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Mother and child malnutrition in low- and middle-income countries encompasses a range of conditions including maternal wasting, micronutrient deficiencies, foetal growth restriction and stunting - a height that is below the World Health Organization Child Growth Standards median - of children younger than five years.

While the prevalence of stunting has decreased during the past two decades, it still affects 160 million children under 5 and is concentrated in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

When it comes to early diagnosis of Lyme disease, the insidious tick-borne illness that afflicts about 300,000 Americans annually, finding the proverbial needle in the haystack might be a far easier challenge--until now, perhaps. An experimental method developed by federal and university researchers appears capable of detecting the stealthy culprit Lyme bacteria at the earliest time of infection, when currently available tests are often still negative.

Researchers have identified a drug that targets the first step in the toxic chain reaction leading to the death of brain cells, suggesting that treatments could be developed to protect against Alzheimer's disease, in a similar way to how statins are able to reduce the risk of developing heart disease.

Australian researchers have used cutting-edge genome technologies to reveal the genetic makeup of a widespread skin parasite causing serious health problems in Aboriginal communities.

The research team identified the genetic 'map' of the human parasitic scabies mite, accelerating research that could lead to new ways of preventing and treating scabies infestations and prevent lifelong complications for people in remote Aboriginal communities.

BLOOMINTON, Ind.--On Charles Darwin's 207 birthday, a study from Indiana University is shedding new light on the importance of genetic diversity in plants.

The work, reported today in the journal PLOS Biology, employs genome-wide sequencing to the reveal highly specific details about the evolutionary mechanisms that drove genetic divergence in 13 species of wild tomatoes that share a recent common ancestor.

The in-depth genetic analysis was led by Leonie C. Moyle, professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Biology.

ANN ARBOR--On Charles Darwin's 207th birthday, a new study of evolution in a diverse group of wild tomatoes is shedding light on the importance of genetic variation in plants.

The work, reported today in the journal PLoS Biology, uses genome-wide sequencing to reveal details about the evolutionary mechanisms that drove genetic divergence in 13 species of wild tomatoes that share a recent common ancestor.

Scientists at the UCLA Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research and Center for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy at UCLA have developed a new approach that could eventually be used to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The stem cell gene therapy could be applicable for 60 percent of people with Duchenne, which affects approximately 1 in 5,000 boys in the U.S. and is the most common fatal childhood genetic disease.

Beyond physical and emotional damage, child abuse has a steep economic price tag that costs economies billions of dollars each year, an international panel of experts will tell the 2016 General Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on Friday, February 12.

In high-income countries, the median child abuse costs are equivalent to a loss of 1.2 per cent of per capita income, translating to $150 billion each year in the United States of America. The estimated loss is $50 billion in China, a middle income country.

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators may have uncovered a novel mechanism behind the ability of obesity to promote cancer progression. In their report published online in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, the research team describes finding an association between obesity and an overabundance of a factor called PlGF (placental growth factor) and that PlGF's binding to its receptor VEGFR-1, which is expressed on immune cells within tumors, promotes tumor progression.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Feb., 12, 2016 - Researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have developed a new technology to detect disease biomarkers in the form of nucleic acids, the building blocks of all living organisms.

The proof-of-concept study is currently published online in the journal Nano Letters.

Like people, ants have often fought over food and territory.

But ants began fighting long before humans: at least 99 million years ago, according to Phillip Barden, a fossil insect expert who works in the Insect and Evolution Lab of Jessica L. Ware, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Rutgers University-Newark.

"That's a trait of ants," Barden said. "Many ant species do that all the time. They're always warring with either other individuals of the same species from different colonies or with different species."

TEMPE, Ariz., Feb. 5, 2016 - Earth and environmental scientists have often had to rely on piloted aircraft and satellites to collect remote sensing data, platforms that have traditionally been controlled by large research organizations or regulatory agencies.

Thanks to the increased affordability and dramatic technological advances of drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), however, earth and environmental scientists can now conduct their own long-term high-resolution experiments at a fraction of the cost of using aircraft or satellites.

Whether an animal or plant community remains stable despite external impacts does not depend on biological diversity alone: asynchrony across the species is also a crucial factor. The more asynchronous the species in an ecosystem fluctuate in their abundances, the less likely it becomes unstable. As a result, diversity takes second place in terms of the factors to be considered in the context of ecosystem stability. A team of scientists spearheaded by the TU Munich and TU Darmstadt have published these findings in the journal Nature Communications.

Cobia, a promising fish for aquaculture, lives throughout the world's oceans except in the Central and Eastern Pacific. In August 2015, a large number of young fish escaped from offshore cages in Ecuador. Cobia have recently been reported from the Colombian and Panamanian Pacific coast, indicating their rapid spread from the release site. Voracious carnivores, cobia could have far-reaching impacts on fisheries and marine ecology in the Eastern Pacific, Smithsonian scientists warn.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- An experimental vaccine combined with an innovative way of vaccinating people has resulted in an estimated 100 percent efficacy of the vaccine against the Ebola virus in West Africa -- and the approach could establish a new way of responding to outbreaks of emerging pathogens, including the Zika virus.

This is according to two researchers who will discuss their experimental Ebola vaccine trial during the American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting today (Friday, Feb. 12, 2016).