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COLUMBIA, Mo. ¬— Previous research has shown that the most popular way Americans get their health news is by watching local television broadcasts. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri School of Journalism have found that while local television news is the most common source of health news for Americans, most health news stories on local news broadcasts are only 30 seconds or less in length.

Many species of insects and spiders engage in homosexual behavior, like courting, mounting, and trying to mate with members of the same sex. But it is unclear what role evolution plays in this curious situation. Like heterosexual behavior, it takes time and energy and can be dangerous – and it lacks the potential payoff of procreation.

In Europe, bats are normally discussed in the context of endangered species threatened by loss of their habitats. However, in recent years, bats have caught the eye of infection biologists. The animals are namely hosts to a surprising number of pathogens, many of which could be dangerous to humans. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin and the American Museum of Natural History have been able to identify in West African bats four genera of parasites that are closely related to the malaria pathogen.

Boston, Mass., October 18, 2013 – Zebrafish research achieved a significant milestone when the first drug developed through studies utilizing the tiny animal and then put into clinical trials passed a Phase 1 trial aimed at establishing its safety. The drug, discovered in the laboratory of Leonard Zon, MD, at Boston Children's Hospital, has already advanced to Phase II studies designed to determine its efficacy.

Badgers are an important wildlife reservoir for tuberculosis infection, a disease that leads thousands of cattle to slaughter each year. Now, researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on October 21 have found that the spread of the disease is influenced in surprising ways by infected badgers, and especially by the details of their social lives.

Traffic-related air pollution is increasingly shown to have negative health effects according to a growing body of epidemiologic evidence and is a substantial public health concern in Canada, argues a commentary published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Mounting evidence indicates a causal effect between exposure to air pollution from traffic and the development of asthma in children and adults. Diesel exhaust causes lung cancer.

Researchers at the University of Exeter and the AHVLA's National Wildlife Management Centre have shown that the social lives of badgers are related to their risk of infection with bovine tuberculosis (TB).

METAPONTO, ITALY--Cover crops may be in the hardest working plants in organic farming systems. A variety of dependable cover crops are used to subdue weeds, build productive soil, control pests and diseases, and enhance overall sustainability of organic systems. In a new study, the popular cover crop Vetch (Vicia sativa L.) was used in a 2-year field experiment. The experiment was designed to determine the effects on organic zucchini yield and quality of vetch residue management strategies incorporating green manure using a roller-crimper and organic fertilizers.

Inflammation is the common denominator of many chronic age-related diseases such as arthritis, gout, Alzheimer's, and diabetes. But according to a Yale School of Medicine study, even in the absence of a disease, inflammation can lead to serious loss of function throughout the body, reducing healthspan — that portion of our lives spent relatively free of serious illness and disability.

STORRS, CT -- As consumer interest in native plants increases, nursery growers are challenged to expand their product range by adding new native species to their collections. Surveys have indicated that landscape architects and master gardeners would like to use more native plants, but that a broad palette of native plants is not currently available from most growers. Growers looking to capitalize on the native plant market are looking to scientists to recommend new species suitable for the commercial nursery industry.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Chronic wasting disease, the deer-equivalent of mad cow disease, has crept across the U.S. landscape from west to east. It appeared first in captive mule deer in Colorado in the late 1960s. By 1981, it had escaped to the wild. It reached the Midwest by 2002. Little is known about its potential to infect humans.

CLEVELAND: New recommendations for overcoming issues related to cancer clinical trial accrual have been published online in the Journal of Oncology Practice. Following a National Cancer Institute (NCI) and American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) co-sponsored symposium, the research team compiled a summary of best practices and strategies for future research aimed at advancing cancer trials more rapidly.

White-collar criminals -- those convicted of fraud, embezzlement, tax violation, anti-trust and other business offenses -- have no more problems adjusting to prison than those in a general prison population.

The Yangtze finless porpoise, which inhabits the high-traffic waters near the Three Gorges Dam in China, is highly endangered, with only about 1,000 animals alive today. Scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and their Chinese colleagues are using medical technology to shed new light on this species' critical sense of hearing in a waterway punctuated by constant shipping, dredging, and underwater construction.

ATLANTA -- An article to be published in the American Journal of Public Health recommends changing the federal regulations that govern oversight of human subjects research ("the Common Rule") to address continued underrepresentation of minorities in research studies.