Researchers have created a robot, designed to help users with limited mobility with everyday tasks, that moves autonomously to an item selected with a green laser pointer, picks up the item and then delivers it to the user, another person or a selected location such as a table. The new robotic communication method may help robots find their way into the home sooner.

  Approximately 25 percent of breast cancer survivors experience mild to moderate memory, concentration and cognitive problems known as "chemobrain". A new study has documented the extent of changes to the brain's white matter in women who received chemotherapy for breast cancer.

  A compound present naturally in grape skin,resveratrol, can protect against the cellular damage to blood vessels caused by high production of glucose in diabetes, according to an article in the science journal "Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism." Resveratrol stops the damage by helping cells make protective enzymes to prevent the leakage of electrons and the production of toxic 'free radicals'.

  Rheumatoid arthritis patients who eat a gluten-free vegan diet could be better protected against heart attacks and stroke. RA is a major risk factor for these cardiovascular diseases, but a gluten-free vegan diet was shown to lower cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein and oxidizedLDL, as well as raising the levels of natural antibodies against the damaging compounds in the body that cause symptoms of the chronic inflammatory disease rheumatoid arthritis, such as phosphorylcholine.

  The canine influenza virus, first identified in 2004, had been circulating in the greyhound population for at least five years prior to its discovery and may have been responsible for numerous outbreaks of respiratory disease among dogs at racing tracks during that period, according to new research.

  One day last spring, fossil hunter and anatomy professor Kenneth Rose, Ph.D. was displaying the bones of a jackrabbit's foot as part of a seminar at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine when something about the shape of the bones looked oddly familiar. That unanticipated eureka moment has led researchers at the school to the discovery of the oldest known record of rabbits.

  New research adds to the evidence that chance, rather than natural selection, best explains why the skulls of modern humans and ancient Neanderthals evolved differently. The findings may alter how anthropologists think about human evolution.

  It may not be just women who need extra folate in their diets to reduce the risk of birth defects. A new study puts the spotlight on the other sex, finding that healthy men who report lower levels of the nutrient folate in their diets have higher rates of genetic abnormalities in their sperm.

  Scientists have known for more than a decade that a protein associated with the HIV virus is good at crossing cell membranes, but they didn't know how it worked. Now they have solved the mystery, and their findings could improve the design of therapeutic agents that cross a variety of membrane types.

  Researchers have provided, for the first time, a detailed look at the molecular pathways underlying sleep apnea. The team found that in an animal model of sleep apnea poorly folded proteins accumulate in one compartment of a muscle nerve cell, which, under certain conditions, tells a cell to heal itself or destroy itself.

  NIST researchers have set the stage for building the "evolutionary link" between the microelectronics of today built from semiconductor compounds and future generations of devices made largely from complex organic molecules.

  Advances in genomic medicine for common adult chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer hold promise for improved prevention, diagnosis and treatment. But a new study finds that health professionals and the public are not prepared to effectively integrate these new tools into practice.

  A study of meteorites suggests that Mars, the Earth and the Moon share a common composition from 'growing up' in a unique planetary nursery in the inner solar system. The finding could lead to a rethink of how the inner solar system formed.

  Scientists have found that a disruption of the Contactin 4 gene on chromosome 3 may be linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). What causes ASD, a developmental disorder of the central nervous system, is largely unknown. New finding suggests that mutations affecting Contactin 4 may be relevant to ASD pathogenesis, and thus a potential biomarker for some individuals with the disorder.