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KINGSTON, On. - Research by post-doctoral fellow Alexander Dececchi challenges long-held hypotheses about how flight first developed in birds. Furthermore, his findings raise the question of why certain species developed wings long before they could fly.

The quality of health care provided to US military veterans in Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities compares favorably with the treatment and services delivered outside the VA, according to a new study. In fact, VA facilities perform better in some cases when it comes to the safety and effectiveness of the treatment provided. Those findings are from a systematic review of 69 studies which weigh up the quality of health care provided in VA facilities compared to other settings. The review¹ was led by Dr.

Washington, DC (July 18, 2016) - Video Games are an ubiquitous part of our lives. You can find people wandering the streets playing Pokémon Go, or spending hours playing massive multiplayer online games. Because they hold such value in our everyday lives, how they reflect the everyday is more important than ever, especially for those who don't have much say in their creation. So how are underrepresented groups, like women, portrayed and utilized in games?

A Drexel University study found that huge disparities exist between the cost of sugary soft drinks and the price of the healthier alternative milk -- differences that could be reduced by taxes like the one just approved in Philadelphia.

Looking at the prices of soda in 1,743 supermarkets across the country, researchers from Drexel's Dornsife School of Public Health found that, on average, milk cost 160 percent more per fluid ounce than soda.

HOUSTON - (July 18, 2016) - Rice University researchers have developed gas biosensors to "see" into soil and allow them to follow the behavior of the microbial communities within.

In a study in the American Chemical Society's journal Environmental Science and Technology, the Rice team described using genetically engineered bacteria that release methyl halide gases to monitor microbial gene expression in soil samples in the lab.

With nearly 3.2 billion people currently at risk of contracting malaria, scientists from the Institut Pasteur, the CNRS and Inserm have experimentally developed a live, genetically attenuated vaccine for Plasmodium, the parasite responsible for the disease. By identifying and deleting one of the parasite's genes, the scientists enabled it to induce an effective, long-lasting immune response in a mouse model. These findings were published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine on July 18, 2016.

An international team of scientists has solved a case of mistaken identity and discovered a new species of venomous snake.

The Ethics of Infection Challenges in Primates

Anne Barnhill, Steven Joffe, and Franklin G. Miller

A team of researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Engineering in Medicine (MGH-CEM) have created a "liver on a chip," a model of liver tissue that replicates the metabolic variations found throughout the organ and more accurately reflects the distinctive patterns of liver damage caused by exposure to environmental toxins, including pharmaceutical overdose. Their report has been published online in the journal Scientific Reports.

Biologists and mathematicians from MIPT, Stony Brook University and other scientific research centres have taught a computer to predict the structure of protein complexes in a cell 10 times faster than before. The study has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

Baltimore, Md. - July 18, 2016 - Researchers investigating a novel device to repair the mitral heart valve report 100 percent procedural success in a safety and performance study, the first such study done in humans. The image-guided device, based on technology developed at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, is deployed through a tiny opening in a beating heart, avoids open-heart surgery, automates a key part of the valve repair process, simplifies the procedure and reduces operating room time. The research is published in the journal Circulation.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Scientists at Florida State University, Baylor College of Medicine and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT have broken ground in a little-understood area of human genetics.

In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers show that an unusual DNA repeat element on an inactive X chromosome is actually essential to the overall three-dimensional structure of this female-specific genetic phenomenon.

La Jolla, Calif., July 18, 2016 -- Scientists at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have identified over 100 new genetic regions that affect the immune response to cancer. The findings, published in Cancer Immunology Research, could inform the development of future immunotherapies--treatments that enhance the immune system's ability to kill tumors.

Up to 15 percent of colorectal cancers show a genetic mutation known as DNA mismatch repair deficiency, or dMMR. Until now, little has been known about how the mutation behaves in rectal cancer patients, what causes dMMR, and which treatments may be most effective.

The novelty factor of e-cigarettes is the key motivation for their use by adolescents, according to a study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).