The political football of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America is well-known but a new study has found that even immigrants with job offers are less likely to have those immigration requests granted - if they are from Latin America,

Higher alcohol taxes curb binge drinking, according to a new paper by Boston University scholars. 

With the cultural spotlight shining so brightly on the risks of gridiron football, it was only a matter of time before the unknown risks of youth rugby got some scrutiny, and a senior doctor in The BMJ does that this week.

Michael Carter, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, argues that "rugby sidesteps many safeguards intended to ensure pupil wellbeing" and calls on schools, clubs, medical facilities, and regulatory bodies to "cooperate now to quantify the risks of junior rugby."

In UK schools where rugby is played, it mostly begins as a near compulsory activity from the age of 8 years, he explains. By 10 years, most players engage in some form of contact competition, increasing the potential for injury.

Bacteria in our digestive tract have evolved to help us break down and digest the complex carbohydrates that make up the yeast cell wall that give beer and bread their bubbles - and that could support the development of new treatments to help people fight off yeast infections and autoimmune diseases such as Crohn's disease, according to a new study.

Evolving over the 7,000 years that we have been eating fermented food and drink, the ability of a common gut bacterium called Bacteroides thetaiotomicron to degrade yeasts is almost exclusively found in the human gut. The team says the discovery of this process could accelerate the development of prebiotic medicines to help people suffering from bowel problems and autoimmune diseases.

Headshaking in horses, a neuropathic facial pain syndrome, often leaves affected horses impossible to ride and dangerous to handle, and can result in euthanasia.

It affects between 10,000 and 20,000 animals in the UK each year and there are no consistently safe and effective methods for it.  A new study has found a treatment called percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (PENS) could reduce signs of the condition in horses. The same PENS therapy is used in people to manage neuropathic pain. There are clinical similarities between facial pain syndromes in people, most notably trigeminal neuralgia, and headshaking in horses. 

Winter weather can mean treacherous driving across much of the country. Road crews spread rock salt all over the highways and byways.

Though environmentalists and the academics who give them cultural ammunition don't like salt on roads, it works a whole lot better than the expensive vegetable juice alternatives that get promoted. But why?

The answer is a fascinating look into the world of chemistry and this week the group at ACS Reactions breaks down how ice keeps the roads safe when bad weather hits.