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A simple and humane technique may be an effective strategy to reduce human encounters with sharks without harming populations of threatened shark species.

Eating less meat would protect water resources in dry areas around the world, researchers at Aalto University in Finland have found.

Reducing the use of animal products can have a considerable impact on areas suffering scarce water resources, as meat production requires more water than other agricultural products.

Diet change together with other actions, such as reduction of food losses and waste, may tackle the future challenges of food security, states researcher Mika Jalava from Aalto University in Finland.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Healthy breast cells may be able to reinvent themselves -- some have the flexibility to change after they are mature -- which leads researchers to postulate that similarities exist between this occurrence and the origins of a particularly aggressive type of breast cancer.

Students do not mind buying healthier snacks from vending machines, according to research published in the International Journal of Food Safety, Nutrition and Public Health. The findings could have implications for campus health initiatives as well as vendor profits.

MADISON, Wis. – As production of shale gas soars, the industry's effects on nature and wildlife remain largely unexplored, according to a study by a group of conservation biologists published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment on August 1.

The report emphasizes the need to determine the environmental impact of chemical contamination from spills, well-casing failure, and other accidents.

University of York scientists have shed new light on why teenagers and young adults are particularly susceptible to meningitis and septicaemia.

The team from the University's Department of Biology has discovered a novel metabolic pathway in the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis that may explain why this age group is particularly at risk of infection.

The results of the research, which was supported by the Centre for Chronic Diseases and Disorders (C2D2), are reported in the journal Molecular Microbiology.

(Boston) -- Patient navigation, or the linking of a newly diagnosed cancer patient with a professional trained in assisting patients though the complex journey of cancer diagnosis and treatment, may lead to better breast cancer care in high risk and minority women. The findings, recently published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, is the first national study to show a relationship between navigators and the initiation of certain recommended treatments in breast cancer.

MADISON, Wis. — Copious corn growing in tiny backyard plots? Roses blooming in December? Thanks to technology that the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Richard Vierstra has been developing for years, these things may soon be possible. And now, new findings out of the genetics professor's lab promise to advance that technology even further.

In a paper published this week in the journal Nature Chemistry, researchers from the Center for Electrochemical Sciences – CES at the Ruhr-University Bochum and from the Max-Planck-Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion in Mülheim an der Ruhr report a novel concept to work with efficient and possibly cheaper catalysts. A kind of buffer protects the catalysts against the hostile conditions encountered in fuel cells, which have been to date dismissed utilization. The scientists report in the current issue of Nature Chemistry.

This was determined using Small-Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) at BESSY II. A thorough examination with an electron microscope (TEM) confirmed their result. "The research on this phenomenon is now proceeding because we are convinced that such nanoclusters lend themselves as catalysts, whether in fuel cells, in photocatalytic water splitting, or for other important reactions in chemical engineering", explains Dr. Armin Hoell of HZB. The results have just appeared in two peer reviewed international academic journals.

A recent study in Manchester has found that a procedure to take tissue samples from lung cancer patients can be used safely in the elderly – allowing doctors to make a more accurate diagnosis and to choose appropriate treatment.

Half of all lung cancer patients are over 70 years old when first diagnosed, but studies have shown that these older patients are less likely to receive an accurate diagnosis.

A correct assessment of the stage of a patient's disease – how much their tumour has grown and spread – is key to ensuring they receive the right treatment.

Twist, Snail, Slug. They may sound like words in a children's nursery rhyme, but they are actually the exotic names given to proteins that can generate cells with stem cell-like properties that have the ability to form diverse types of tissue.

One protein with the even more out-there name of ZEB1 (zinc finger E-box binding homeobox 1), is now thought to keep breast cancer cells from being successfully treated with radiation therapy, according to a study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

When researchers from the University of Oxford reduced the expression of a protein called ClpGM6 in T. brucei trypomastigotes, the cells switched to an epimastigote-like morphology. The kinetoplast was close to the nucleus or anterior to it, and a long section of the flagellum extended beyond the cell. The parasites weren't identical to epimastigotes—they lacked a distinctive surface protein found at this life stage—but they were able to survive and reproduce for more than 40 generations.

LA JOLLA—For hundreds of years, healers in São Tomé e Príncipe—an island off the western coast of Africa—have prescribed cata-manginga leaves and bark to their patients. These pickings from the Voacanga africana tree are said to decrease inflammation and ease the symptoms of mental disorders.

Spanish hurdler María José Martínez-Patiño, who in the 1980s endured harsh global media attention when she was subjected to unscientific gender tests, is co-author of a study that takes stock of current sexual verification policies in athletics.