Young adults with higher blood lead levels appear more likely to have major depression and panic disorders, even if they have exposure to lead levels generally considered safe, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Scientists looking to understand the genetic mechanisms of plant defense and growth have found for the first time in plants an inverse relationship between gene duplication and alternative splicing. The finding has implications for diversity not only in plants, but in animals and humans.

A massive, data-crunching computer search program that matches fragments of potential drug molecules to the known shapes of viral surface proteins has identified several FDA-approved drugs that could be the basis for new medicines -- if emerging viruses such as the H5N1 (avian flu) or H1N1/09 (swine flu) develop resistance to current antiviral therapies.

Even the snow on Aconcagua Mountain in the Andes is polluted with PCBs. Scientists detected low concentrations of these toxic, carcinogenic chlorine compounds in samples taken from America’s highest mountain. The snow samples taken at an altitude of 6200 meters are among the highest traces found anywhere in the world of these substances, which have been banned since 2001.

While it is too early for physicians to start advising their male patients to take up the habit of regular coffee drinking, new data revealed a strong inverse association between coffee consumption and the risk of lethal and advanced prostate cancers.

Astronomers have taken the deepest image yet of the Universe in near-infrared light. The faintest and reddest objects in the image are likely the oldest galaxies ever identified, having formed between only 600-900 million years after the Big Bang.

A new study reveals that craving a cigarette while performing a cognitive task not only increases the chances of a person's mind wandering, but also makes that person less likely to notice when his or her mind has wandered.

Certain genes switch their nuclear position in tumor cells, offering a potential new method of diagnosing cancer, say researchers.

Scientists have developed a way to rapidly manipulate and sort different cells in the blood using magnetizable liquids. The findings could dramatically improve the speed and sensitivity of tests used to detect cancer biomarkers, blood disorders, viruses and other diseases.

Asthmatic smokers may be able to reverse some of the damage to their lungs that exacerbates asthmatic symptoms just by putting down their cigarettes, according to new research.