My picks from ScienceDaily

Landscape Corridors Promote Plant Diversity By Preventing Species Loss:

Landscape corridors - thin strips of habitat that connect isolated patches of habitat -- are lifelines for native plants that live in the connected patches and therefore are a useful tool for conserving biodiversity. That's the result of the first replicated, large-scale study of plants and how they survive in both connected patches of habitat -- those utilizing landscape corridors -- and unconnected patches.

I've heard a lot about this study (and several others at the same site) over the years because Nick and Ellen are my friends and colleagues - I am so excited they got this into Science

'Stress And The City': Urban Birds Keep Cool:

Ornithologists of the Max Planck Society demonstrate that urban birds are more resistant to acute stress than forest dwelling birds. This reduced reactivity probably has a genetic basis and could be the result of the urban-specific selection pressures to which urban blackbirds are exposed.

Mayo Clinic Discovers New Type Of Sleep Apnea:

Researchers at Mayo Clinic have identified a new type of sleep apnea they call "complex sleep apnea." The newly discovered type, complex sleep apnea, is a combination of both obstructive and central sleep apneas.

Deer-free Areas May Be Haven For Ticks, Disease:

Excluding deer could be a counterproductive strategy for controlling tick-borne infections, because the absence of deer from small areas may lead to an increase in ticks, rapidly turning the area into a potential disease hotspot, according to a team of U.S. and Italian researchers.

'Portion Distortion' May Contribute To Expanding Waistlines, Study Reports:

New research shows that people's perceptions of normal portion sizes have changed in the past 20 years. A study out of Rutgers published in the September issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association reports that Portion Distortion may be the cause. This phenomenon occurs when consumers perceive large portion sizes as appropriate amounts to eat at a single eating occasion.

Scientists Identify Compounds That Stimulate Stem Cell Growth In The Brain:

Harvard scientists have identified key compounds that stimulate stem cell growth in the brain, which may one day lead to restored function for people affected by Parkinson's disease, strokes, multiple sclerosis and a wide range of neurological disorders. These findings, which appear in the September 2006 issue of the FASEB Journal, provide important clues as to which compounds may be responsible for causing key brain cells, neurons, to regenerate and ultimately restore brain function.

New Parks To Protect Animals Seen As Feasible:

Many "gap" locations worldwide -- identified in previous research as lacking conservation protection yet harboring imperiled animal species -- are ripe for conservation efforts, because they have a sparse human population and large tracts of conservation-compatible habitat, and are unattractive for agriculture.

A Switch Between Life And Death:

Cells in an embryo divide at an amazing rate to build a whole body, but this growth needs to be controlled. Controlling growth requires that some cells divide while others die; their fates are determined by signals that are passed from molecule to molecule within the cell. Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg have now discovered how one of these signaling pathways controls the life and death of cells in the fruit fly.

Scientists Crack Genetic Secrets Of Human Egg:

Scientists at Michigan State University report this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they have identified genes unique to the human egg. The identification opens the way to understanding these genes' functions, which may lead to solving problems from infertility to degenerative diseases.

High Levels Of Pollutants May Decrease Sexual Organ Size In Polar Bears:

Exposure to high levels of environmental pollutants called organohalogen compounds (OHCs) seems to reduce the size of sexual organs in male and female polar bears, researchers report in an article scheduled for the Sept. 15 issue of the ACS journal, Environmental Science & Technology. OHCs include dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls and some pesticides.

Researchers Map Out Networks That Determine Cell Fate:

A two-step process appears to regulate cell fate decisions for many types of developing cells. For some differentiating stem cells, the first step leads not to a final decision but to a new choice. In response to the initial chemical signal, these cells take on the genetic signatures of two different cell types. It often requires a second signal for them to commit to a single cellular identity.

Social Imitation In Neonatal Monkeys:

Humans do it. Chimps do it. Why shouldn't monkeys do it, too? Mimicry exists throughout the animal kingdom, but imitation with a purpose -- matching one's behavior to others' as a form of social learning -- has been seen only in great apes. It's generally believed that monkeys do not imitate in this way. However, the discovery that rhesus monkeys have "mirror neurons" -- neurons that fire both when monkeys watch another animal perform an action and when they perform the same action -- suggests they possess the common neural framework for perception and action that is associated with imitation.

Spread Of Plant Diseases By Insects Can Be Described By Equations That Model Interplanetary Gravity:

Researchers from Penn State University and the University of Virginia show that the spread of diseases by insects can be described by equations similar to those that describe the force of gravity between planetary objects. Their findings are detailed in the September issue of the American Naturalist.

Researcher Studies Gene Families To Explore Diversity And Evolution:

Iowa State University theoretical biologist Stephen Proulx uses tools and computer models to determine how environmental and evolutionary factors structure a genome. One path to diversity in a genome involves the proliferation of genes into multi-gene families. In a recent paper in the journal Evolution, Proulx and a colleague show that the process of gene family expansion can begin even before a gene is duplicated.

Iron Critical To Ocean Productivity, Carbon Uptake:

A new study has found that large segments of the Pacific Ocean lack sufficient iron to trigger healthy phytoplankton growth and the absence of the mineral stresses these microscopic ocean plants, triggering them to produce additional pigments that make ocean productivity appear more robust than it really is. The tropical Pacific Ocean may photosynthesize 1-2 billion tons less atmospheric carbon dioxide than was previously thought.