meters and they stopped after about an hour. The so-calledmarathon mice kept going for thirty more minutes.

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The scientists made some genetic changes in the mice thatinvolved a protein. The protein is called PPAR-delta. It helpscontrol the burning of fat in the body; it acts as a switch. Thescientists treated normal mice with an experimental drug. As aresult, the so-called fat switch was always active in the skeletalmuscles.

The scientists found that the activated form increased the rateat which the body burns fat. The mice had a lot more of the musclecells needed for long periods of exercise than normal mice. AndRonald Evans says the muscles also provided resistance to weightgain, even in mice that did not exercise.

The scientists say the PPAR-delta protein is a possible targetfor drugs to treat diabetes and disorders that result from too muchfat in the blood. They say the discovery could also lead totreatments for people who are obese, severely overweight.

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The Public Library of Science published the report in its freeonline journal PLoS Biology, at publiclibraryofscience -- one word-- dot o-r-g.

There was also a separate report on a study at the University ofCalifornia, San Diego. Professor Randall Johnson and his team saythey increased energy levels in mice by removing a gene. That genecontrols how skeletal muscles burn fat when there are changes inoxygen levels in the muscle tissue.

Muscles in mammals normally burn fat through a process that usesoxygen. This process is called aerobic metabolism. But if oxygenlevels get low, the muscles begin to burn fat without the use ofoxygen. That is called anaerobic metabolism. It provides bursts ofpower but not long-term energy.

The scientists say the genetic change prevented the mice fromcreating energy this way. As a result, the animals could run for amuch longer period of time. They were also much better swimmers thannormal mice.

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But there was a price to pay. After four days of tests, thegenetically engineered mice had far more muscle damage than a groupof normal mice. The scientists did not know why that happened.Still, they say their work should interest medical researchersseeking treatments for genetic disorders in people.

But discoveries of ways to create super-athletic mice must surelyalso add to the worries of Olympic officials. The use of performancedrugs that are difficult to test for is already a problem.Genetically engineered athletes may be next.

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SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Jill Moss, Nancy Steinbach andCaty Weaver. Cynthia Kirk was our producer. This is Bob Doughty.

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And this is Sarah Long. To send us e-mail, write tospecial@voanews.com. And join us again next week for more news aboutscience, in Special English, on the Voice of America.