Washington, April 23 : Conservation experts from 24 world-leading organizations have identified one hundred key scientific questions that, if answered, would help conserve global biodiversity.

The organizations that identified the questions include the WWF (Worldwide fund for Nature), Conservation International and Birdlife International.

Washington, Apr 23 : A new study involving mice has found that genetic predisposition to impulsivity is a trait predictive of alcoholism.

The study by Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis researchers appears on the July print issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, available online on April 22.

Washington, Apr 23 : Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have identified a gene that switches on during development of epilepsy.

The discovery made while studying mice may help explain how some people without a genetic predisposition to epilepsy can develop the disorder.

Washington, April 23 : Researchers at North Carolina (NC) State University have used a mathematical model that allows them to get a clearer picture of the galaxy's youngest supernova remnant by clearing away the distortions caused by "cosmic dust".

Their new data provides evidence that this remnant is from a type Ia supernova - the explosion of a white dwarf star - and raises questions about the ways in which magnetic fields affect the generation of the remnant''s cosmic ray particles.

Washington, April 23 : An international team of astronomers has used the world's biggest radio telescope to look deep into the brightest galaxies that NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope can see.

The study solidifies the link between an active galaxy's gamma-ray emissions and its powerful radio-emitting jets.

Washington, Apr 23 : Vitamin D deficiency can exacerbate asthmatic symptoms in children, says a new study.

They study led by Dr Juan Celedon, Dr. P. H. and Dr Augusto Litonjua, of Harvard Medical School has shown that children with lower vitamin D levels were significantly more likely to have been hospitalized for asthma, tended to have airways with increased hyperreactivity and were likely to have used more inhaled corticosteroids, all signifying higher asthma severity.