In May 2008 the island of Guam became a living laboratory for scientists as they attached acoustic equipment to coconut trees in order to listen for rhinoceros beetles. A grant from USDA IPM allowed Richard Mankin, a recognized world-class expert on acoustic detection of insects, to travel to Guam to collaborate with island scientists on the Guam Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle Eradication Project. The results of this research were recently published in the journal Florida Entomologist.

Frequent Mental Distress (FMD), defined as having 14 or more days in the previous month when stress, depression and emotional problems were not good , is not evenly distributed across the United States. In fact, certain geographic areas have consistently high or consistently low FMD incidence, as shown in a study published in the June 2009 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

In 2005 researchers at the University of Gothenburg and Stockholm University discovered a new species of seaweed. The species, which was named Fucus radicans, evolved from a bladder wrack (Fucus vesiculosus) ancestor from the Baltic Sea. Detailed studies of Fucus radicans show that, from an evolutionary perspective, it was formed extremely rapidly: the species was formed less than 2,500 years ago, and probably as recently as about 400 years ago. This discovery is one of few examples of extremely rapid species formation. The results also show that new species can also be formed in the relatively young and species-poor Baltic Sea.

Rarely will physicians use the word "miraculous" when discussing patient recoveries. But that's the very phrase orthopaedic physicians and scientists are using in upstate New York to describe their emerging stem cell research that could have a profound impact on the treatment of bone injuries. Results from preliminary work being released todayshow patients confined to wheelchairs were able to walk or live independently again because their broken bones finally healed.

Extensive death of nerve cells leads to severe dementia in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Until now, it has only been possible to investigate the neuronal devastation in post mortem animal models, and by using complicated methods. Researchers at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Disease at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) Muenchen, headed by Professor Christian Haass, have now successfully observed this demise of nerve cells by life imaging. The scientists inserted a gene into zebrafish that leads to a severe form of Alzheimer's in humans. The translucent larvae thereupon developed characteristic symptoms such as the death of neurons – the first directly observable instance in a living organism. "Our discovery now allows us to perform a targeted search for drugs that can stop the extensive cell death, and thereby stop dementia in patients," says Haass. "The first findings have already shown that we can in principle use drugs to block at least some of the disease-related processes in the zebrafish."

For the first time, scientists have isolated the parasite Nosema ceranae (Microsporidia) from professional apiaries suffering from honey bee colony depopulation syndrome. They then went on to treat the infection with complete success.

In a new study, researchers at the University of Illinois have identified and visualized the signaling pathways in protein-RNA complexes that help set the genetic code in all organisms. The genetic code allows information stored in DNA to be translated into proteins.