Scientists recently announced the discovery of a novel antibiotic produced by bacteria living inside a nematode (roundworm). Although this molecule needs further analyses, the finding, published in Nature, brings hope to the fight against antimicrobial or antibiotic resistance, the growing ability of infectious and sometimes lethal bacteria to survive drug treatment.

Humans have an early understanding of the laws of physical reality. Infants, for instance, hold expectations for how objects should move and interact with each other, and will show surprise when they do something unexpected, such as disappearing in a sleight-of-hand magic trick.

People around the world consume rice in their daily diets. But in addition to its nutrient and caloric content, rice can contain small amounts of arsenic, which in large doses is a toxin linked to multiple health conditions and dietary-related cancers.

Now researchers at the University of Washington have found that warmer temperatures, at levels expected under most climate change projections, can lead to higher concentrations of arsenic in rice grains. The team will present these findings Dec. 10 at the American Geophysical Union’s Fall Meeting in San Francisco.

Every year, a lack of vaccination leads to about 1.5 million preventable deaths, primarily in developing nations. One factor that makes vaccination campaigns in those nations more difficult is that there is little infrastructure for storing medical records, so there’s often no easy way to determine who needs a particular vaccine.

Commercially available antivenoms in India can be ineffective in treating bites from certain medically important neglected snakes, a new study has shown. These snakes are those whose bites are harmful to humans, yet are poorly studied. The study was conducted by scientists from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), in collaboration with their counterparts from the Gerry Martin Project and the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Centre for Herpetology. “India is the snakebite capital of the world,” says Kartik Sunagar, Assistant Professor at the Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, and senior author of the study published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Each year, about 46,000 people die and 140,000 people are disabled in the country because of snakebites.