If Cornell University researchers and their colleagues have their way, cheetahs, lions, elephants, camels and other large wild animals may soon roam parts of North America.

Otters cavorting in the water is a scene with which we're all familiar. Yet, unlike many other mammals that spend a considerable amount of time in the water–polar bears, seals, dolphins, and whales–river otters do not have a thick layer of body fat to keep warm. They rely, instead, on a few unique adaptations; namely, their fur and the densely packed layer of specially adapted underhairs.

Haemophilus influenzae is a common cause of otitis media (ear infections) in children and is the number one reason young children are seen by pediatricians. Researchers at the Columbus Children's Research Institute (CCRI) on the campus of Columbus Children's Hospital recently determined the complete genome sequence of a strain of nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae, originally isolated from a child undergoing surgery for tube insertion at Columbus Children's Hospital. This effort was supported by the National Institute of Deafness and Other Communication Disorders of the National Institutes of Health and published in the July issue of the Journal of Bacteriology.

Understanding why some transplant patients reject their new organs requires a working knowledge of how cells recognize and accept or reject each other. Xavier Fernàndez-Busquets, an MBL researcher visiting from the University of Barcelona, has found the perfect ally in this quest: the red beard sea sponge, an Atlantic species that grows abundantly from just north of Cape Cod down to Florida.

Scientists have discovered a new phenomenon in which one bacterial cell can stop the growth of another on physical contact. The bacteria that stop growing may go into a dormant state, rather than dying. The findings have implications for management of chronic diseases, such as urinary tract infections.

The number of living Florida panthers has grown from a previously estimated 30 to a recently counted 87 as a result of a controversial breeding effort to improve the genetic health of the endangered and inbred animals, according to a new assessment.

A dramatic reduction in the impact of malaria is in prospect with a clinical drug trial to begin in Papua New Guinea early next year. Success in the trial would open the way to relief in the 10% of humanity infected with this debilitating and often fatal disease - over 500,000,000 people.

A breakthrough in human stem cell research, producing embryonic-like cells from umbilical cord blood may substantially speed up the development of treatments for life-threatening illnesses, injuries and disabilities. The discovery made during a project undertaken with experts from the University of Texas Medical Branch and the Synthecon Corporation in the United States provides medical researchers and physicians with an ethical and reliable source of human stem cells for the first time.

Deciphering the subtle, complex electrical signals emanating from the brain has yielded important insights into the still-mysterious neural mechanisms that underlie behavior. By recording a subject's faint brain signals via arrays of scalp electrodes during cognitive tasks, researchers can extract "event-related potentials" (ERPs) that enable them to pinpoint with great accuracy when the brain reacts to components of the tasks.

Since 1990 lions have killed more than 563 Tanzanians, including nursing mothers, children playing outside their huts and people dragged from their beds. Consequently, increasing numbers of lions are being killed by local people. In an effort to find a way to protect both people and lions, University of Minnesota researchers have analyzed the factors involved in attacks and identified the control of bush pigs -- a major agricultural pest -- as the most promising strategy for curbing attacks. The research will be published Aug. 18 in Nature.