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Swiss plants, butterflies and birds have moved 8 to 42 meters uphill between 2003 and 2010, as scientists from the University of Basel write in the online journal "Plos One".

Climate warming is changing the distribution of plants and animals worldwide. Recently it was shown that in the past two decades, European bird and butterfly communities have moved on average 37 and 114 kilometers to the north, respectively.

A new study of four Antarctic emperor penguin colonies suggest that unexpected breeding behaviour may be a sign that the birds are adapting to environmental change.

Analysis of satellite observations reveals that penguin colonies moved from their traditional breeding grounds during years when the thin layer of ice (sea ice) formed later than usual to the much thicker floating ice shelves that surround the continent.

A newly published study on the clymene dolphin, a small and sleek marine mammal living in the Atlantic Ocean, shows that this species arose through natural hybridization between two closely related dolphins species, according to authors from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the American Museum of Natural History's Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics, the University of Lisbon, and other contributing groups.

From 724 candidates initially screened, the STAR trial implanted and prospectively evaluated 126 moderate-to-severe OSA patients who had difficulty using or adhering to CPAP therapy:

Adult white sharks, also known as great whites, may live far longer than previously thought, according to a new study that used radiocarbon dating to determine age estimates for white sharks in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean.

Sharks are typically aged by counting alternating opaque and translucent band pairs deposited in sequence in their vertebrae. It is unclear whether these band pairs are deposited annually, making it difficult to accurately estimate age or provide estimates for longevity for many shark species.

MINNEAPOLIS – A new study finds that the epilepsy drug levetiracetam appears not to be associated with thinking, movement and language problems for preschool children born to mothers who took the drug during pregnancy, although the drug valproate was associated with some difficulties in preschoolers. The study is published in the January 8, 2014, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Baltimore, MD – January 8, 2014 – Current protocols for matching donor hearts to recipients foster sex mismatching and heart size disparities, according to a first-of-its kind analysis by physicians at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Matching by donor heart size may provide better outcomes for recipients, who already face a scarcity of resources as they await a transplant.

Unique finds of original pigment in fossilised skin from three multi-million-year old marine reptiles attract considerable attention from the scientific community. The pigment reveals that these animals were, at least partially, dark-coloured in life, which is likely to have contributed to more efficient thermoregulation, as well as providing means for camouflage and UV protection. Researchers at Lund University are among the scientists that made the spectacular discovery.

HOUSTON, TX - Some surprising research findings from scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center suggest it's possible a simple blood test could be developed to determine whether gene mutations associated with pancreatic cancer exist without the need of locating and testing tumor tissue. This appears possible following the discovery that tiny particles the size of viruses called 'exosomes,' which are shed by cancer cells into the blood, contain the entire genetic blueprint of cancer cells.

(Boston) – Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) have identified that injection frequency and taking anti-retroviral therapy for HIV are risk factors for nonfatal drug overdoses among Russians who are HIV positive and inject drugs. Alexander Walley, MD, MSc, an attending physician in general internal medicine at BMC and an assistant professor of medicine at BUSM, is the study's lead author.

Published in the journal AIDS Care, the study was done in collaboration with the Pavlov State Medical University in Russia.

After 11 months of review, SURA announced the findings of a collaborative project to explore the capabilities of an open source application that assists with publishing, referencing, extracting and analyzing research data; the Dataverse Network. This pilot implementation of the Dataverse Network software was conducted as part of SURA's larger Research Data Management (RDM) initiative, an on-going collaboration between SURA member library and IT professionals.

Boston, MA – When a child is born with a heart defect such as a hole in the heart, the highly invasive therapies are challenging due to an inability to quickly and safely secure devices inside the heart. Sutures take too much time to stitch and can cause stress on fragile heart tissue, and currently available clinical adhesives are either too toxic or tend to lose their sticking power in the presence of blood or under dynamic conditions, such as in a beating heart.

Two university research teams have worked together to produce the world's fastest thin-film organic transistors, proving that this experimental technology has the potential to achieve the performance needed for high-resolution television screens and similar electronic devices.

For years engineers the world over have been trying to use inexpensive, carbon-rich molecules and plastics to create organic semiconductors capable of performing electronic operations at something approaching the speed of costlier technologies based on silicon.

An international team of researchers has sequenced the genome of the elephant shark, a curious-looking fish with a snout that resembles the end of an elephant's trunk.

The elephant shark and its cousins the sharks, rays, skates and chimaeras are the world's oldest-living jawed vertebrates. But their skeletons are made of cartilage rather than bone, making this group of vertebrates an oddity on the evolutionary tree.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A team of researchers including SF State Assistant Professor of Biology Scott Roy has sequenced the entire genome of the elephant shark, uncovering several features that may shed light on the evolution of bony vertebrates.

The study is the first whole-genome analysis of a cartilaginous fish. Cartilaginous fishes include sharks, rays and skates. Together with bony fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals, they make up the branch of jawed vertebrates on life's family tree.