Researchers from University College London estimate that use of e-cigarettes produced 16K-22K additional long-term quitters in England in 2014.1 A long-term quitter is someone who has not smoked for at least one year.

The UCL team has been tracking the rapid rise in use of e-cigarettes using monthly national surveys and estimates that in 2014 almost 900,000 smokers used one of these products to try to quit (see "Electronic cigarettes in England - latest trends" (ref STS140122) at http://www.smokinginengland.info/latest-statistics/).

HAMILTON, March 1, 2016 - As scientists step up their search for other life in the universe, two astrophysicists are proposing a way to make sure we don't miss the signal if extraterrestrial observers try to contact us first.

René Heller and Ralph Pudritz say the best chance for us finding a signal from beyond is to presume that extraterrestrial observers are using the same methods to search for us that we are using to search for life beyond Earth.

Here on Earth, space researchers are focusing most of their search efforts on planets and moons that are too far away to see directly. Instead, they study them by tracking their shadows as they pass in front of their own host stars.

Researchers have discovered one reason why adolescents are more prone to drug addiction than adults, with findings that could lead to new treatments for addictive disorders.

In two studies with mice and humans to be published together in the journal eLife, the investigators from Baylor College of Medicine, US, have found that the ability to produce (or synthesize) new proteins, regulated by the molecule eIF2, accounts for adolescents' hypersensitivity to both cocaine and nicotine.

The post-translational addition of ubiquitin to proteins by enzymes of the E3 ubiquitin ligase family is largely recognized as a means to target misfolded or unwanted proteins for degradation by the proteasome. However, it is now understood that ubiquitination serves as a signal to modify a number of cellular functions such as protein trafficking, cell signaling, DNA repair, chromatin modifications, cell-cycle progression, and cell death. Though these functions are integral for all cells throughout the body, the physiologic role of specific E3 ligases must yet be defined in the context of various tissues. For example, very few studies exist that interrogate the function of specific E3 ubiquitin ligases in the reproductive system.

New psychology research from the University of Otago, Warwick Business School, and University of California, San Diego, is helping explain why male faces with feminine features are considered attractive in some contexts but not others.

The study findings provide a new explanation for why the "Johnny Depp Effect" - which involves women tending to prefer men with more feminine faces - holds in some contexts, but not in others.

The international research team has found that when people are asked to rate the attractiveness of gender-blended face morphs they tend to judge them as less appealing if they are first asked to classify the face as male or female.

Skimping on sleep has long been associated with overeating, poor food choices and weight gain. Now a new study shows how sleep loss initiates this process, amplifying and extending blood levels of a chemical signal that enhances the joy of eating, particularly the guilty pleasures gained from sweet or salty, high-fat snack foods.

The findings were published Feb. 29, 2016, in the journal SLEEP.

CAMBRIDGE, MA -- DNA is made from four nucleosides, each known by its own letter -- A, G, C, and T. However, since the structure of DNA was deciphered in 1953, scientists have discovered several other variants that are often added to the DNA sequences to replace one of the usual four letters.

These variants, which may be modified versions of the traditional nucleosides, often help cells to control which genes are turned on and off, and are referred to as "epigenetic marks" in the DNA. In bacteria, they can also protect DNA from invasion by other organisms such as viruses.

reaggregation of marine sponges' cells helped the scientists to come closer to understanding of the origin and early evolution of multicellular animals.The work was published in Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological Genetics and Physiology.

Andrey Lavrov and Igor Kosevich, MSU biologists, researched the ability of the cells of marine sponges (Porifera) to reaggregation - a process, during which the artificially separated sponge cells reaggregate and build multicellular aggregates of varying types.

Unlike illicit trade in drugs, guns or pornography, illicit trade in rare wildlife doesn't have to hide on the 'darknet' because people can find whatever rare species they want in the open marketplace.

The so-called darknet is not required for trade in species such as rhino or elephant, because laws protecting wildlife trade online are so poorly enforced, research by the University of Kent suggests.

In an article entitled Assessing the extent and nature of wildlife trade on the darknet, published in Conservation Biology, the lack of darknet markets was compared to the burgeoning trade on the open web, which researchers say indicates a lack of successful enforcement there.

The modern plagues of obesity, physical inactivity and processed food have been definitively established as modern causes of colon cancer. Researchers have also associated a mutation of the Adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene with the deadly disease. But which came first? Is colon cancer a lethal product of modernity? Or is this an open-and-shut case of DNA gone awry?

A new Tel Aviv University discovery suggests that a genetic predisposition to colorectal cancer preceded the advent of modernization -- and, in a bizarre twist, they discovered this evidence in an 18th-century Hungarian mummy.