A leaf hopper on a finger, watched by Dr. Akiko Sugio and Dr. Saskia Hogenhout. Pathogens can alter their hosts, for example malaria parasites can make humans more attractive to mosquitoes, but how they do it has remained a mystery. Scientists from the John Innes Centre on Norwich Research Park have identified for the first time a specific molecule from a parasite that manipulates plant development to the advantage of the insect host.

The Centre de recherche du Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CRCHUM) announced today that one of its researchers will receive funding of 100,000 US $ through Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative created by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that enables researchers worldwide to test unorthodox ideas that address persistent health and development challenges. Dr. Andrés Finzi will pursue an innovative global health research project, titled "Reverse Fusion: a new approach to eradicate HIV/AIDS" to deliver toxic genes to HIV-infected cells and eliminate them.

FINDINGS: By irradiating typical polystyrene lab plates with ultraviolet (UV) waves, Whitehead Institute and MIT scientists have created a surface capable of tripling the number of human embryonic stem (ES) and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells that can be grown in culture by current methods. Moreover, use of this novel surface eliminates the need for layers of mouse "feeder cells" to support ES- and iPS-cell growth.

An international team of researchers has used ancient DNA to shed new light on the realism of horses depicted in prehistoric cave paintings.