A completely new treatment strategy for serious Staphylococcus aureus infections has been developed. The research comes at a time when strains of antibiotic-resistant Staph (known as MRSA, for methicillin-resistant S. aureus) are spreading in epidemic proportions in hospital and community settings. Among the deadliest of all disease-causing organisms, Staph is the leading cause of human infections in the skin, soft tissues, bones, joints and bloodstream, and drug-resistant Staph infections are a growing threat.

  The immune system's powerful cellular mutation and repair processes appear to offer important clues as to how lymphatic cancer develops, Yale School of Medicine researchers report.

  It sounds too good to be true ... a little inexpensive pill that could block the development of some cancers, strengthen bones, prevent multiple sclerosis and alleviate winter depression. But it's not science fiction. The "new aspirin" could be Vitamin D. Just as we discovered that aspirin can guard against heart disease, Vitamin D could become a useful weapon in the fight against MS, osteoporosis, mild depression and one of the most devastating diseases of our time -- cancer.

  New research may help explain why the anticancer drug Avastin, which targets a growth factor responsible for creation of new blood vessels, causes potentially fatal brain inflammation in certain patients. Institute scientists mimicked the drug's activity in mice and found that it damaged the cell lining that prevents fluid from leaking from the ventricle into the brain.

  Concerns about long-term effects of beef cattle browsing more than 11 million acres of Florida grazinglands led Agricultural Research Service scientists to examine soil fertility changes in bahiagrass-based beef cattle pastures from 1988 to 2002. Analysis of data from that research shows that cattle can be managed in an environmentally safe way, despite the large quantities of waste the animals generate.

  When it comes to deciding what harvester ant daughters will be when they grow up, mother queens hold considerable sway, according to a new study. The researchers report evidence that eggs are predetermined to become workers or queens from the moment they are lain.

  Physicists have taken a step toward understanding the puzzling nature of high-temperature superconductors, materials that conduct electricity with no resistance at temperatures well above absolute zero. If superconductors could be made to work at temperatures as high as room temperature, they could have potentially limitless applications. But first, scientists need to learn much more about how such materials work.

  A drug therapy currently used to treat non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and rheumatoid arthritis had a significant effect in treating the most common form of multiple sclerosis in a small, short-term clinical trial. Because the drug targets the immune system's B-cells, rather than the immune system's traditionally targeted T-cells -- long considered the primary culprit -- the finding provides a new insight into the cause of the disease, the researchers say.

  A healthy ear emits soft sounds in response to the sounds that travel in. Detectable with sensitive microphones, these otoacoustic emissions help doctors test newborns' hearing. A deaf ear doesn't produce these echoes. New research shows that, contrary to the current scientific thought, the emissions don't leave the ear the same way they entered.

  Critically ill patients who need a ventilator to breathe face a high risk of pneumonia. The lung infection, however, is exceedingly difficult to diagnose because a patient's underlying condition often skews laboratory test results and masks pneumonia's symptoms -- a reality that can delay appropriate antibiotic treatment. Now there is an early, more accurate detection method on the horizon.

  In response to a fast-spreading syndrome called colony collapse disorder (CCD) that's striking honey bees nationwide, scientists at Agricultural Research Service bee laboratories across the country are pooling their expertise. They want to learn what's causing the disappearance of the honey bees that add about $15 billion a year to the value of U.S. crops by pollinating fruit, vegetable, tree nut and berry crops. Some beekeepers have already lost one-half to two-thirds of their colonies to CCD. Researchers are attempting to improve the longevity of honey bee queens, find effective controls for Nosema protozoa and varroa mites, and reduce migratory colony stress.

  Texas' public school accountability system, the model for the national No Child Left Behind Act, directly contributes to lower graduation rates, according to new research. Each year Texas public high schools lose at least 135,000 youth prior to graduation -- a disproportionate number of whom are African-American, Latino and English-as-a-second-language students.

  Have you ever arrived somewhere and wondered how you got there? Scientists believe they may have found the answer, with research that shows that humans flock like sheep and birds, subconsciously following a minority of individuals. It takes a minority of just five per cent to influence a crowd's direction -- and that the other 95 per cent follow without realising it.

  Researchers reconstruct proteins from ancient bacteria to measure the Earth's temperature over the ages. The scientists determined that the Earth endured a massive cooling period between 500 million and 3.5 billion years ago. The team wanted to measure Earth's temperature billions of years ago to learn more about life on Earth during the Precambrian period. But instead of taking the traditional route -- analyzing rock formations or measuring isotopes in fossils -- they opted to do what they knew best: protein reconstruction.