Biodiversity loss can increase infectious diseases in humans, scientists show in a first-of-its-kind global study.

Here's a holiday news nugget for those who will experience "wrap rage" this season ... According to a poll of Pennsylvania adults, about 17 percent of Pennsylvanians experienced an injury or knows someone who was injured while opening gifts during past seasons.

Two new studies provide a significant advance in understanding how some species of monkeys such as sooty mangabeys and African green monkeys avoid AIDS when infected with SIV, the simian equivalent of HIV.

A protein that plays a key role in copying DNA also plays a vital role in repairing breaks in it, scientists have found. The work is helping researchers understand how cancer cells can resist radiation and chemotherapy, as well as how cells become cancerous in the first place.

Scientists have found that combining two chemicals, one of which is the green tea component EGCG, can prevent and destroy a variety of protein structures known as amyloids. Amyloids are the primary culprits in fatal brain disorders such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's, and Parkinson's diseases.

Even the anticipation of sweets may cause our muscles to start taking up more blood sugar, say researchers. That message is delivered via neurons in the brain's hypothalamus containing the chemical known as orexin and the sympathetic nervous system, the studies in mice and rats suggest.

The "stroke belt" has a tight hold. People born in the Southern stroke belt have a higher risk of dying from stroke as adults, even if they later move away, compared to people who were born in other parts of the country, according to new research.

New research has allowed scientists to observe nerve ion channels within the cell surface membrane for the first time, potentially offering insights for future drug development.

The body is a battle zone. Cells constantly compete with one another for space and dominance. Though the manner in which some cells win this competition is well known to be the survival of the fittest, how stem cells duke it out for space and survival is not as clear. A new study on fruit flies describes how stem cells win this battle by literally sticking around.

Researchers are using the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, as a model system to unravel what genes and gene pathways are involved in the metabolic changes that lead to insulin resistance and full-blown diabetes in humans.