Honey bees play a vital role in pollination but their populations are under threat in many parts of the world. Flickr/Paul Stein, CC BY-SA

By Andrew Beattie

Prescriptions for opioid painkillers for chronic pain have increased in the United States and so have overdose deaths, but a new study focused on how the availability of alternative nonopioid treatment, such as medical marijuana, may affect overdose rates. 

States that implemented medical marijuana laws appear to have lower annual opioid analgesic overdoses death rates (both from prescription pain killers and illicit drugs such as heroin) than states without such laws although the reason why is not clear.

The Taung Child, a hominin discovered in South Africa 90 years ago by Wits University Professor Raymond Dart, has been studied using the Wits University Microfocus X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) facility and the results cast doubt on theories that Australopithecus africanus shows the same cranial adaptations found in modern human infants and toddlers.

Instead it seems to disprove current support for the idea that this early hominin shows infant brain development in the prefrontal region similar to that of modern humans.

Boron deficiency is a common cause of reduced crop yields in places like Missouri and the eastern half of the United States. It is common for corn and soybean farmers to supplement their soil with boron and now researchers at the University of Missouri have found that boron plays an integral role in development and reproduction in corn plants.

The researchers anticipate that understanding how corn uses the nutrient can help farmers make informed decisions in boron deficient areas and improve crop yields.

For patients with advanced Parkinson disease who have involuntary movements, deep brain stimulation has been found to be an effective treatment for reducing motor disability and improving quality of life. 

Some recent studies suggest that
deep brain stimulation
plus medical therapy is better than medical therapy alone for patients with  Parkinson disease and early motor complications. Most clinical studies have excluded patients older than 75 years of age, although no specific age cutoff has been set. 

Feeling stressed out? Blame your great-grandparents.

Psychologists have linked ancestral exposure by a common fungicide, vinclozolin, to the stress levels of rats generations later. Epigenetically. Vinclozolin is a fungicide commonly used by farmers to ward off rots, molds and blights. 

A parasitic fungus that reproduces by manipulating the behavior of ants emits a cocktail of behavior-controlling chemicals when encountering the brain of its natural target host, but not when infecting other ant species, a new study shows.

The findings, which suggest that the fungus "knows" its preferred host, provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, according to researchers.

"Fungi are well known for their ability to secrete chemicals that affect their environment," noted lead author Charissa de Bekker, a Marie Curie Fellow in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, and Ludwig Maximilian of the University of Munich. "So we wanted to know what chemicals are employed to control so precisely the behavior of ants."

A certain type of biomolecule, called a glycoconjugate,  is built like a nano-Christmas tree. Its many branches are bedecked with sugary ornaments that get all the glory. That's because, according to conventional wisdom, the glycoconjugate's lowly "tree" basically holds the sugars in place as they do the important work of reacting with other molecules.

A chemist at Michigan Technological University has discovered that the tree itself — the scaffold — is a good deal more than a simple prop.

Children learn many skills simply by watching people around them. Without any explicit instructions, youngsters figure out how to do things like press a button to operate the television and twist a knob to open a door.

Scholars have taken this further and found that children as young as age 2 intuitively use mathematical concepts such as probability to help make sense of the world around them.