Watch the construction and growth of two petri dish billboards done by Warner Bros. Pictures Canada to promote a new film "Contagion". This "outdoor installation" delivers a creative blend of art and science.

Sunbathers may soon be closer to hitting the beach or pool without having to lather up with sunblock thanks to a team of researchers led by Dr. Paul Long at King’s College London who recently discovered how natural sunscreen compounds are made by coral. The goal of the research is to understand the genetic and biochemical basis on how natural sunscreens are made with the vision of developing non-topical commercial sun protection products, potentially in the form of tablets. This would eliminate the oily mess that’s made using topical lotions and also reduce the struggle to apply to hard-to-reach places like one’s back. The discovery could also prompt efforts to bioengineer crop plants to be more UV-tolerant, especially in sunlight-intense areas of the world.

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) have taken a huge step towards the possibility of enhancing ethanol production following their discovery of a mutated gene that improves ethanol tolerance in microorganisms. This finding could have implications in our ability to meet alternative energy challenges associated with nonrenewable fuels. The research is published in the August 16 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Bacteria are common sources of infection, but these microorganisms can themselves be infected by even smaller agents: viruses. A new analysis of the interactions between bacteria and viruses has revealed patterns that could help scientists working to understand which viruses infect which bacteria in the microbial world.

Much of Dr. Julie Segre's early research career focused on how the largest organ of the human body - our skin, or epidermis - creates a barrier at the interface of the body and the environment. Through these early investigations, Dr. Segre's lab discovered that skin cells expressed high levels of antimicrobial peptides - which can both kill bacteria and fungi, but also stimulate the body's immune system. These observations led Dr. Segre to shift research efforts into identifying the microbes that live on the skin, and the role they may play in human health.

Dr. Segre is an active member of the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) - launched by the National Institutes of Health Roadmap for Medical Research, and designed to fuel research into the multitude of microbes that live in the various environments of the human body.

In studying antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, researchers from Boston University and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard have discovered that charitable behavior exists in one of the most microscopic forms of life.

Researchers from Purdue University have improved a previously developed yeast strain by modifying it to now ferment all five types of a plant's sugars - enabling the yeast to produce more biofuel from cellulosic plant material.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) announced new grants totaling $79 million that was given through the HHMI undergraduate program, and the HHMI Professors program.

Fifty research universities in 30 states and the District of Columbia will be awarded a total of $70 million through the undergraduate program. The schools will use the grants, which range from $800,000 to $2 million over four years, to develop creative, research-based courses and curricula; to give more students vital experience working in the lab; and to improve science teaching from elementary school through college.

Vanderbilt University has published a study that reports human cells moving in what seem to be independent ways similar to amoebae and bacteria. These results are thought to be a first in cell biology and were inspired in a unique way. The researchers’ adopted some new assumptions

The man who helped to first sequence the human genome ten years ago, is looking to use biology to tackle the energy problem.