In new work, researchers report that the ability of plants to defend themselves by accumulating high levels of a toxic element can be overcome by some insects, and that such adaptation potentially echoes in the food web as other predators and parasites may in turn evolve to deal with high levels of the toxic element. The findings, reported by Elizabeth Pilon-Smits of Colorado State University and colleagues there and at the University of California, Berkeley, appear in the November 21st issue of the journal Current Biology, published by Cell Press.

In a press conference held earlier today at Washington D.C.'s The Press Club, David B. Nash, MD, editor of The American Journal of Medical Quality, addressed hospital-acquired infections and the widespread anchoring belief – by both healthcare professionals and patients – that acquiring infections in the hospital is unavoidable.

An international team led by scientists from the United States and New Zealand have observed, for the first time, the bizarre deep-sea communities living around methane seeps off New Zealand's east coast.

Researchers studying chimpanzee mating preferences have found that although male chimpanzees prefer some females over others, they prefer older, not younger, females as mates. The findings uncover a stark contrast between chimpanzee behavior and that of humans, their primate cousins. The basis for this difference may lie in the fact that whereas chimpanzees participate in a relatively promiscuous mating system, humans form unusually long-term mating bonds, thereby making young females more valuable as mates with greater reproductive potential. The findings, reported by Martin Muller of Boston University and colleagues at Harvard University, appear in the November 21st issue of Current Biology.

A powerful analysis from this month's Vaccine 1 highlights the huge gap between current vaccination coverage across Europe and the recommendations endorsed by the European Union. Currently, only one third (35%) of all high risk populations are receiving seasonal influenza vaccine in Europe, resulting in avoidable morbidity, hospitalisations and mortality.

Hearty feasts and couch-potato marathons are holiday traditions, but UT Southwestern Medical Center experts warn that packing on pounds and not exercising could be deadly for the 6 million Americans who have diabetes and don't even know it.

Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have received a $2 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to study tumor "microenvironments" --where tumors interact with surrounding tissues, cells and chemicals in ways that all too often encourage cancer cells to invade other areas of the body in the process known as metastasis.

The Shoklo Malaria Research Unit (SMRU), Thailand, will be hosting a scientific seminar in Mae Sot on 28 December entitled "Twenty Years of Malaria Research: Outcomes and Perspectives" attended by internationally-renowned experts and featuring talks and debates on a variety of topics related to malaria, from epidemiology to therapeutics and from immunity to socio-economics.