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Australian researchers will today launch the world first detailed map of the kangaroo genome, completing the first phase of the kangaroo genomics project.

Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Kangaroo Genomics (KanGO), including University of Melbourne, ANU, WEHI, University of Sydney, University of NSW and the Australian Genome Research Foundation (AGRF) have built a framework to assemble the genome of a model kangaroo, the tammar wallaby.

OAK BROOK, Ill. – Children and teenagers with even mild cases of anorexia exhibit abnormal bone structure, according to a new study appearing in the December issue of Radiology and presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

Our blood, sweat and tears are three precious fluids that can answer lots of questions about the state of our health but testing small amounts of bodily fluids, without contaminating them through contact with solid surfaces or other fluids, is something that fluid mechanics have long pondered.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Latina women who prefer speaking Spanish are more likely than other ethnic groups to express regret or dissatisfaction with their breast cancer treatment, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Despite receiving similar treatment, Latina women were 5.6 times more likely than white women to report high levels of dissatisfaction and regret about their breast cancer treatment decision.

A survey of scientists whose studies became the focus of a public debate about NIH grant funding has found that many of them engaged in self-censorship as a result of the controversy. The study, published in the open access journal PLoS Medicine, found that following the criticism of their research, scientists removed politically sensitive language from grant applications and stopped studying certain topics.

In recent years, the use of a three-day course of an antimalarial treatment called ACT (artemisinin-based combination therapy) in over 40 countries that face endemic malaria has shown great success in curing this deadly disease.

Closely related animal species share most of their genes and look almost identical. However, minor morphological differences allow us to tell them apart. What is the genetic basis for these differences? Often, the explanation is provided by minor changes in spatial and temporal activity of transcription factors - "regulator" genes which are conserved throughout the animal kingdom. However, every group of animals also possesses a small proportion of genes which are, in contrary, extremely variable among closely related species or even unique.

We are always being told by marketers of healthy yogurts that the human gut contains a bustling community of different bacteria, both good and bad, and that this balance is vital to keeping you healthy. But if you target the disease-causing bacteria with medicine, what might be the collateral damage to their health-associated cousins that call the human body home?

Why do poppies and sunflowers grow as a single flower per stalk while each stem of a tomato plant has several branches, each carrying flowers? In a new study, published in this week's issue of the open access journal PLoS Biology, Dr. Zachary Lippman and colleagues identify a genetic mechanism that determines the pattern of flower growth in the Solanaceae (nightshade) family of plants that includes tomato, potato, pepper, eggplant, tobacco, petunia, and deadly nightshades.

STANFORD, Calif. — Mention the phrase "diverse ecosystem," and it conjures images of tropical rainforests and endangered coral reefs. It also describes the human colon.

Researchers in one of the external groups of the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC), in Portugal, have discovered a novel mechanism which regulates the process whereby new blood vessels are formed and wounds heal, including chronic wounds, such as those found in diabetic patients and those suffering from morbid obesity. These findings, by Sérgio Dias and his team, are to appear in the new issue of the journal PLoS ONE(*), and have implications for the development of new therapeutic approaches to healing damaged blood vessels and building new ones.

The researchers dated remains from four multiple burials discovered in Germany in 2005.

The 4,600-year-old graves contained groups of adults and children buried facing each other – an unusual practice in Neolithic culture.

One of the graves was found to contain a female, a male and two children. Using DNA analysis, the researchers established that the group consisted of a mother, father and their two sons aged 8-9 and 4-5 years: the oldest molecular genetic evidence of a nuclear family in the world (so far).

BBSRC-funded researchers at UCL along with collaborators at King's College London have identified a molecule that could be the key to understanding the cause of neurodegenerative diseases such as motor neurone disease (MND). This insight opens up the possibilities for developing new treatments to treat these devastating progressive conditions.

Canada's only supervised injection facility is extending lives and saving the health-care system millions of dollars, a new study shows.

In analyzing the cost-effectiveness of Vancouver-based Insite, a safe injection facility in a downtown neighbourhood where about 5,000 injection drug users live, researchers found $14 million in savings and health gains of 920 life-years over 10 years.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Researchers have determined that the two most popular brands of football helmet faceshields can withstand a hit equivalent to a kick in the face and provide that protection without disrupting players' vision.

The eye specialists at Ohio State University used an air cannon to hurl baseballs at the plastic faceshields. The impact was designed to mimic the force of a kick to the face, considered the riskiest way to sustain an eye injury in football.