A new small goby fish differs from its relatives not only in its size and colors, but also in the depth of its habitat (70-80 m) in the southern Caribbean. The scientists gave it the name Coryphopterus curasub in recognition of the Curasub submersible that was used in their deep-reef exploration.

Marine biodiversity inhabiting shallow Caribbean coral reefs has been studied for more than 150 years, but much less is known about what lives at depths just below those accessible with conventional SCUBA gear.

Thanks to the availability of a privately owned, manned submersible on the island of Curacao, the Curasub, scientists are now able to intensively study depths to 300 m (1,000 ft).

All those leftover pizza crusts you snatch from your kids' plates add up. Men gain weight after they become fathers for the first time whether or not they live with their children, reports a large, new study that tracked the weight of more than 10,000 men from adolescence to young adulthood. 

Lightweight composite metal foams are effective at blocking X-rays, gamma rays and neutron radiation, and are capable of absorbing the energy of high impact collisions, and a new finding means the metal foams hold promise for use in nuclear safety, space exploration and medical technology applications.

Researchers conducted multiple tests to see how effective it was at blocking X-rays, gamma rays and neutron radiation. She then compared the material's performance to the performance of bulk materials that are currently used in shielding applications. The comparison was made using samples of the same "areal" density - meaning that each sample had the same weight, but varied in volume.

Both prescription and illegal drugs that are abused have been found in Canadian surface waters. New research shows that wastewater discharges flowing downstream have the potential to contaminate sources of drinking water with these drugs at relatively low concentrations.

The concentrations of cocaine, morphine, and oxycodone did not decline with distance downstream from the wastewater treatment plant discharge, and many of the drugs were not removed effectively by drinking water treatment plants.

The research is part of a special section on pharmaceuticals in the journal Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry.

10 percent of health care providers write an antibiotic prescription for nearly all (over 95 percent) of patients who walks in with a cold, bronchitis or other acute respiratory infection (ARI), according to a new study.

The figure is at one end of a spectrum showing the remarkable variation in how providers use antibiotics. At the low end, 10 percent of providers prescribe antibiotics during 40 percent or fewer patient visits.

Barbara Hinney and her colleagues from the Institute for Parasitology at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, screened 298 faecal samples taken from cats across Austria for single-cell intestinal parasites, so called enteric protozoa. The samples came from private households, catteries and animal shelters. Of the 298 cats sampled, 56 tested positive with at least one intestinal parasite.

Multi-cat households often affected