Medicine
Killer Economy – Science Suspects Recession to Blame for 1,000 Suicides in England
While jobs declined in England between 2008 to 2010, researchers found that suicides increased
August 15, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Doctors Probe Bodies with Tiny Microscopes But Don’t Know What They Are Seeing
Because tiny space-age probes are used by only a handful of specialists around the country, a new study found that different labs are interpreting what they see in very different ways
August 15, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Science Takes Fat Out Of Chocolate, Replaces It With Fruit
Scientists have found a way to replace about 50 percent of chocolate's fat with fruit juice without losing flavor
August 14, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Synthetic Food, Smart Pills and… Kangaroo Butlers?
In the 21st century, everyone will be smarter—even animals.
August 08, 2012 |
By Matt Novak
Man Wears Artificial Uterus for Science & His Wife
In rural Southern India, a husband has embarked upon perhaps the most chivalrous mission ever: designing an affordable menstrual pad for local women.
August 06, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
How to Recognize and Avoid Fake Health Food
It's no surprise that many of food health labels stray from truth, but how can we cut through the rubbish and identify the things that are actually good for us?
August 03, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Teens Predict Their Own Downward Spirals
For teens, having low expectations about living long, healthy lives turns out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
August 02, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
For Soldiers, Sperm Banking Could Be the New Flack Jacket
Soldiers arriving home with missing or mutilated genitals have drown attention to the lack of government support for in vitro fertilization or artificial insemination using donated sperm, which costs up to $7,000 per procedure.
July 31, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Why You Shouldn’t Panic Over The Latest News About Bird Flu
New research reveals that the flu virus has mutated into a novel strain of influenza, which gained the ability to transfer not just from bird to seal, but from seal to seal.
July 31, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Women’s Brains Age Faster than Men’s, Thanks to Stress
New research shows that despite the fact that women live longer on average than men, their brains age faster. Scientists are pointing to stress as the possible culprit.
July 26, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Superheroes’ Most Amazing Power: Getting Kids to Choose Healthy Snacks Over French Fries
Cornell researchers exploit kids' adoration of Batman for the better, using the superhero as an impetus to encourage kids to eat healthy.
July 20, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Energy Drinks: Wassup With Supplements?
The effects of energy drink supplements like taurine, guarana and ginseng have been studied prolifically, and some of their benefits are rather surprising
July 19, 2012 |
By Kat J. McAlpine
How Common Was Cannibalism?
While eating one another is understandable if stranded on a snowy mountain or desolate wasteland, evidence exists that some societies tucked into the practice even if not faced with life-or-death situations, just for the fun of it.
July 18, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Sugar Placebo Pills Can Make You Feel Worse
Lurking in the shadows around any discussion of the placebo effect is its nefarious and lesser-known twin, the nocebo effect.
July 16, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
Fetal Genome Sequenced Without Help From Daddy
Researchers now need only a blood sample from a pregnant mother to construct a fetus' entire genome.
July 16, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Blame Your Chicken Dinner for That Persistant Urinary Tract Infection
E. coli, the most common cause of urinary tract infections, has been growing resistant to antibiotics, and chickens may be to blame.
July 12, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
For Coal Miners, Back to Black Lungs
Though Congress promised back in 1969 that mines would clean up their act, the miner's bane seems to be back in Appalachia's coal mines. Black lung has returned to the scene.
July 11, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Sitting Just Three Hours a Day Can Take Two Years Off Your Life
Sitting down for more than three hours a day can shave a person's life expectancy by two years, even if he or she is physically active and refrains from dangerous habits like smoking.
July 11, 2012 |
By Colin Schultz
New Gene Provides Link Between Stress and Depression
It’s not news that stress and depression are linked. It is news, however, that the gene neuritin plays a part in the toxic stress-depression relationship. Scientific American’s Scicurious blogs on a new PNAS study: All of the clinical antidepressants that are currently on the market work through one specific mechanism: they increase the levels of certain [...]
July 08, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
How Our Food System Could Be Radically Better in 2032
Fast forward 20 years. How will we get our food? What delicacies will stock our fridges and appear on restaurant menus? Will our diets be significantly different, or will we have simply found new things to stuff in yet-undiscovered pockets of our pizzas? Andrew Purvis of Green Futures Magazine ponders the question, with an optimistic slant: [...]
July 07, 2012 |
By Rachel Nuwer
