Bacteria like E. coli have hair-like protrusions known as fimbriae with a sticky protein on the tip. This adhesive protein is called FimH and binds in an unusual way to a sugar molecule present on the surfaces of cells. A group of researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of Washington in Seattle have been studying how the bacterium E. coli attaches to surfaces and copes with rapidly changing flow conditions as found in the human body. The research appears in the September issue of PLoS Biology, part of the Public Library of Science, a series of open-access journals available online (www.plos.org).

The Long Case for Pacer International

Cheap Stock Hunter submits: Having recently finished reading the book The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman, I have found myself searching how to apply the “globalization paradigm" to my portfolio management process and how to incorporate these trends into a more thoughtful view of the investment landscape.

One clear observation I have made is that jobs and growth are headed overseas, so a forward thinking investor ought to position their portfolios to benefit from this inevitable shift of capital. That said, for the enterprising analyst, there are certainly pockets of opportunity within the US markets. One industry that arguably cannot be “outsourced" is transportation, you simply cannot outsource the infrastructure, assets, and human capital involved in delivering goods along American highways, waterways, and railroads.