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MADISON, Wis. -- A changing climate is altering the ability of Rocky Mountain forests to recover from wildfire, according to a new study published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.

When warm, dry conditions lead to drought in the years following fires, it impedes the growth and establishment of vulnerable new post-fire seedlings. The study also shows that forest recovery has been negatively affected by increased distances between burned areas and the sources of seeds that typically replace trees lost to fire.

The Scottish bird population of red-billed choughs, which currently totals less than 60 breeding pairs and is of major conservation concern, is being affected by lethal blindness that is passed on by non-blind individuals that carry a mutant gene.

New research looks at the evolution of an altruistic defense by enslaved Temnothorax longispinosus ant workers that rebel against their social parasite Temnothorax americanus, a slavemaking ant.

Ant slaves have been observed to kill their oppressors' offspring, a behavior from which the sterile slaves cannot profit directly. Investigators wondered how such a defense trait can evolve even if it does not directly benefit its carriers.

CHAPEL HILL, NC - Vaginal transmission accounts for the majority of new HIV infections worldwide. Forms of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) such as vaginal gels and vaginal rings designed to prevent HIV transmission have encountered poor efficacy in human trials due to problems with adherence.

A new analysis indicates that death rates and the need for additional operations following laparoscopic surgery for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease are very low.

Among 8947 patients, 90- and 30-day mortality rates were 0.08% and 0.03%, respectively. Only 1 death (0.01%) was directly surgery-related. The 90-day reoperation rate was 0.4%.

The findings demonstrate that laparoscopic surgery offers a remarkably safe alternative to acid reflux drugs.

Scientists struggle to compare the magnitude of Earth's ongoing sixth mass-extinction event with the five great die-offs of prehistory. A new study by three paleontologists shows that the species now perishing may vanish without a permanent trace - and earlier extinctions may be underestimated as well.

"Comparing the current biodiversity crisis, often called the 'sixth extinction,' with those of the geological past requires equivalent data," says Roy Plotnick, professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Yeast has been a friend to humanity since ancient times, when people first learned to harness the organism to make bread and brew beer.

Yet, we don't always think of yeast as something remarkable. Instead, it's often perceived as plain or dull -- a single-celled organism that, like a plant, lacks the ability to move on its own accord.

But even the simplest creatures have their wonders, as a new piece of science shows.

Continued investment in invasive mammal eradications on islands offers a highly effective opportunity to stem the loss of our world's biodiversity. So concludes a 30-member team of scientists conducting the first ever global study quantifying benefits of this conservation intervention.

The identification of biological factors that predict which viruses are most likely to spread among humans could help prevent and contain outbreaks, a study in today's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports.

Most emerging infections arise from the transmission of viruses from animals to humans, but don't result in the sustained human-to-human transmission necessary to cause an epidemic. The early detection of viral infections capable of efficient transmission among humans is therefore critical for pandemic planning.

MADISON, Wis. -- A new study shows the economic and ecological impact of invasive species in the Great Lakes has been dramatically underestimated. In fact, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a single non-native species in a single inland lake has racked up $80 million to $163 million in damage.

The findings suggest a need to recalculate the cost of invasive species.

Possessing two X chromosomes is a double-edged sword, immunologically speaking. Females are better at fighting off infection than males, but they are also more susceptible to many autoimmune conditions, such as lupus.

A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and led by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania now offers the first mechanistic explanation for why this is the case.

Catharanthus roseus (rosy periwinkle) is a plant that produces organic compounds used to treat cancer, arrhythmia, and other medical conditions. A Japanese research group has revealed the details of the metabolism process for these compounds on a cellular level. Their data suggests the existence of an unknown mechanism which regulates the creation, movement and distribution of compounds within plants. The findings will be published in the online version of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in the week of March 21, 2016.

A team of researchers led by Caltech scientists have shown that nanoparticles can function to target tumors while avoiding adjacent healthy tissue in human cancer patients.

"Our work shows that this specificity, as previously demonstrated in preclinical animal studies, can in fact occur in humans," says study leader Mark E. Davis, the Warren and Katharine Schlinger Professor of Chemical Engineering at Caltech. "The ability to target tumors is one of the primary reasons for using nanoparticles as therapeutics to treat solid tumors."

Archaeologists at the University of York, leading a large international team, have revealed surprising new insights into why pottery production increased significantly at the end of the last Ice Age - with culture playing a bigger role than expected.

Investigating the use and expansion of hunter-gatherer pottery in Japan, home to some of the earliest pottery in the world, researchers analysed 143 ceramic vessels from Torihama, an ancient site in western Japan.

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Only 2.7 percent of the U.S. adult population achieves all four of some basic behavioral characteristics that researchers say would constitute a "healthy lifestyle" and help protect against cardiovascular disease, a recent study concluded.