diff --git a/contrib/babel/lisp/langs/org-babel-latex.el b/contrib/babel/lisp/langs/org-babel-latex.el
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4596bc98f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/babel/lisp/langs/org-babel-latex.el
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+;;; org-babel-latex.el --- org-babel functions for latex "evaluation"
+
+;; Copyright (C) 2009 Eric Schulte
+
+;; Author: Eric Schulte
+;; Keywords: literate programming, reproducible research
+;; Homepage: http://orgmode.org
+;; Version: 0.01
+
+;;; License:
+
+;; This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+;; it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+;; the Free Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option)
+;; any later version.
+;;
+;; This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+;; but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+;; GNU General Public License for more details.
+;;
+;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+;; along with GNU Emacs; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the
+;; Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
+;; Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+
+;;; Commentary:
+
+;; Org-Babel support for evaluating LaTeX source code.
+;;
+;; Currently on evaluation this returns raw LaTeX code, however at
+;; some point it *may* (it may not) make sense to have LaTeX blocks
+;; compile small pdfs on evaluation.
+
+;;; Code:
+(require 'org-babel)
+
+(org-babel-add-interpreter "latex")
+
+(add-to-list 'org-babel-tangle-langs '("latex" "tex"))
+
+(defvar org-babel-default-header-args:latex
+  '((:results . "latex") (:exports . "results"))
+  "Default arguments to use when evaluating a latex source block.")
+
+(defun org-babel-execute:latex (body params)
+  "Execute a block of Latex code with org-babel.  This function is
+called by `org-babel-execute-src-block'."
+  (message "executing Latex source code block")
+  (mapc (lambda (pair) ;; replace variables
+          (setq body
+                (replace-regexp-in-string
+                 (regexp-quote (format "%S" (car pair)))
+                 (if (stringp (cdr pair))
+                     (cdr pair) (format "%S" (cdr pair)))
+                 body))) vars)
+  body)
+
+(defun org-babel-prep-session:latex (session params)
+  (error "Latex does not support sessions"))
+
+(provide 'org-babel-latex)
+;;; org-babel-latex.el ends here
diff --git a/contrib/babel/lisp/org-babel.el b/contrib/babel/lisp/org-babel.el
index 25e7d778b..daa2b369b 100644
--- a/contrib/babel/lisp/org-babel.el
+++ b/contrib/babel/lisp/org-babel.el
@@ -741,12 +741,26 @@ comment) .
 # <<example-block>>
 
 This function must be called from inside of the buffer containing
-the source-code block which holds BODY."
+the source-code block which holds BODY.
+
+In addition the following syntax can be used to insert the
+results of evaluating the source-code block named 'example-block'.
+
+# <<example-block()>>
+
+Any optional arguments can be passed to example-block by placing
+the arguments inside the parenthesis following the convention
+defined by `org-babel-lob'.  For example
+
+# <<example-block(a=9)>>
+
+would set the value of argument \"a\" equal to \"9\".  Note that
+these arguments are not evaluated in the current source-code block but are passed literally to the \"example-block\"."
   (let* ((parent-buffer (or parent-buffer (current-buffer)))
          (info (or info (org-babel-get-src-block-info)))
          (lang (first info))
          (body (second info))
-         (new-body "") index source-name)
+         (new-body "") index source-name evaluate)
     (flet ((nb-add (text)
                    (setq new-body (concat new-body text))))
       (with-temp-buffer
@@ -758,20 +772,25 @@ the source-code block which holds BODY."
         (setq index (point))
         (while (and (re-search-forward "<<\\(.+\\)>>" nil t))
           (save-match-data (setf source-name (match-string 1)))
-          ;; add interval to new-body
-          (goto-char (match-end 0)) (move-end-of-line nil)
+          (save-match-data (setq evaluate (string-match "\(.*\)" source-name)))
+          ;; add interval to new-body (removing noweb reference)
+          (goto-char (match-beginning 0))
           (nb-add (buffer-substring index (point)))
+          (goto-char (match-end 0))
           (setq index (point))
-          ;; if found, add body of referenced source-block
           (nb-add (save-excursion
                     (set-buffer parent-buffer)
-                    (let ((point (org-babel-find-named-block source-name)))
-                      (if point
-                          (save-excursion
-                            (goto-char point)
-                            (concat "\n" (org-babel-expand-noweb-references
-                                          (org-babel-get-src-block-info))))
-                        "")))))
+                    (if evaluate
+                        (let ((raw (org-babel-ref-resolve-reference
+                                    source-name nil)))
+                          (if (stringp raw) raw (format "%S" raw)))
+                      (let ((point (org-babel-find-named-block source-name)))
+                        (if point
+                            (save-excursion
+                              (goto-char point)
+                              (concat "\n" (org-babel-expand-noweb-references
+                                            (org-babel-get-src-block-info))))
+                          ""))))))
         (nb-add (buffer-substring index (point-max)))))
     new-body))