My picks from ScienceDaily

Ants Can Learn To Forage On One-way Trails:

Ant trails fascinate children and scientists alike. With so many ants traveling in both directions, meeting and contacting one another, carrying their loads and giving the impression that they have a sense of urgency and duty, they pose the following question: how do they organize themselves? A new study may have some answers.

Bone Deformities Linked To Inbreeding In Isle Royale Wolves:

The wolves on Isle Royale are suffering from genetically deformed bones. Scientists from Michigan Technological University blame the extreme inbreeding of the small, isolated wolf population at the island National Park in northern Lake Superior.

Homebody Queen Ants Help Preserve Family Ties In Large Populations:

Ant and bee colonies have long fascinated biologists because of their hierarchical social structure and the apparently altruistic behaviour of female workers in rearing the queen's young rather than reproducing themselves. In colonies headed by a single queen, this makes evolutionary sense in that the workers are as closely related to the princesses and princes they nurture as they would be to their own children.

Food Security For Leaf-cutting Ants: Workers And Their Fungus Garden Reject Invaders:

New diseases directly affect human survival and food security, especially as population density climbs. Leaf-cutting ants, one of a few groups of social insects to cultivate crops, have harvested plant material to fertilize their underground fungal gardens for ~50 million years. New results from the Smithsonian show that both the ants and their fungal crop actively combat fungi coming into the nest inside leaves, thus ensuring the health of their mutualism.

Evolution's Impact On Ecosystems Shown Directly For First Time:

Scientists have come to agree that different environments impact the evolution of new species. Now experiments conducted at the University of British Columbia are showing for the first time that the reverse is also true.

You Do The Math: Explaining Basic Concepts Behind Math Problems Improves Children's Learning:

New research from Vanderbilt University has found students benefit more from being taught the concepts behind math problems rather than the exact procedures to solve the problems. The findings offer teachers new insights on how best to shape math instruction to have the greatest impact on student learning.

Middle School Youth As Young As 12 Engaging In Risky Sexual Activity:

Middle school youth are engaging in sexual intercourse as early as age 12, according to a study by researchers at The University of Texas School of Public Health.