A pair of galaxies, known collectively as Arp 87, is one of hundreds of interacting and merging galaxies known in our nearby Universe. Arp 87 was originally discovered and catalogued by astronomer Halton Arp in the 1970s. Arp’s Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies is a compilation of astronomical photographs using the Palomar 200-inch Hale and the 48-inch Samuel Oschin telescopes.

The resolution in the Hubble image shows exquisite detail and fine structure that was not observable when Arp 87 was first discovered in the 1970’s.

Polyphenols are commonly found in red wine, fruits, vegetables, and green tea. In a new study, French scientists describe how high and low doses of polyphenols have different effects. Most notably, they found that very high doses of antioxidant polyphenols shut down and prevent cancerous tumors by cutting off the formation of new blood vessels needed for tumor growth.

New research is the first to definitively pinpoint when and from where HIV-1 entered the United States and shows that most HIV/AIDS viruses in the U.S. descended from a single common ancestor. The actual ancestral HIV entered the U.S. long before the storied "Patient Zero," senior author Michael Worobey said.

The AIDS virus entered the United States via Haiti, probably arriving in just one person in about 1969, earlier than previously believed, according to new research.

After the virus, HIV-1, entered the U.S., it flourished and spread worldwide.

Scientists at Newcastle University have developed a cancer fighting technology which uses UV light to activate antibodies which very specifically attack tumours.

Therapeutic antibodies have long been recognised as having excellent potential but getting them to efficiently target tumour cells has proved to be very difficult.

Now, Professor Colin Self and Dr Stephen Thompson from Newcastle University have developed a procedure to cloak antibodies which can then be activated by UV-A light and so can be targeted to a specific area of the body just by shining a probe at the relevant part.

This procedure maximizes the destruction of the tumour while minimising damage to healthy tissue.

Reporting in the Oct. 29 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Edythe London, a professor of psychiatry in the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior; Kate Baicy, a graduate student in London’s lab, and colleagues report that leptin reduces activation in regions of the brain linked to hunger while enhancing activation in regions linked to inhibition and satiety. The findings suggest possible new therapeutic targets for human obesity, an increasing problem in adults as well as children.

The researcher’s used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain activity before and after leptin supplementation in three adults from a Turkish family who lacked the leptin (ob) hormone due to a mutation.

The common practice of adding nitrogen fertilizer is believed to benefit the soil by building organic carbon, but four University of Illinois soil scientists used analyses of soil samples from the University of Illinois Morrow Plots that date back to before the current practice began to show that too much nitrogen actually does the opposite.

"We don't question the importance of nitrogen fertilizers for crop production," said Tim Ellsworth. "But, excessive application rates cut profits and are bad for soils and the environment. The loss of soil carbon has many adverse consequences for productivity, one of which is to decrease water storage.