Liver stem cells expressing FoxL1 (aqua blue) in an injured mouse liver near the bile duct. The FoxL1-containing stem cells are encircled by liver fibroblasts (royal blue), suggestive of a stem cell niche. Credit: Linda Greenbaum, M.D., University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Brain cells can adopt a new chemical code in response to cues from the outside world, scientists working with tadpoles at the University of California, San Diego report in the journal Nature this week.

A high proportion of people are not using condoms when they have sex with a new partner, according to a new study of heterosexual partnerships among British men and women. Among people in their 30s and 40s, and in partnerships where there is an age difference of five or more years, condom use is particularly low.

Researchers at the University of Delaware have provided what is believed to be the first experimental evidence that plants can take up nanoparticles and accumulate them in their tissues

Increased use of computers to create predictive models of human disease is likely following a workshop organised by the European Science Foundation (ESF), which urged for a collaborative effort between specialists in the field. Human disease research produces an enormous amount of data from different sources such as animal models, high throughput genetic screening of human tissue, and in vitro laboratory experiments. This data operates at different levels and scales including genes, molecules, cells, tissues and whole organs, embodying a huge amount of potentially valuable insight that current computer modelling approaches often fail to exploit properly.