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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Nov. 5, 2015)--Scientists with The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), a National Institutes of Health-funded project, have molecularly characterized two types of the second most common kidney cancer and classified several subtypes of the disease.

Heavy metals, the result of contamination, may be toxic for animals to the extent of affecting their reproduction and physiology. This is the case with the great tit, a species of bird whose plumage colour is affected either negatively or positively depending on exposure to certain contaminating substances. Mercury, copper and chrome may cause the male great tit to be less attractive to the females.

New paper says failure of protected areas to guard biodiversity is partly the fault of scientists

Science community needs to identify science-based targets, metrics of ecological effectiveness, and better measuring outside of protected areas

Tiger captured in camera trap in Endau-Rompin, Malaysia. Credit: WCS/Government of Malaysia

Results offer strategic guidance on where protected areas should be cited to avert biodiversity loss

A new species of whirligig beetle is the first to be described in the United States since 1991. Grey Gustafson, a PhD student at the University of New Mexico, and Dr. Robert Sites, an entomologist at the University of Missouri's Enns Entomology Museum, describe the new species in an article appearing in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America.

In the natural world, mimicry isn't entertainment; it's a deadly serious game spanning a range of senses - sight, smell and hearing. Some of the most striking visual mimics are butterflies. Many butterflies become noxious and unpalatable to predators by acquiring chemical defences from plants they ingest as caterpillars. Other butterflies mimic the 'aposematic' or warning colouration and conspicuous wing patterns of these toxic or just plain foul-tasting butterflies.

Berlin, November 5, 2015 - Over the past five years, the number of female researchers in Germany has grown far more rapidly than that of male researchers. Female-only publications are the most internationally collaborative while mixed gender publications are more interdisciplinary than the mono-gender ones, highlights a new study by Elsevier launched today ahead of the European Gender Summit in Berlin.

New research has uncovered an important mechanism in the drive to understand immunological processes that protect us against infection, allergy and cancer.

Researchers from Medicine, Chemistry and Biological Sciences in the University's Institute for Life Science (IfLS) have been collaborating with Microsoft Research UK to investigate the function of the antigen-presenting protein MHC1.

In a finding that could change the way scientists think about bird evolution, researchers have found that the shape of bird wings is influenced more by how closely related species are to one another than by flight style.

Lisbon, Portugal: Patients with breast cancer that has spread to other parts of the body (metastasised) and who have higher insulin levels than normal, but are not diabetic, have a significantly worse prognosis compared with those with normal insulin levels, a researcher will tell the Advanced Breast Cancer Third International Consensus Conference [1] tomorrow (Friday).

Two hundred and seventy-eight million years ago, the world was a different place. Not only were the landmasses merged into the supercontinent of Pangaea, but the land was home to ancient animals unlike anything alive today. But until now, very little information was available about what animals were present in the southern tropics.

SAN ANTONIO, TX (November 5, 2015) - Most people think of allergists as the doctors who help solve sneezing, wheezing and itchy eyes. They might not realize allergists are the medical mystery detectives with the expertise to discover what is causing all sorts of unusual allergic responses.

Two abstracts presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting illustrate how an allergic response can be the unexpected clue in a medical mystery.

SAN ANTONIO, TX (November 5, 2015) - If one child in a family has a food allergy, the reasoning sometimes goes, chances are good that siblings might also have food allergies. Not necessarily, according to new research which shows that 53 percent of siblings of children with food allergies had a food sensitivity, but only 13 percent had actual food allergy.

A new study, published in the open access journal Genome Biology, has identified a single gene (TLE6) which, when mutated, is responsible for human embryonic lethality at an earlier stage of development than has ever previously been documented.

Children with asthma living in low-income, urban public housing had significantly fewer visits to the emergency department (ED), less use of rescue medication, and less disrupted sleep with a program that combines home repairs to reduce asthma triggers, training, and comprehensive care, called Controlling Asthma Through Home Remediation.

Preliminary program findings also showed a reduction in daytime asthma symptoms, as reported in Environmental Justice.

Lisbon, Portugal: Organisations that issue "damaging messages" about advanced breast cancer [1] need to be identified and educated to change the way they talk about the disease, a patient told the Advanced Breast Cancer Third International Consensus Conference today (Thursday).