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Without eyes or ears, plants must rely on the interaction of molecules to determine appropriate mating partners and avoid inbreeding. In a new study, University of Missouri researchers have identified pollen proteins that may contribute to the signaling processes that determine if a plant accepts or rejects individual pollen grains for reproduction.

Scientists have identified a previously undetected trigger point on a naturally occurring 'death protein' that helps the body get rid of unwanted or diseased cells. They say it may be possible to exploit the newly found trigger as a target for designer drugs that would treat cancer by forcing malignant cells to commit suicide.

The Kansas Legislature chose Kansas City law firm Bartimus Frickleton Robertson & Gorny PC to represent the state in a lawsuit against 18 drug companies accused of overcharging Kansas’ Medicaid program.

The American Medical Association says doctors shouldn't prescribe placebos because the practice undermines trust. But in a new study, about half of the physicians surveyed say they regularly prescribe placebos — and that patients are mostly unaware.

According to trials, a new obesity drug, Tesofensine, which may be launched on the world market in a few years, can produce weight loss twice that of currently approved obesity drugs.

Researchers have put forward a simple model of development and gene regulation that is capable of explaining patterns observed in the distribution of morphologies and body plans (or, more generally, phenotypes). The study, by Elhanan Borenstein of the Santa Fe Institute and Stanford University and David Krakauer of the Santa Fe Institute was published in this month's issue of PLoS Computational Biology.

Youth in their late teens who live in poor neighbourhoods are four times more likely to attempt suicide than peers who live in more affluent neighbourhoods, according to a new study from Canada's Université de Montréal and Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Center, as well as Tufts University in the U.S. The researchers also found youth from poor neighbourhoods are twice as likely to report suicidal thoughts.

OTTAWA, ONTARIO (MARKET WIRE) A new study by independent forecasting company Global Insight (www.globalinsight.com) concludes that commodities speculation rather than ethanol production was the principal factor in higher corn prices this past summer. Many critics had previously blamed ethanol production for the record price of corn.

From 1935 to 1975, just about everyone busted for drugs in the U.S. was sent to the United States Narcotic Farm outside Lexington, Ky. Equal parts federal prison, treatment center, research laboratory and farm, this controversial institution was designed not only to rehabilitate addicts, but to discover a cure for drug addiction.Now a new documentary, The Narcotic Farm, reveals the lost world of this institution, based on rare film footage, numerous documents, dozens of interviews of former staff, inmates and volunteer patients, and more than 2,000 photographs unearthed from archives across the country. Premiering October 26 on public television in Philadelphia and Salisbury, Md., the film will appear on public television stations across the country throughout November. A book accompanying the documentary includes rare and previously unpublished pictures of "Narco," as the institution was called locally, a selection of which can be seen in this slide show. [More]

U.S. doctors regularly prescribetreatments such as vitamins, painkillers and antibiotics fortheir potential placebo effect only, a survey found.