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Bone growth is controlled in the gut through serotonin, the same naturally present chemical used by the brain to influence mood, appetite and sleep, according to a new discovery. Until now, the skeleton was thought to control bone growth and serotonin was known as a neurotransmitter acting in the brain. This insight could transform how osteoporosis is treated by giving doctors a way to increase bone mass, not just slow its loss.

Acupuncture works - but it works equally well with or without needle penetration. This conclusion can be drawn from a treatment study involving cancer patients suffering from nausea during radiotherapy.

Defective calcium metabolism in nerve cells may play a major role in a fatal genetic neurological disorder that resembles Huntington's disease, researchers have found in a mouse study.

Scientists have shed light on the ability of cells to adapt to disruptions to their basic division machineries -- a finding that may help explain how cancer cells elude the body's natural defense mechanisms or chemotherapy treatment.

New research in Psychological Science has found that the physical notion of cleanliness significantly reduces the severity of moral judgments, showing that intuition, rather than deliberate reasoning can influence our perception of what is right and wrong. "Take for example the situation of a jury member or voting in an election - if the jury member had washes their hands prior to delivering their verdict, they may judge the crime less harshly," according to one of the researchers.

Biologists have announced a major breakthrough in our understanding of the sex life of a microscopic fungus which is a major cause of death in immune deficient patients and also a cause of severe asthma.

Scientists have found that blocking the receptor for a specific neuropeptide, short chains of amino acids found in nerve tissue, significantly decreases the desire for nicotine in animal models. In addition, these data may explain intriguing findings from human smokers who spontaneously quit smoking when they suffer brain damage restricted to a small portion of their frontal cortex.

If you're a cancer cell, you want a protein called Bcl-2 on your side because it decides if you live or die. It's usually a trusted bodyguard, protecting cancer cells from programmed death and allowing them to grow and form tumors. But sometimes it turns into their assassin. Scientists knew it happened, but they didn't know how to actually cause such a betrayal. Now they do and it may lead to the development of new cancer-fighting drugs.

Researchers have discovered that a drop in blood potassium levels caused by diuretics commonly prescribed for high blood pressure could be the reason why people on those drugs are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes. The drugs helpfully accelerate loss of fluids, but also deplete important chemicals, including potassium, so that those who take them are generally advised to eat bananas and other potassium-rich foods to counteract the effect.

Scientists report that small RNA molecules called piRNAs can be passed directly from one generation to the next in fruit flies, thereby passing the trait of fertility from the mother to progeny. This process occurs independently of genomic DNA via direct deposits of maternal piRNAs into developing oocytes. The piRNAs suppress the expression of DNA sequences called "transposons" that would otherwise lead to infertility in the progeny fruit flies.