As dairy farmers across Europe anxiously await the lifting of EU milk quotas in April this year, new research from the University of Bristol, UK has revealed the antiquity of dairy farming in a region famous for its dairy exports: Ireland.

Research published today in the Journal of Environmental Archaeology shows that dairying on the island goes back approximately 6,000 years, revealed through traces of ancient dairy fats found in pots dating to around 4,000 to 2,500 BC.

A medical researcher at the University of Warwick has found the 2,500 year-old Pythagoras theorem could be the most effective way to identify the point at which a patient's health begins to improve.

In a new paper, Dr Rob Froud from Warwick Medical School at the University of Warwick and Gary Abel from the University of Cambridge made the discovery after looking at data from ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) curves.

These curves were initially developed during World War II for the analysis of signals to help operators decide whether a blip on the screen was an enemy target or allied forces ships or aircrafts. In the 1980s, the curves were adopted by epidemiologists to help them decide at what point an individual has recovered from an illness.

Social scientists believe that pre-Homo human ancestral species, such as Australopithecus africanus, used human-like hand postures much earlier than was previously thought.

The authors say they have the first archaeological evidence for stone tool use among fossil australopiths 3-2 million years ago. The distinctly human ability for forceful precision (e.g. when turning a key) and power "squeeze" gripping (e.g. when using a hammer) is linked to two key evolutionary transitions in hand use: a reduction in arboreal climbing and the manufacture and use of stone tools. However, it is unclear when these locomotory and manipulative transitions occurred.

An analysis of marijuana-related Twitter messages sent during a one-month period in early 2014, shows that the "Twitterverse" is a pot-friendly place.

How friendly? 15X as many pro-pot Tweets as anti-pot ones among more than 7 million tweets referenced marijuana.

What is the explanation for that? People who don't smoke a lot of pot are likely at work while those sending and receiving pot tweets were under age 25, with many in their teens, a demographic group at increased risk for developing marijuana dependence and other drug-related problems. 

Scientists have described a unique monoclonal antibody with the potential to treat Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) infections through the simultaneous neutralization of multiple key toxins produced by S. aureus, including alpha-hemolysin and four additional leukocidins. The findings are published online this week in the journal mAbs and demonstrate superior in vitro potency compared to antibodies targeting alpha-hemolysin alone. The mAb also shows high protective efficacy from lethal S. aureus infections in several animal models.

How is it that people can sometimes show such empathy when other times our ability to feel compassion seems to be in such short supply? A study published in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on January 15 shows that stress is a major factor.

A drug that blocks stress hormones increases the ability of college students and mice to "feel" the pain of a stranger, the study shows. That phenomenon, known as "emotional contagion of pain," is one form of empathy. In even better news, a shared round of the video game Rock Band worked just as well as the drugs among those undergrads.