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The use of neonicotinoid pesticides may be contributing to the decline of butterflies in the UK, a new study by the Universities of Stirling and Sussex in partnership with Butterfly Conservation and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology has revealed.

Previous studies have demonstrated that these chemicals appear to be harming bees, birds and other wildlife.

This is the first scientific evidence of a possible negative impact on widespread UK butterflies.

MANHATTAN, KANSAS -- Researchers at Kansas State University's Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory have discovered a virus that's been a real pest for pigs and hope the diagnostic tests they've developed to detect the virus are a step toward understanding the disease.

The researchers identified the virus as a member of the aptly name pestivirus family. A sample submitted to the lab by a veterinarian in North Carolina came from a swine herd where uncontrollable shaking, or intention tremors, was observed and resulted in the death of nearly 700 pigs.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- When researchers looked at different areas within an individual rectal cancer sample, they found cases in which each area contained different genetic mutations. The findings could have significant implications for treatment recommendations.

Researchers from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center used next-generation sequencing techniques to sample the genetic landscape of different geographic areas from tissue samples taken from six patients with rectal cancer.

In October, Macy's joined a growing list of major retail stores that have pledged to stop selling furniture containing flame retardants, which research suggests could cause developmental problems. Despite the trend, however, it could take years before widespread exposure declines. And now, a study in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology has revealed more bad news: Infants could potentially be affected the most. The report also looks at potential exposure routes.

Assessment results on the risk of humanitarian crises and disasters in 2016 for 191 nations were released today. The analyses were carried out by applying the Index for Risk Management - INFORM, an open-source risk assessment tool designed to support decisions about crisis and disaster prevention, preparedness and response. The index was designed by a partnership of international organisations and governments, including the JRC.

Seemingly helpless against their much more lively natural enemies, plants have actually come up with a wide range of defences. In the present research, published in the open-access Journal of Hymenoptera Research, Dr. Adriana Sanchez, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia, and Edwin Bellota, Texas A&M University, USA, focus on the mutualistic relationship developed between a specific Neotropical knotweed and an ant species.

The stonefish is one of the world's ugliest and deadliest fish. You'll know if you step on one; the fish protects itself using 13 razor sharp venom filled spines capable of slicing through reef shoes. The resulting pain is crippling, can last for days and may result in amputation of a limb or death.

Bone Cancer Primary bone cancer called Osteosarcoma (OS) is a rare cancer most often affecting adolescents and children. While most bone cancers have their origin in other body tissues and spread to the bones through metastases, OS originates in the bone tissue. Common for all, is that they degrade the bones and are associated with high mortality.

The results of "The Japan Statin Treatment Against Recurrent Stroke (J-STARS)" study led to the hypothesis that statins reduce the occurrence of strokes due to larger artery atherosclerosis.

J-STARS examined whether pravastatin, a traditional statin widely used in the clinic, reduces the recurrence of strokes and respective subtypes in non-cardioembolic stroke patients. The study also examined whether the use of pravastatin favorably impacts the occurrence of other vascular events, and stroke-related functional outcomes were explored.

Living longer usually means a longer dotage, but wouldn't it be enticing to extend young adulthood instead? It's such an appealing prospect that scientists who are announcing success with roundworms are keen to be clear they are a long way from achieving it in humans.

"We don't want people to get the impression they can take the drug we used in our study to extend their own teens or early twenties," says lead author Michael Petrascheck from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), California.

A new species of fossil baleen whale that lived in the North Pacific Ocean 30 to 33 million years ago has been described by researchers from New Zealand's University of Otago.

The whale, named Fucaia buelli by the researchers, is transitional between ancient toothed whales and the baleen whales of modern seas. It is one of the oldest baleen whales ever found and, at a length of about 2-2.5m, also one of the smallest.

For many living things, a roughly 24-hour internal clock governs the rhythms of life -- everything from sleep in animals, to leaf opening in plants and reproduction in bread mold. Scientists have come to understand much about this internal time-keeping system, but one important aspect, its complex response to temperature, remains enigmatic.

Certain genetic variations increase the risk of having a lower level of vitamin D. This is the finding of a PhD project from the National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark, which has examined the effect of eating vitamin D fortified foods or receiving artificial UVB irradiation during the winter months. The fortified diet and artificial sunlight had less of an effect on vitamin D status in people with certain genetic variations. The results can be used to identify people who are genetically predisposed to having lower levels of vitamin D.

Communities of microorganisms called microbiomes play critical roles in our lives, yet we know very little about them.

A group of 48 biologists and physical scientists from 50 institutions is aiming to change that. In the October 28 issue of the journal Science, they called for an ambitious research effort to understand and harness microbiomes. Such research could lead to advances in fields as diverse as medicine, child development, agricultural productivity, and climate modeling.

Scientists have discovered that corals adapted to naturally high temperatures, such as those off the north west coast of Australia, are nonetheless highly susceptible to heat stress and bleaching.

Coral bleaching happens when sea temperatures rise, causing the breakdown of the symbiosis between coral and their zooxanthellae (the microscopic plants which gives coral most of its colour), which can be fatal for the coral.