CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., June 3 (UPI) -- First it was Tuesday, then it was Thursday and now the U.S. space agency has decided on Saturday for the launch of its newest space telescope.

The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, is now to lift off Saturday from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida between 11:45 a.m. and 1:40 p.m. EDT -- a launch window that will remain unchanged through August.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration had originally targeted June 3 for the launch of the space observatory aboard a Delta II rocket, but then moved the date to June 5 after deciding additional time was necessary for the Delta II launch team to assure all engineering issues had been resolved. Officials Monday again decided more time was necessary and moved the liftoff date to Saturday.

NASA says the GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, along with contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the United States.

Damaged brains helped by stem cell therapy

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., June 3 (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists say they have found a way in which neuronal stem cells in the adult brain might be used in treating brain injuries.

According to some experts, newly born adult neuronal brain stem cells could help repair brain injuries, but first a way must be found to regulate the manner in which they are created -- a process known as neurogenesis.

The researchers led by Laurence Katz of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine suggest a way in which that might be achieved.

According to the study, neurogenesis can be regulated through induced hypothermia. In rat subjects, a mild decrease in body temperature was found to substantially decrease the proliferation of newly-born neurons, the researchers said.

"Many questions remain before we adequately understand how to control these cells to repair a damaged brain," said Katz. "However, the findings represent an important step in demonstrating these cells can be controlled by simple external forces like hypothermia."

He presented the findings last weekend in Washington during the annual meeting of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. Abstracts of that presentation appear in the May supplemental issue of the journal Academic Emergency Medicine.

Phoenix lifts first scoop of Martian soil

PASADENA, Calif., June 3 (UPI) -- One week after landing on Mars, the U.S. space agency's Phoenix spacecraft has lifted its first scoop of Martian soil as a test of the lander's robotic arm.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the Monday practice scoop was emptied onto the ground after a robotic arm camera photographed the soil inside the scoop. The Phoenix control team said it plans to have the arm deliver its next scoopful later this week to an instrument that heats and sniffs the sample to identify ingredients.

NASA said a bright material appeared in the scooped up soil and in the hole from which it came. "That bright material might be ice or salt," said Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis, co-investigator for the robotic arm. "We're eager to do testing of the next three surface samples collected nearby to learn more about it."

The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith at the University of Arizona with project management by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; the Max Planck Institute in Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

New genetic insight offered into ALS

TOKYO, June 3 (UPI) -- Japanese researchers say they've gained valuable insight into the genetics of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

Up to about 10 percent of all ALS cases are inherited and of those, about 20 percent are the result of an inherited genetic mutation on chromosome 21, in the gene encoding for the superoxide dismutase 1, or SOD1, enzyme, the researchers said.

Now Hidenori Ichijo, Hideki Nishitoh and colleagues at the University of Tokyo have discovered how mutations in SOD1 lead to motor neuron cell death and the progression of ALS. The researchers characterized a molecular pathway by which mutated SOD1 contributes to the accumulation of malformed proteins that can eventually induce cell death.

The researchers also discovered inactivation of certain key factors in that pathway could mitigate neurodegeneration and prolong survival in a mouse model of inherited ALS.

Although not all familial ALS cases are due to the SOD1 mutation -- and not all people with a mutated form of SOD1 develop ALS -- the scientists said their findings might aid in the development of an effective treatment for the disease.