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A nationwide ban on affirmative action in college admissions would cause a 10 percent drop in black and Hispanic enrollment at the nation's most selective colleges and universities, according to a new study. Overall black and Hispanic representation in four-year institutions would decline by two percent, the study found.

The research, conducted by economist Jessica Howell of California State University, Sacramento, is published in the January issue of the Journal of Labor Economics.

Boston, Mass. -- Melanoma, if not detected in its early stages, transforms into a highly deadly, treatment-resistant cancer. Although the immune system initially responds to melanoma and mounts anti-tumor attacks, these assaults are generally ineffective, allowing more advanced melanomas to win the battle and spread beyond the primary site. Now, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) shed light on how melanomas stimulate, yet ultimately evade, a patient's immune system.

The poster child for sustainable fish farming—the tilapia—is actually a problematic invasive species for the native fish of the islands of Fiji, according to a new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups.

Scientists suspect that tilapia introduced to the waterways of the Fiji Islands may be gobbling up the larvae and juvenile fish of several native species of goby, fish that live in both fresh and salt water and begin their lives in island streams.

Genetic analyses of avian influenza in wild birds can help pinpoint likely carrier species and geographic hot spots where Eurasian viruses would be most likely to enter North America, according to new U.S. Geological Survey research.

On the marine microbial stage, there appears to be a vast, varied group of understudies only too ready to step in when "star" microbes "break a leg."

At least that's what happens at the Lost City hydrothermal vent field, according to research results published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS).

Philadelphia, Jan. 12, 2010– Studying genes that regulate early heart development in animals, scientists have solved a puzzle about one gene's role, finding that it acts in concert with a related gene. Their finding contributes to understanding how the earliest stages of heart development may go awry, resulting in congenital heart defects in humans.

Vancouver, BC – As agricultural land becomes increasingly valuable, the need to maximize its utilization increases and decisions about what crops to plant and where, become paramount.

The sunflower family includes a number of valuable food crops, with sunflower seed production alone valued at about $14 billion annually. Yet the sunflower family is the only one of a handful of economically important plant families where a reference genome is not available to enable the breeding of crops better suited to their growing environment or consumers tastes.