Body

Scientists have long known that our bodies need to control the communities of bacteria in the gut to prevent a beneficial environment from turning into a dangerous one. What hasn't been known is how we do this.

Now, Oxford University researchers have proposed a clever solution to the problem: make good bacteria sticky so they don't get lost. The key to this is for a host to target good bacteria over bad ones - potentially via the immune system, which produces highly-specific adhesive molecules called immunoglobulins (specifically 'IgA') that coat the bacteria in the gut.

ITHACA, N.Y. - According to a recent study, the size of a common ground-nesting bee - an important crop pollinator - has grown smaller in heavily farmed landscapes.

The link between intensive agriculture and the size of Andrena nasonii bees has important implications for how farmers might diversify these landscapes to benefit bees. It also points out yet another potential threat to pollinators, along with mites, pesticides and loss of habitat.

Can prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for prostate cancer be cost-effective? A study, commentary and author interview published online by JAMA Oncology examines that question.

The future of PSA screening is uncertain with the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force's recommendation against routine PSA screening for prostate cancer and conservative guidance from other panels.

How much would you be willing to pay to fix a facial defect? A new study published online by JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery examined that question.

As the incidence of skin cancer has increased, reconstruction of facial defects because of surgery to remove cancer is an increasingly common reason for patients to see a facial plastic surgeon.

Alexandria, VA - In 2013, researchers uncovered the graves of two infants laid to rest about 11,500 years ago outside of what is now Fairbanks, Alaska. Researchers understood that these graves represented some of the earliest human migrants to North America, but were they more closely related to their Asian ancestors, or the modern-day residents of North and South America? Using mitochondrial DNA analysis of the infants, what could we learn about our own human history?

A leading global public health commission is calling for new policies that would transform our approach to drug use, addiction and control worldwide, including the decriminalization of minor and non-violent drug offenses.

LAWRENCE -- For about 60 million years during the Eocene epoch, the Indian subcontinent was a huge island. Having broken off from the ancient continent of Gondwanaland, the Indian Tectonic Plate drifted toward Eurasia.

During that gradual voyage, the subcontinent saw a blossoming of exceptional wildlife, and when the trove of unique biodiversity finally made contact with bigger Eurasia, the exchange of animals and plants between these areas laid the foundations for countless modern species.

ITHACA, NY -- A protein that signals tissue damage to the human immune system has a counterpart that plays a similar role in plants, report researchers at the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI).

Researchers from New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) have identified unique anatomical features in a species of blind, walking cavefish in Thailand that enable the fish to walk and climb waterfalls in a manner comparable to tetrapods, or four-footed mammals and amphibians. The discovery of this capability, not seen in any other living fishes, also has implications for understanding how the anatomy that all species need to walk on land evolved after the transition from finned to limbed appendages in the Devonian period, which began some 420 million years ago.

Higher concentrations of the common plastics chemical and environmental pollutant Bisphenol A, or BPA, in a pregnant mother's blood may be a contributing factor in preterm births, according to a new study from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Overweight and obese adults who are losing weight with a high-protein diet are more likely to sleep better, according to new research from Purdue University.

Scientists at the University of Birmingham have developed tools to help restore vital eco-systems found in tropical mangrove forests around the world.

Hydrology experts at the University worked with counterparts in the Netherlands to test methods for measuring water levels in mangrove restoration projects. They then developed recommendations to help boost the likelihood of success for such projects.

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of California-Davis (UC Davis) are combining in vivo experimentation with computation for highly accurate prediction of the genome-wide binding pattern of a key protein involved in brain disorders.

• Drug laws intended to protect have contributed to lethal violence, disease transmission, discrimination, forced displacement and undermined people's right to health
• Non-violent minor drug offences should be decriminalised and health and social services for drug users strengthened

A heat shock (or stress) is one of the most studied factors of a cell stress, though its delayed effects remain largely unknown.