News by Subject Medicine & Health

Certain female mosquitoes quickly evolve more selective mating behavior when faced with existential threats from other invasive mosquito species, with concurrent changes to certain genetic regions, according to new research from North Carolina State University.

What can scientists learn about human neurodegenerative disease from a major soybean pest? It's not a trick question; the answer lies in the soybean cyst nematode, one of two classes of microscopic roundworms known to lose and then regain mobility as part of their life cycle. A new study from the University of Illinois explains how it works.

Research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia found that, among the 151 largest cities in the United States, only Philadelphia and New York City have local legislation that protects a nursing mother who returns to work outside the home and who wants to continue breastfeeding.

Researchers have discovered that the hearts of newborn piglets have one remarkable ability. They can almost completely heal themselves after experimental heart attacks. This regenerative capacity is short-lived -- disappearing by day three after birth, and this is the first time the ability regrow heart muscle has been shown in large mammals, the researchers report in the journal Circulation. This research has impactful clinical implications, says UAB researcher Jianyi 'Jay' Zhang, M.D., Ph.D.

Immune cells usually ignored by neuroscientists appear to play an important role in determining whether an animal's sexual behavior will be more typical of a male or female.