In one of the first national studies on guidelines that control antibiotics and antibiotic resistance in hospitals, researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine, the Regenstrief Institute, Inc. and the Richard Roudebush Veterans Administration Medical Center report that hospitals that follow national guidelines on controlling antibiotic use have lower rates of antibiotic resistance.

Using robotics to manipulate the brain's perception of jaw movement while words are spoken, researchers have deepened our understanding of the importance of non-auditory sensory cues in the brain's control of speech. The findings are reported by Sazzad Nasir and David Ostry of McGill University and appear in the October 10th issue of the journal Current Biology, published by Cell Press.

Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital turned up the heat on "disorderly" proteins and confirmed that most of these unruly molecules perform critical functions in the cell. The St. Jude team completed the first large-scale collection, investigation and classification of these so-called intrinsically unstructured proteins (IUPs), a large group of molecules that play vital roles in the daily activities of cells.

By studying the ability of newborn rabbit pups to learn the significance of new odors, researchers have found that a mammary pheromone secreted in mother's milk may act as a chemical booster that facilitates the ability of pups to quickly associate environmental odors with the opportunity to nurse.

Archerfish exhibit the remarkable ability to hunt for insects and other small terrestrial animals by firing precisely aimed streams of water that knock prey onto the water's surface. These water shots were once thought to be all-or-none in quality, but researchers have now discovered new levels of sophistication in the archerfish's hunting strategy that shed light on how this impressive predatory behavior has evolved. The findings are reported by Thomas Schlegel, Christine Schmid, and Stefan Schuster of the Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg in Erlangen, Germany, and appear in the October 10th issue of the journal Current Biology, published by Cell Press.

The National Institutes of Health has named researchers at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and Rice University in Houston as the first and only recipients of the inaugural Quantum Grant for their international research initiative to regenerate damaged brain cells and blood vessels for the treatment of stroke.

Skull cast and cast of the endocranial cavity (endocast) from the Royal
College of Surgeons in London of a modern adult human who suffered from
microcephaly. What may well turn out to be the definitive work in a debate that has been raging in palaeoanthropology for two years will be published in the November 2006 issue of Anatomical Record.