Sorry for the slow news update - I'm currently at the CAHR (Canadian Association for HIV Research) meeting in Quebec City. The situation will last throught Sunday; after that, I'll be back to provide you the most interesting biology-related news I can find!

"Harmless" bacteria in the digestive tracts of dairy cows, may not be so harmless after all. They may be a reservoir for antibiotic resistance genes that can be transferred to more harmful, disease-causing bacteria, according to research presented today at the 106th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Orlando, Florida.

New research sheds light on the molecular mechanisms underlying axon growth and synapse formation in the nematode worm C.elegans. In a study published today in the open access journal Journal of Biology, researchers have characterised a new protein, UNC-69, required for proper locomotion . They show that UNC-69 interacts with UNC-76 in a protein complex likely to be involved in the trafficking of vesicles along axons - a process that drives axon growth and helps synapse formation. The research also shows that UNC-69 is directly involved in the formation of new synapses.

Three years ago Mark Kay, MD, PhD, published the first results showing that a hot new biological phenomenon called RNA interference was an effective gene-therapy technique in mice. That finding kicked off an RNAi gene therapy research flurry amongst both academic and industry research groups.

Selfishness is not necessarily the best survival trait for microorganisms, according to researchers studying the comparative effectiveness of 'cheating' and 'cooperating' strains of yeast.

Researchers at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research have discovered a mechanistic link between cellular stress caused by free radicals and accumulation of misfolded proteins that lead to nerve cell injury and death in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease.

When used indoors under certain conditions, many common household cleaners and air fresheners emit toxic pollutants at levels that may lead to health risks, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

A Queensland Brain Institute-led team has identified a molecule that plays a key role in establishing the major nerve connections between each side of the adult brain.