Stem cells – the body's master cells – demonstrate a bizarre property never before seen at a cellular level, according to a study published today from scientists at the University of Cambridge. The property – known as auxeticity – is one which may have application as wide-ranging as soundproofing, super-absorbent sponges and bulletproof vests.

Biofuels - ethanol - were trumpeted as being a renewable alternative to fossil fuels for decades. Finally, in 2005, it got the mandates and subsidies environmentalists insisted were necessary to make inroads against a mature industry like petroleum.

Immediately, what scientists knew became evident - they were more resource intensive to produce, were no better for emissions, and subsidies insured there was no reason to get more efficient. Worse, the gold rush of government money drove up corn prices, unfairly impacting the poor.

In biology, anticipation is the term for genetic diseases caused by an abnormal repeat in DNA that becomes more severe with each new generation.

Now there is a twist. A study has found the existence of anticipation in diseases caused by different errors - not a DNA repeat - in fatal neurodegenerative disorder Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy (FAP).

The bacterium Bacillus subtilis is quite adaptable, it moves about in liquids and on agar surfaces by means of flagella and alternatively, it can just stick to an underlying substrate. 

The bacteria proliferate most effectively in this stationary state, while motile bacteria reproduce at a noticably lower rate.

In order to sustain and extend the colony, bacteria primarily require sufficient nutrients. Moving slowly means that nutrients are soon used up, but adventurous bacteria that decide to move out fast in search for a microbial Cockaigne may end up feeling lonely.

Which strategy offers the best prospects for the organisms? Should one specialize in growth or migration, or be a generalist and steer a balanced course?

A long-term study of a cohort of young people, 12,000 people now six years old, from Iceland to Greece, who have been tracked from birth and whose diets and allergies have been recorded, is evaluating maternal diet’s impact on food allergy in later life is expected to uncover causes of allergy in children.

Some pointers are already evident, they note. Compared to the UK, Israeli children typically eat nuts at an earlier age and have fewer allergies, which suggests that such dietary habits may have a protective effect against nut allergies later on. “This means that the current advice that young children should avoid nuts may make things worse,” says Clare Mills, professor of allergy in the Institute of Inflammation and Repair at the University of Manchester.

Two Simon Fraser University psychologists have made a brain-related discovery that could revolutionize doctors' perception and treatment of attention-deficit disorders.

This discovery opens up the possibility that environmental and/or genetic factors may hinder or suppress a specific brain activity that the researchers have identified as helping us prevent distraction.

The Journal of Neuroscience has just published a paper about the discovery by John McDonald, an associate professor of psychology and his doctoral student John Gaspar, who made the discovery during his master's thesis research.