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One of the toughest technological challenges for law enforcement is to simultaneously monitor live feeds from the wireless cameras scattered across their jurisdictions. A nearly impossible task under any circumstances, it was an even greater one for Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration.

In planning to safeguard the millions of visitors and residents in the city for the Inauguration events, Washington, D.C. required a new surveillance approach.

Using compounds preserved in sedimentary rocks more than 635 million years old, researchers have found some of the earliest evidence for the existence of animals.

Demosponges thrived in the shallow coastal waters of what is now Oman, according to scientist Gordon Love of the University of California at Riverside and colleagues from MIT and other institutions.

They report the results of their research in this week's issue of the journal Nature.

Scientists have recovered fossils from a 60-million-year-old South American snake whose length and weight might make today's anacondas seem like garter snakes.

Named Titanoboa cerrejonensis by its discoverers, the size of the snake's vertebrae suggest it weighed 1,140 kilograms (2,500 pounds) and measured 13 meters (42.7 feet) nose to tail tip.

A paper describing the find appears in this week's issue of the journal Nature.

COLLEGE STATION – A Texas AgriLife Research scientist and fellow researchers have discovered that arginine, an amino acid, reduces fat mass in diet-induced obese rats and could help fight human obesity.

"Given the current epidemic of obesity in the U.S. and worldwide, our finding is very important," said Dr. Guoyao Wu, an AgriLife Research animal nutritionist in College Station and Senior Faculty Fellow in the department of animal science at Texas A&M University.

Park Ridge, Ill. (February 4, 2009) – A large body of science supports the beneficial role eggs play in a healthful diet. Eggs provide high-quality protein for growth, muscle strength and energy and promote weight management. Key nutrients found in eggs have also been shown to reduce the risk of neural tube birth defects and promote eye health. An article published in the November 2008 issue of Diabetes Care that examined data collected in the Physicians' Health Study I and the Women's Health Study found an association between egg intake and increased incidence of type 2 diabetes 1.

In a first of its kind discovery, University of Minnesota researchers have identified the "master gene" behind blood vessel development. Better understanding of how this gene operates in the early stages of development may help researchers find better treatments for heart disease and cancer.

Using genetically engineered mice, researchers with the University of Minnesota Medical School's Lillehei Heart Institute were able to identify a protein, Nkx2-5, which activates a certain gene, and in turn, determines the fate of a group of cells in a developing embryo.

Transplanting cells that replenish blood vessels can also restore nerve function in an animal model of diabetic neuropathy, Emory researchers have found.

The results are described online this week in the journal Circulation.

STANFORD, Calif. — Much to the dismay of patients and physicians, cancer stem cells — tiny powerhouses that generate and maintain tumor growth in many types of cancers — are relatively resistant to the ionizing radiation often used as therapy for these conditions. Part of the reason, say researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine, is the presence of a protective pathway meant to shield normal stem cells from DNA damage. When the researchers blocked this pathway, the cells became more susceptible to radiation.

Influenza is and remains a disease to reckon with. Seasonal epidemics around the world kill several hundred thousand people every year. In the light of looming pandemics if bird flu strains develop the ability to infect humans easily, new drugs and vaccines are desperately sought. Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the joint Unit of Virus Host-Cell Interaction (UVHCI) of EMBL, the University Joseph Fourier (UJF) and the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), in Grenoble, France, have now precisely defined an important drug target in influenza.

Madison, WI, February 2, 2009 - As the world seeks new ways to prevent and treat chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, more research continues to be conducted on the benefits of certain foods in reducing people's risk of contracting these ailments. Legumes in particular are often cited as being high in antioxidants, which have the property of being able to fight off free radical cells within the body, reducing the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases.

Young female athletes could have yet another reason to grab a glass of vitamin D-rich milk. Not only does vitamin D work with calcium to keep bones strong, researchers found that teenage girls with higher vitamin D levels may be able to jump higher and faster than their peers with lower levels, suggests a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

CAREFREE, A.Z. - Data from the ELLA Binational Breast Cancer Study will be released for the first time at the American Association for Cancer Research Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Carefree, Arizona.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Researchers have developed a new technique using sensors to constantly monitor the health of bacteria critical to wastewater treatment facilities and have verified a theory that copper is vital to the proper functioning of a key enzyme in the bacteria.

Asperger's syndrome does not only occur in children and adolescents, but is also diagnosed in adults. Mandy Roy from the Hannover University Medical School and her colleagues explain the clinical picture in the new edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2009; 106[5]: 59??).

Very few people fear dandelions. Or even dangerous things - like Hummers. We may object to outsized automobiles on principle, but the mere sight of them doesn't make us tremble and sweat and run away. On the other hand, even toddlers show an automatic and powerful fear of snakes, including harmless ones.