Taking the medical history of a grassland may seem a bit esoteric – after all, how sick can grass be? However, scientists have discovered plant viruses from as early as 1917 containing information crucial not only for plant scientists, but for those in ecology, human health and bioterrorism.

MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegererative Disorders (MIND) researchers have identified a compound that may lead to a treatment that could protect against the effects of Huntington’s Disease (HD). Their report, which will appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describes how a small molecule called C2-8 appears to delay the loss of motor control and reduce neurological damage in a mouse model of the disorder. The study is receiving early online release.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shed new light on how Kaposi’s Sarcoma-associated Herpes Virus (KSHV) subverts normal cell machinery to cause cancer. A KSHV protein called latency-associated nuclear antigen, LANA for short, helps the virus hide out from the immune system in infected cells. When LANA takes the place of other proteins that control cell growth, it can cause uncontrolled cell replication.

A study by an Indiana University environmental science professor and several colleagues suggests a widely planted variety of genetically engineered corn has the potential to harm aquatic ecosystems. The study is being published online this week by the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.

The success of the “reign” of a honey bee queen appears to be determined to a large degree by the number of times she mates with drone bees.

By targeting a site in a mouse brain well connected to other areas, researchers successfully delivered a beneficial gene to the entire brain—after one injection of gene therapy. If these results in animals can be realized in people, researchers may have a potential method for gene therapy to treat a host of rare but devastating congenital human neurological disorders, such as Tay-Sachs disease.

At a time when encroaching human development in former wildlife areas has compressed African elephants into ever smaller home ranges and increased levels of human-elephant conflict, a study in the October 9th issue of Current Biology, a publication of Cell Press, suggests that strategically placed beehives might offer a low-tech elephant deterrent and conservation measure.

Scientists may have discovered a new way of killing tumours in what they hope could one day lead to alternative forms of cancer treatments.

Long denigrated as vestigial or useless, the appendix now appears to have a reason to be – as a “safe house” for the beneficial bacteria living in the human gut.