Bacteria that infect chronic wounds can be deadly to maggot 'biosurgeons' used to treat the lesions, say researchers writing in the journal Microbiology. During the study, maggots applied to simulated wounds heavily infected with the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, were unable to treat the wound and were left dead after 20 hours. The findings could lead to more effective treatment of wounds and the development of novel antibiotics.

For the first time, a team of astronomers has completed a demographic census of galaxy types at two different points in the Universe's history — in effect, creating two Hubble sequences — that help explain how galaxies form. The survey of 116 local galaxies and 148 distant galaxies indicates that the Hubble sequence six billion years ago was very different from the one that astronomers see today.

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University have designed an ultra-lightweight sponge made of clay and a bit of high-grade plastic they say will effectively clean up spills of all kinds of oils and solvents, and allow for the absorbed oil to be squeezed back out for use.

The new material, called aerogel, is made by mixing clay with a polymer and water in a blender. The mixture is then freeze-dried; air fills the gaps left by the loss of water, and the resulting material is super light, comprised of about 96 percent air, 2 percent polymer and 2 percent clay.

Researchers from Yale and George Mason Universities say that, despite a lack of concern over climate change, the American public is in favor of policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing cleaner forms of energy.

Scientists have long known that sperm's activity level depends on their internal pH. And now researchers writing in Cell say they have found the channel that allows the tiny cells to rid themselves of protons. Once in the female reproductive tract, that proton release changes their internal environment from acidic to alkaline and begins their race to the finish line. The findings offer new insight into a critical event in human fertilization and may lead to new ways of controlling male fertility.

"The concentration of protons inside the [sperm] cell is 1,000 times higher than outside," said Yuriy Kirichok of the University of California, San Francisco. "If you just open a pore, protons will go outside. We identify the molecule that lets them out."

Writing in the latest issue of Science, researchers say they have identified the vibrant colors that adorned Anchiornis huxleyi, a feathered dinosaur extinct for 150 million years. The discovery may add weight to the idea that dinosaurs first evolved feathers not for flight but for purposes such as sexual selection.

Researchers closely examined 29 feather samples from the dinosaur and measured melanosomes (cellular organelles that contain melanin) within the feathers. A statistical analysis of how those melanosomes compared to the types known to create particular colors in living birds allowed scientists to discern with 90 percent certainty the colors of individual feathers and, therefore, the colorful patterns of an extinct animal.