A study of African elephants finds that dominant elephants will trek significantly fewer miles in search of food during the dry season compared with their less dominant counterparts. The findings are the first to highlight the influence of social standing on the dispersal of elephants in an ecosystem.

Another disease can be added to the list of smoking-related disorders -- psoriasis. Researchers have found that smoking increases the risk of developing psoriasis, heavier smoking increases the risk further, and the risk decreases only slowly after quitting.

Researchers have identified the role of a key enzyme called CEH in reducing heart disease, paving the way for new target therapies to reduce plaques in the arteries and perhaps in the future, help predict a patient's susceptibility to heart disease.

A guideline developed by the American Academy of Neurology recommends immediate brain CT scans to screen certain emergency room patients with seizures. Evidence shows such scans can help doctors select the right treatment option.

A new way to clean up brownfield sites, which are abandoned industrial or commercial lands contaminated by low concentrations of hazardous waste or pollutants, has been developed. Common contaminants of industrial sites include copper, chromium, and arsenic. Iron-containing blaster sand treatment appeared to produce better long-term effects than treatment with oxygen-scarfing granulate.

In general, people who are optimistic are more likely than others to display prudent financial behaviors, according to new research. In small doses optimism can lead to wise decision making, but extreme optimists "display financial habits and behavior that are generally not considered prudent," according to researchers.

A 50-million-year-old fossilized spider has been 'brought back to life' in stunning 3D. The male spider is a new species named Cenotextricella simoni. It was found preserved in amber in an area of France known as the Paris Basin.

Radiation seed implants are just as effective at curing prostate cancer in younger men (aged 60 and younger) as they are in older men, according to a study presented at a scientific session on Oct. 31, 2007, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 49th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles.

An array of instruments that allows scientists to observe the basic physical state of all world oceans simultaneously is approaching its coverage goal after eight years of deployments.

Smoking cigarettes is associated with an increased risk of cancers of the lung, head and neck, esophagus, bladder and many others and also affects response to anti-cancer treatments. But smoking does not result in more advanced stage diagnoses or aggressive breast cancers at the time of diagnosis. That is the result of an analysis of 35 years of data for more than 6,000 patients.