My picks from ScienceDaily

Olympic Games: Researchers Explore What Makes Better Athletes, The Physiology Of Performance, And More:

The world-record pace for the marathon continues to improve for both men and women. For men, the record pace for the marathon is now about as fast as the record pace for the 10,000-meter run just after World War II. Today, champion athletes are running more than four times farther at speeds of well under five minutes per mile.

Neurobiologists Discover Individuals Who 'Hear' Movement:

Individuals with synesthesia perceive the world in a different way from the rest of us. Because their senses are cross-activated, some synesthetes perceive numbers or letters as having colors or days of the week as possessing personalities, even as they function normally in the world.

Humans' Response To Risk Can Be Unnecessarily Dangerous:

The traffic light ahead of you is turning yellow. Do you gun the engine and speed through the intersection, trusting that others will wait for their green, or do you slow down and wait your turn?

Perfectly Proportioned Legs Keep Water Striders Striding:

The amazing water strider -- known for its ability to walk on water -- came within just a hair of sinking into evolutionary oblivion. Scientists in France and the United Kingdom are reporting that the insect's long, flexible legs have an optimal length that keeps it afloat.

Entomologists Use 'Love Potion' To Detect Hidden Cerambycid Beetles:

Cerambycid beetles, also known as long-horned beetles, can cause severe damage to standing trees, logs and lumber. How then might they be promptly detected and their numbers swiftly controlled?

Gene For Sexual Switching In Melons Provides Clues To Evolution Of Sex:

A newly discovered function for a hormone in melons suggests it plays a role in how sexual systems evolve in plants. The study, conducted by French and American scientists, appeared recently in the journal Science.

Nine To Twenty Individual Fire Ant Queens Started U.S. Fire Ant Population:

The current U.S. population of red imported fire ants--which infest millions of acres across the southern states--can be traced back to nine to 20 queens in Mobile, Ala.

For The Birds Or For Me? Why Do Conservationists Really Help Wildlife?:

Volunteers who take part in conservation efforts may do it more for themselves than the wildlife they are trying to protect, a University of Alberta case study shows.