(US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases) Vaccination with the anthrax capsule — a naturally occurring component of the bacterium that causes the disease — protected monkeys from lethal anthrax infection, according to US Army scientists. The study, which appears in the Jan. 20th print edition of the journal VACCINE, represents the first successful use of a non-toxin vaccine to protect monkeys from the disease.

(Oregon Health & Science University) A constellation of defective proteins suspected in causing a malfunction in the body’s ability to repair its own DNA could be the link scientists need to prove a new class of drugs will be effective in treating a broad range of ovarian cancer patients, an Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute study found.

(University of Vermont) Research shows that English is strongly biased toward being positive. This new study complements another study published Dec. 7 by the same University of Vermont scientists that attracted wide media attention showing that average global happiness, based on Twitter data, has been dropping for the past two years. Combined, the two studies show that short-term average happiness has dropped — against the backdrop of the long-term fundamental positivity of the English language.

(Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health) Worldwide pandemics of influenza caused widespread death and illness in 1918, 1957, 1968 and 2009. A new study examining weather patterns around the time of these pandemics finds that each of them was preceded by La Niña conditions in the equatorial Pacific. Since the La Niña pattern is known to alter the migratory patterns of birds, the scientists theorize that altered migration patterns promote the development of dangerous new strains of influenza.

(University of Hawaii at Manoa) An international team of scientists led by University of Hawai’i at Msnoa professor Ralf I. Kaiser, Alexander M. Mebel of Florida International University, and Alexander Tielens of Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands, discovered a novel chemical route to form polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons — complex organic molecules such as naphthalene carrying fused benzene rings — in ultra-cold regions of interstellar space.

(University of Manchester) Scientists have shown that a new molecule in the Earth’s atmosphere has the potential to play a significant role in offsetting global warming by cooling the planet.

(Institute of Physics) Scientists have offered up a convincing explanation for the harsh winters recently experienced in the Northern hemisphere: increasing temperatures and melting ice in the Arctic regions creating more snowfall in the autumn months at lower latitudes.

(University of Warwick) University of Warwick scientists have discovered a “nourishing gene” which controls the transfer of nutrients from plant to seed — a significant step which could help increase global food production.

(California Institute of Technology) Scientists have long seen evidence of social behavior among many species of animals. Dolphins frolic together and lions live in packs. And, right under our feet, it appears that nematodes are having their own little gatherings in the soil. Until recently, it was unknown how the worms communicate to one another when it’s time to come together. Now, researchers from Caltech and Cornell have identified, for the first time, the chemical signals that promote aggregation.

(Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health) Worldwide pandemics of influenza caused widespread death and illness in 1918, 1957, 1968 and 2009. A new study examining weather patterns around the time of these pandemics finds that each of them was preceded by La Niña conditions in the equatorial Pacific. Since the La Niña pattern is known to alter the migratory patterns of birds, the scientists theorize that altered migration patterns promote the development of dangerous new strains of influenza.