It is now well known that human papillomaviruses, or HPVs, are connected to cervical and anal cancers. What may not be as well known is that HPV is a risk factor for about 26% of head and neck cancers not caused by tobacco or alcohol.

University of Iowa scientists have discovered a new role for a protein that is mutated in Usher syndrome, one of the most common forms of deaf-blindness in humans. The findings, which were published Aug. 8 in Nature Neuroscience, may help explain why this mutation causes the most severe form of the condition.