Scientists at Queen Mary, University of London have discovered that an ingredient in human breast milk called pancreatic secretory trypsin inhibitor, or PSTI, protects and repairs the delicate intestines of newborn babies.

PSTI is found at its highest levels in colostrum, the milk produced in the first few days after birth.   The lining of a newborn's gut is particularly vulnerable to damage as it has never been exposed to food or drink. The new study highlights the importance of breastfeeding in the first few days after the birth.

The researchers found small amounts of PSTI in all the samples of breast milk they tested but it was seven times more concentrated in colostrum samples. The ingredient was not found in formula milk.

The current H1N1 influenza A swine flu strain has genetic roots in an illness that sickened pigs at the 1918 Cedar Rapids Swine Show in Iowa, report infectious disease experts at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health in the New England Journal of Medicine. Their paper, published online today, describes H1N1's nearly century-long and often convoluted journey, which may include the accidental resurrection of an extinct strain.

The Columbine school shooting in the US and Dawson College in Canada are examples of recent traumatic events that, due to their broad timeframe, allow researchers to examine their residual impact.

The Columbine shooting occurred in 1999 and was followed by 60 similar ones, despite increases in gun regulations in the US and Canada, twice as many as the previous decade.   Part of the reason may be 'copycat' attempts at the kind of impact and attention Columbine brought. 

Between the 1932 and 2008 Olympic Games, world record times in the men's 100 meter sprint improved by 0.6 seconds, mostly due to improved training techniques and technological advances.

Scientists at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology in Austria say they can duplicate that improvement with a simple change in diet.  The research presented on 29th June 2009 at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Meeting says they have managed to achieve an equivalent feat in mice fed on a diet high in polyunsaturated fatty acids.

University of Minnesota Medical School researcher Iris Borowsky, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues found that one in seven adolescents believe that it is highly likely that they will die before age 35, and this belief corresponded to more adolescents engaging in risky behaviors.

Borowsky and colleagues analyzed data collected by the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative sample of more than 20,000 youth in grades 7 through 12 during three separate study years. In the first set of interviews, nearly 15 percent of adolescents predicted they had a 50/50 chance or less of living to age 35.

Dolphins, whales and porpoises are perfectly adapted for maximum aquatic agility.  We know why that is - biologists expect that as a result of evolution - but to-date no one in physics had ever successfully analyzed how the animals' flippers interact with water; the hydrodynamic lift that they generate, the drag that they experience and their hydrodynamic efficiency.

Laurens Howle and Paul Weber from Duke University teamed up with Mark Murray from the United States Naval Academy and Frank Fish from West Chester University to find out more about the hydrodynamics of whale and dolphin flippers.   Their findings; some dolphins' fins generate lift in the same way as delta wing aircraft.