Genistein, a major component of soy, was found to disrupt the development of the ovaries in newborn female mice that were given the product. This study adds to a growing body of literature demonstrating the potentially adverse consequences of genistein on the reproductive system.

Through an innovative feat of plant biotechnology and vaccine design, researchers in the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University have successfully turned tobacco plants into vaccine production factories to combat the deadliest form of plague. The vaccine elicits a protective immune response in guinea pigs. The results are considered to be a milestone in the future development of a new vaccine for human use.

Researchers at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, believe they have located a place in the brain where songbirds store the memories of their parents' songs. The discovery has implications for humans, because humans and songbirds are among the few animals that learn to vocalize by imitating their caregivers.

Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan's Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) have developed a vaccine candidate for hepatitis C, leading to hope in the fight against a disease for which no vaccines are yet available.

Some HIV medications lead to the development of drug-resistant HIV when patients take as few as two percent of their medications. For other medications, resistance occurs only when patients take most of their pills. These differences appear to be explained by the different levels of viral "fitness" of the drug-resistant HIV, say AIDS researchers in a new study.

When it comes to gaining fat, insects and mammals may have something in common, researchers report in the Jan. 11, 2006, Cell Metabolism. The study finds that the so-called hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway--an ancient suite of genes involved in determining the fates of many cell types--might also play an important role in fat formation in both flies and mice. The findings are the first to show a conserved effect of genes on fat storage from insects to mammals, according to the researchers.

Deforestation from increased grazing and agriculture has destroyed 17 percent of the native vegetation in Brazil's Pantanal, considered the world's largest wetland.

E.coli is one of the most important model organisms for molecular science today and is arguably the single organism about which the most is known. The genes of higher-level plants and animals, even humans, are often understood by their similarity to E. coli genes. As such, the accuracy and completeness of E.coli genome information is of great importance to the scientific community.

Researchers have identified new molecular components of the machinery that regulates formation of the tentacle-like filaments by which immune system T cells grasp other cells. This embrace by such filaments is critical for the T cell to establish communication with cells called "antigen presenting cells" (APCs). Such communication enables the T cell to program itself to target invading microbes for destruction. Antigens are proteins in invading microbes that the immune system detects to trigger a counterattack.