My Picks from ScienceDaily

Some Tropical Birds Depend Completely On Army Ants To Flush Out Prey:

In the jungles of Central and South America, a group of birds has evolved a unique way of finding food -- by following hordes of army ants and letting them do all the work.

Bone Structure 'Vastly Different' Than Previously Believed:

Researchers have discovered that the structure of human bones is vastly different than previously believed -- findings which will have implications for how some debilitating bone disorders are treated.

Ear Infection Superbug Discovered To Be Resistant To All Pediatric Antibiotics:

Researchers have discovered a strain of bacteria resistant to all approved drugs used to fight ear infections in children, according to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association. A pair of pediatricians discovered the strain because it is their standard practice to perform an uncommon procedure called tympanocentesis (ear tap) on children when several antibiotics fail to clear up their ear infections. The procedure involves puncturing the child's eardrum and draining fluid to relieve pressure and pain. Analyzing the drained fluid is the only way to describe the bacterial strain causing the infection.

Upper Midwest Forests Are Losing Diversity, Complexity:

Forests in the nation's Upper Midwest have changed greatly since the time of the early settlers. And more changes may be coming.

Tuna Fishing Fleets In The Pacific Pose Danger To Wildlife At Sea:

Thousands of seabirds and significant numbers of sharks and marine turtles are being caught and killed each year in long-line fishing nets targeting southern bluefin tuna, reveals a new WWF report.

After Drought, Diversity Dries Up And Ponds All Look The Same:

An ecologist at Washington University in St. Louis has discovered that after ponds dry up through drought in a region, when they revive, the community of species in each pond tends to be very similar to one another, like so many suburban houses made of ticky tacky.

Unique Spoon-billed Bird Facing Extinction:

Populations of one of the world's strangest birds have crashed over the last decade, and surveys this summer of its breeding grounds in the remote Russian province of Chukotka suggest that the situation is now critical. The charismatic, and rather aptly named, Spoon-billed Sandpiper Eurynorhynchus pygmeus, is now worryingly close to becoming extinct. With only 200-300 pairs left, conservationists are calling for urgent help to tackle the decline.

Thirtieth Anniversary Of Discovery Of Third Domain Of Life:

Thirty years ago this month, researchers at the University of Illinois published a discovery that challenged basic assumptions about the broadest classifications of life. Their discovery - which was based on an analysis of ribosomal RNA, an ancient molecule essential to the replication of all cells - opened up a new field of study, and established a first draft of the evolutionary "tree of life."