The gay marriage movement may seem like a modern development but it had its roots in World War II culture. By having homosexual characters in comedies, the concept was less threatening and still passed the censorship of film boards.

An article in the journal Zer by 
Carlos III University of Madrid professor in journalism Alejandro Melero studied the presence and visibility of the gay world in Spanish cinema between 1940 and 1975 - the era of fascist dictator Ferdinand Franco. It shows that there were genres that homosexuality appeared in more frequently. One such genre is comedy, in which it was common to portray gays as funny characters.

In cosmology, cold dark matter is believed to be a form of matter which moves slowly in comparison with light and interacts weakly with electromagnetic radiation. It is estimated that only a minute fraction of the matter in the Universe is baryonic matter, which forms stars, planets and living organisms. The rest, comprising over 80%, is dark matter and energy.

Unwed parents are becoming more common - some estimates are that more children will be born out of wedlock than in it by 2016. Unwed parents may eventually get married, though perhaps not to the person they first had children with.

Researchers have identified a biomarker that predicts whether glioblastoma – the most common form of primary brain cancer – will respond to chemotherapy.  

"Every patient diagnosed with glioblastoma is treated with a chemotherapy called temozolomide. About 15 percent of these patients derive long-lasting benefit," said Clark C. Chen, MD, PhD, vice-chairman of Academic Affairs, Division of Neurosurgery, UC San Diego School of Medicine and the study's principal investigator. "We need to identify which patients benefit from temozolomide and which another type of treatment. All therapies involve risk and the possibility of side-effects. Patients should not undergo therapies if there's no likelihood of benefit."

Locusts decide the most nutritious plant to eat based on ambient temperature - they choose their food and then where they digest it according to how hot it is.  

Invasion by exotic plant species affects the ability of soil to store greenhouse gases, which could have far-reaching implications for how we manage agricultural land and native ecosystems, according to a paper in New Phytologist, which found that invasive plants can accelerate the greenhouse effect by releasing carbon stored in soil into the atmosphere.

Since soil stores more carbon than both the atmosphere and terrestrial vegetation combined, the repercussions for how we manage agricultural land and ecosystems to facilitate the storage of carbon could be dramatic.