Though the pancreas is an organ with little exposure to sex hormones, one form of pancreatic cancer affects specifically women, often young.

How is this possible, even though the pancreas ? This pancreatic cancer, known as "mucinous cyst", has strange similarities with another mucinous cancer, affecting the ovaries.

A new paper has a plausible answer. Both tumors originate from embryonic germ cells. While still undifferentiated, these cells migrate to the reproductive organs. On their way, some can mistakenly stop in other organs, bringing a risk of tumor that may occur 30 years later. 

Most membranes that are used to distill fresh water from salty are made of polymers, which are derived from fossil fuels. 

There is a reason that fossil fuels have stuck around for so long. No longer do they have terrific energy density in the form of gasoline but they make up many useful products. But many of those products can be difficult to recycle.

A new wood membrane takes a page out of the book of trees instead. In a limited sense, the intricate system of water circulating in a tree can filter it and a team of researchers have figured out how to use a thin slice of wood as a membrane through which water vapor can evaporate, leaving behind salt or other contaminants.

Gorilla teeth are large and high crested when compared to other great apes, believed to an adaptation to them spending a large amount of time chewing tough fibrous plant material - they have a vegetarian diet consisting almost exclusively of leafy vegetation and fruit.

The high crests on their molar teeth are at risk of damage if they eat hard objects, such as nuts encased in a woody shell, but they do it anyway. And an anthropology paper seems surprised a primate might engage in behavior that is not a force of evolution. 

For most aging people, their 90s are the most perilous time. But if you live to be 105, your chances of living to 110 basically level out after declining when people reach their 90s.

Telepathic communication might be one step closer to reality thanks to new research from the University of Washington. A team created a method that allows three people to work together to solve a problem using only their minds.

In BrainNet, three people play a Tetris-like game using a brain-to-brain interface. This is the first demonstration of two things: a brain-to-brain network of more than two people, and a person being able to both receive and send information to others using only their brain. The team published its results in Scientific Reports after being posted on arXiv last year.

As France has drifted away from agricultural progress, it has become more reliant on imported food. What was once Europe's greatest ag engine has become the sick old man of of the continent. A new paper says it needs to get even worse if the EU is going to honor its other commitments to environmentalists.