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Researchers studying speciation of butterfly orchids on the Azores have been startled to discover that the answer to a long-debated question "Do the islands support one species or two species?" is actually "three species". Hochstetter's Butterfly-orchid, newly recognized following application of a battery of scientific techniques and reveling in a complex taxonomic history worthy of Sherlock Holmes, is arguably Europe's rarest orchid species. Under threat in its mountain-top retreat, the orchid urgently requires conservation recognition.

Ebersberg, Germany, December 10, 2013 - Eurofins Scientific (EUFI.PA), a European leader in Genomics Services, Forensics and Paternity Testing, announces a milestone in genetic and forensic research. A multidisciplinary Eurofins team in the Eurofins flagship Genomics laboratory in Ebersberg, Germany, has successfully completed a research project to genetically discriminate "identical" monozygotic twins.

When it comes to fighting off pathogens like Listeria, your best allies may be the billions of microorganisms that line your gut, according to new research published in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. The study reveals that germ-free mice are more susceptible to infection with the foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes than mice with conventional intestinal microbiota.

Restricting the use of antibiotics is unlikely to stop the spread of drug resistance in typhoid fever, according to a study funded by the Wellcome Trust and published in the journal eLife.

The findings reveal that antibiotic-resistant strains of Salmonella Typhi bacteria can out-compete drug sensitive strains when grown in the laboratory, even in the absence of antibiotics.

Priming people to think about money makes them more likely to cheat, but priming them to think about time seems to strengthen their moral compass, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

The research, conducted by psychological scientists Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School and Cassie Mogilner of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, shows that implicitly activating the concept of time reduces cheating behavior by encouraging people to engage in self-reflection.

The failure of successive governments to implement a comprehensive national policy to get UK kids more active and stave off the litany of health and other problems their sedentary lifestyle is storing up for them, is mass "child neglect," say experts in an editorial in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Despite the wealth of evidence showing the immediate and long term benefits of regular exercise in childhood and the expanding waistlines of UK kids, leadership and strategy on the issue "are totally absent," they contend.

Women scientists specialising in infectious disease research have fewer studies funded than men, and receive less funding across most topic areas in the specialty than their male peers, finds a study published in the online journal BMJ Open.

These gender discrepancies have remained broadly unchanged for more than a decade, the findings show.

Attempts should be made to explore the reasons behind these differences, particularly in light of the fact that the UK government is committed to boosting the number of women choosing a career in science, say the study authors.

1. American College of Physicians issues policy calling for tighter management of prescription drugs

Blood clots play an unexpected role in protecting the body from the deadly effects of bacteria by absorbing bacterial toxins, researchers at the University of California, Davis, have found. The research was published Dec. 2 in the journal PLOS ONE.

"It's a significant addition to the short list of defenses that animals use to protect themselves against toxin-induced sepsis," said Peter Armstrong, professor of molecular and cellular biology at UC Davis and senior author on the paper.

(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – December 9, 2013) Drugs that enhance a process called oxidative stress were found to kill rhabdomyosarcoma tumor cells growing in the laboratory and possibly bolstered the effectiveness of chemotherapy against this aggressive tumor of muscle and other soft tissue. The findings are the latest from the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital–Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project and appear in the December 9 edition of the scientific journal Cancer Cell.

Philadelphia, PA—Data from the National Lung Cancer Screening Trial (NLST)—conducted by the American College of Radiology Imaging Network and National Cancer Institute Lung Screening Study—provided researchers the opportunity to investigate the probability that a cancer detected with screening low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) would not have progressed to become life threatening.

More than 18 percent of all lung cancers detected by low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) appeared to represent an overdiagnosis, according to a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

Federal legislation encouraging the study of drugs in pediatric patients has resulted in very few labeling changes that include new infant information, according to a study by Matthew M. Laughon, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and colleagues.

PORTLAND, Ore. — A team led by a longtime Oregon Health & Science University researcher has demonstrated in mice what could be a revolutionary new technique to cure a wide range of human diseases — from cystic fibrosis to cataracts to Alzheimer's disease — that are caused by "misfolded" protein molecules.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass-- Zinc, an essential nutrient, is found in every tissue in the body. The vast majority of the metal ion is tightly bound to proteins, helping them to perform biological reactions. Tiny amounts of zinc, however, are only loosely bound, or "mobile," and thought to be critical for proper function in organs such as the brain, pancreas, and prostate gland. Yet the exact roles the ion plays in biological systems are unknown.