189347 items (189347 unread) in 47 feeds
World Health Organization
(226 unread)
Media
(146550 unread)
Reuters Health eLine
(2178 unread)
Australia ABC News: Health
(4827 unread)
China Xinghua Health News
(30 unread)
New York Times: Health
(6906 unread)
HeraldToday.com: Health
WebMD Health Headlines
(5189 unread)
Medical News Today
(39383 unread)
iVillage Health
(5423 unread)
Newsvine - health
(20152 unread)
Bird Flu
(3059 unread)
Medical News Today - Bird Flu/Avian Flu
(110 unread)
Diabetes
(8426 unread)
Medical News Today - Diabetes
(2202 unread)
Cholesterol
(3564 unread)
Topix.net - Cholesterol
(2026 unread)
Medical News Today - Cholesterol
(373 unread)
Cancer
(15116 unread)
Medical News Today - Breast Cancer News
(1729 unread)
Medical News Today - Cancer/Oncology News
(5807 unread)
HIV
(7259 unread)
Medical News Today - HIV/AIDS News
(1910 unread)
Women
(3814 unread)
Medical News Today - OBGYN News
(2592 unread)
Men
(1333 unread)
Medical News Today - Men's health News
(628 unread)
Neuroscientists have found that as we age, our brain's reaction time slows and our ability to multitask diminishes. But maturity also brings an enhanced ability to reason out problems and empathize. And the middle-aged brain can still strengthen neuron circuits associated with memory and decision-making.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Scientists used to think teenage brains are just like those of adults — with fewer miles on them. But they're not. Teens' brains are developmentally different. One neurologist mother decided to get to the roots of her son's maddening behavior.
There may be no polar bears at the South Pole, but there sure is a lot of ice. In fact, more than 90 percent of the Earth's glacial ice is in Antarctica. Now, new research shows the continent's ice is melting in more places than previously known. Host Guy Raz speaks to scientist Jane Ferrigno of the U.S. Geological Survey about the Antarctic Peninsula's ice retreat.
The 8.8 magnitude quake in Chile on Saturday morning struck one of the most seismically active zones in the world. In fact, the largest quake ever recorded — a 9.5 in 1960 — was centered nearby.
Earthquakes and other natural disasters are deadlier and more destructive than they were a couple of hundred years ago. Host Liane Hansen speaks with Roger Bilham, a seismologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder to find out why.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
The earthquake in Chile on Saturday not only brought down buildings and killed hundreds of people — it also created a tsunami. The tsunami set off alarms around the Pacific basin. Eventually, the waves turned out to be pretty small, at least beyond Chile. Scientists explain why it wasn't as severe as it might have been.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
The earthquake that struck Chile Saturday morning unleashed 500 times as much energy as last month's disastrous earthquake in Haiti. More than 100 people have been reported dead after the temblor. NPR's Guy Raz and Richard Harris discuss the scientific mechanics of the quake.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
In a way that's not always obvious to the public, embargoes do a lot to shape coverage of science and medicine. Whether that's a good idea or not is getting more scrutiny.
Every few decades, the sun experiences a particularly large storm that can release as much energy as 1 billion hydrogen bombs. Officials from Europe and the U.S. say an event like that could leave millions on Earth without electricity, running water and phone service.
An enormous iceberg in Antarctica plowed into a peninsula made of ice and snapped it off, creating a second gigantic iceberg. The new 48-mile-long floating island of ice could make life difficult for the penguin colony made famous by the movie March of the Penguins.
Reporting in The Canadian Field-Naturalist, researchers write of spotting grizzly bears in Canada's Wapusk National Park, on the shores of the Hudson Bay — land previously inhabited only by polar bears. Author Robert Rockwell discusses potential competition between the species.
In his new book, The Calculus of Friendship, math professor and writer Steven Strogatz looks back on his 30-year correspondence with his high school math teacher. Can calculus, differential equations and chaos theory help explain the complex nature of human relationships?
Data from GPS and depth sensing instruments suggest sperm whales may herd squid to make capturing their prey easier. Science News reporter Sid Perkins reports on this and other findings presented at the American Geophysical Union's Ocean Sciences Meeting in Portland this week.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
When it comes to climate change, some look at the facts presented and see a coming catastrophe, while others see a hoax. This difference in interpretation, social scientists say, has more to do with each individual's existing outlook than with the facts.
Some local chapters of environmental groups find themselves battling their national leadership over issues like natural gas. The national groups see natural gas as a less-harmful alternative to coal. But local groups fear the damage that gas production could bring to their fresh water and landscapes.
People who struggle to remember faces can blame their parents. The ability to remember a face is inherited, according to a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Climate scientists are on the defensive after doubt was cast on their objectivity. Most say the evidence for a warming world is still as strong as ever. But some now acknowledge they need to do some housecleaning and improve their public relations skills so skeptics don't glom on to mistakes.
Anyone who's lost weight knows it can be really hard to keep the pounds off. Scientists think this has to do with a hormone called leptin. Researchers are exploring the role leptin may play in how the brain sees food — either from an emotional, food-seeking mindset; or from a more rational, decision-making approach.
More than 30 years after the world greeted its first "test-tube" baby with a mixture of awe, elation and concern, researchers say they are finding only a few medical differences between these children and kids conceived in the traditional way.
Endeavour and its six astronauts returned safely to Earth on Sunday, making a rare nighttime landing to end a mission that resulted in the virtual completion of the International Space Station.
George Lakoff, a professor of linguists at the University of California, Berkeley, and a specialist in "framing" the way language shapes the way we think, tells host Guy Raz that the future of climate change legislation depends on the words used to explain it.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Last year, Democrat Henry Waxman of California helped pass a climate change bill in the House of Representatives, the American Clean Energy and Security Act; its fate is unclear. On the Senate side, Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington and Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine have proposed a climate change bill as well, called the Carbon Limits and Energy for America's Renewal, or CLEAR. Host Guy Raz speaks with each of them about the possibility of climate change legislation passing through Congress this year.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Before whales, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, giant filter-feeding fish swam the prehistoric seas. By going back and searching through museums for misunderstood or overlooked fossils, a researcher found evidence that these fish existed for more than 100 million years — far longer than scientists had previously thought.
As newspapers and cable news cut science coverage, where can the science-curious get reliable science and technology news? Ira Flatow and guests discuss how the Internet — including blogs and social media — is filling the coverage gap. Plus, spicing up screenplays with science.
Just one exposure to the algal toxin domoic acid can trigger epilepsy in sea lions and humans. NOAA scientist John Ramsdell discusses the one known human case of epilepsy from domoic acid poisoning, and what scientists can learn from similar cases of epilepsy in sea lions.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Dr. Stephanie Venn-Watson of the National Marine Mammal Foundation discusses why dolphins may have evolved a diabetes "on/off switch," and Dr. Hendrik Nollens of the University of Florida talks about what scientists can learn by studying papillomavirus infections in dolphins.
Scientists found that for every point someone scored on a standardized scale of happiness, his risk for a heart attack fell by more than 20 percent.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
A new study used cell phone billing data for 50,00 people in a European country to show that people's travel patterns are extremely predictable. That's true for both homebodies and jet setters. Regardless of age, language group, etc, people's movements were predictable 93 percent of the time. The study shows the emerging power of using cell phone data for social science research.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
There is beauty in science. There is information in art. Merging those two worlds could bring new insights into how the natural world works.
Identical twins look alike and share the same DNA, but they aren't completely identical. Some of the differences can be caused by the environment. But a new study says the differences can also depend on which genes are switched on, and which aren't.
California's towering redwoods depend on coastal fog for much of their yearly water supply. But in a new study scientists report that the long-term health of these iconic trees may be in danger as weather changes could contribute to fewer days in the mist.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Rom Houben became famous for supposedly communicating his innermost thoughts through a trained facilitator after doctors initially concluded that a car accident had left him in a vegetative state. Now, Houben's doctor says those reports appear to be false.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Further tests of a Belgian man in a vegetative state found that he was not able to communicate with researchers. The findings debunk reports from a few months ago that gave hope to families of coma patients around the world.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Some of the earliest experiments with high-speed photography were centered on recording animals in motion. Even now, with high-definition cameras that can capture thousands of frames a second, we're still fascinated by watching movements at the slowest speeds.
So Volkswagen has this new concept car — give it two gallons of gas, and it will go 416 miles without a stop. But German engineers, meet your fuel-efficiency master: the honeybee.
A new study reveals that ancient Egypt's best known pharaoh, Tutankhamen, was born with a clubfoot, a cleft palate and a severe bone disease. Researchers say he probably spent much of his life in pain before dying at 19 from the combined effects of malaria and a broken leg.
There's quite a buzz over an experiment in which some mildly autistic people were more sociable after receiving a spritz of the hormone oxytocin. But the test was performed in just 13 high-functioning people, raising questions about its applicability to a broader group.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
A study from the Journal of the American Medical Association found that Tut died from complications from a broken leg exacerbated by malaria. Howard Markel of the University of Michigan is concerned about the potential ethical implications of similar studies in the future.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
A Michigan high school student came up with the idea to use a hockey puck and long rod to test athletes for concussions. His father, a doctor, and a colleague tried it in more than 200 student athletes, and the results look promising.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Astronauts successfully attached a fancy new observation deck to the International Space Station early Monday after a long, frustrating night spent dealing with stuck bolts and wayward wiring.
Rising sea levels are destroying the fields and livelihoods of people on Sagar Island in the Bay of Bengal. Refugees arrived from a nearby island after it was swallowed up by waves. Scientists say climate change is a factor. Residents of the island, which is a sacred place for Hindus, say God is responsible.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Scientists in England have found a way to trick bacterial cells into making compounds that aren't found in nature. Those compounds are proteins, and proteins are the basic building blocks of everything a living organism needs to survive.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
With snow blanketing much of the country, the topic of global warming has become the butt of jokes. But most scientists who study the climate don't see a contradiction between a warming world and lots of snow.
It's a scientific mystery: How did dunes form on Mars when the wind doesn't seem strong enough to move the sand? Jasper Kok tells Guy Raz he may have the answer — it has to do with sand "bouncing" and "splashing" in a way that's different than what happens on Earth.
The sun is emerging from a two-year period of quiet, and that's good news to amateur radio astronomers like Thomas Ashcraft. He records the sounds of solar flares and other cosmic phenomena from his home observatory in Santa Fe, N.M. Ashcraft tells Guy Raz about this "exciting time" for sun watchers and about his elaborate backyard recording studio.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Part of the art of being a field scientist in Africa is to make the animals think you're not watching them. So Barb Smuts had to learn to make herself very dull, very uninteresting, very boring, very shy — and to never look a gorilla in the eye. Then one day, the strangest thing happened.
A century after the Weather Bureau began to offer regular forecasts, the government is proposing the creation of a similar service focused on climate change and its effects. NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco discusses the proposed "National Climate Service."
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Humboldt squid have been spotted in increasing numbers off the coast of California. The adaptable animals can reach seven feet long and weigh up to 100 pounds. Marine biologist William Gilly and other researchers are trying to understand the reasons for the population shift.
Leaves have an intricate web of veins that transport nutrients and water and provide structural support. But what determines the pattern of venation? Physicists Marcelo Magnasco and Eleni Katifori investigated this question using sophisticated algorithms and a little glow-in-the-dark dye.
In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, author Rebecca Skloot tells the story of Henrietta Lacks' 'immortal cells' — cells taken from a tumor on her cervix and kept alive to multiply in laboratories around the world — and how Lacks' children discovered their connection to the cells.
For many, romantic music is a key part of a Valentine's Day celebration. Biologist Darcy Kelley studies the communications of South African clawed frogs, including their underwater love songs. What can their music reveal about communication elsewhere in the animal kingdom?
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
No roses, no candy, no kisses. For those of you who like your Valentine Days upside down, here is the ultimate UN-valentine: a beautiful seductress who isn't what she seems. In fact, she isn't a she. She's a trick.
Twenty years ago this week, the Voyager 1 spacecraft captured a radical view of Earth. Shot from a distance of 4 billion miles, the “pale blue dot” image showed our planet as a tiny speck amid the vastness of space. Carl Sagan, who lobbied for the photo, said it reduced our entire world to "a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam."
Floating through space right now is a golden record carrying sounds of Earth: a mother's first words to her baby, the sound of a kiss, and music from all over the world. Ann Druyan helped to create the NASA project as a guide to Earth for aliens. And like any good mix tape — interstellar or not — it led to the man of her dreams.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Robert Poole, a historian at the University of Cumbria in the United Kingdom and author of Earthrise: How Man First Saw the Earth, takes a journey through time and space, exploring images of the Earth through the ages.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Driving a Toyota may feel pretty risky these days, but experts say that has more to do with emotion than statistics. A very small fraction of deaths in Toyota crashes can be linked to accelerator problems. Many more are caused by serious — yet avoidable — risks that drivers engage in daily.
Researchers have found gene mutations for stuttering, an ancient and common disorder that often runs in families. Scientists and advocates say the discovery demonstrates that stuttering is often a biological condition — not caused by overbearing parents or a psychological disturbance.
Toyota's recent recalls have caused drivers to question the electronic components that control their vehicles. But experts say that overall, these systems make cars safer and more reliable, and that sophisticated electronics are just the latest step in the evolution of the automobile.
Scientists have sequenced most of the DNA of a 4,000-year-old human using tufts of hair found in Greenland. The researchers say this is the most complete reconstruction of ancient human DNA to date and reveals details not only of the man himself but also where his people came from.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Wild jaguars were thought to have been killed-off in the United States, until an Arizona rancher saw one 14 years ago. The lone jaguar became a symbol of hope. More recently, when it died, it became a symbol of controversy. The Fish and Wildlife Service has been ordered to put together a plan to bring the hemisphere's largest cat back to the Southwest.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Scientists have shown that our aversion to losing money is all in our heads — specifically a part of the brain called the amygdala. A study of two people with damage to the amygdala, but no other part of the brain, found they had no problem taking risky bets that most people would avoid.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
More snow is predicted for the mid-Atlantic region Tuesday and Wednesday. The storm could bring up to 20 inches of snow. Doug Hill, chief meteorologist at ABC 7 News, Washington, D.C.'s ABC affiliate, offers his insight on how snowstorms are predicted.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
The Mediterranean diet may be healthy not only for your heart but also for your brain. Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center report patients who ate the diet — rich in fish, fruits and vegetables — suffered fewer small strokes than those who ate a more traditional Western diet.
Professor Daniel Rockmore is an art lover — and the chairman of the math department at Dartmouth College. He has united his two interests, art and math, to develop a program that analyzes pen strokes. The program gives art historians a new tool for detecting art forgeries, which are estimated to make up 20 percent of the worldwide art market.
A study being published Monday offers hope for those with Huntington's disease. The Archives of Neurology has a report about a drug aimed at the serious cognitive deficits that people with Huntington's also suffer.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Space shuttle Endeavour is now orbiting Earth after blasting off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center in Monday's early morning darkness. Weather problems had delayed what might be the last pre-dawn launch for the shuttle program, which is heading toward retirement.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
The space shuttle is hauling up a new room and observation deck for the International Space Station. It is expected to be the final night flight for Endeavor.
The prestigious British medical journal Lancet took a rare step this week: It retracted a 1998 paper that sparked a firestorm about potential links between vaccines and autism. That paper has been a bane to Dr. Paul Offit, co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine and chief of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia. Offit tells host Guy Raz why he thinks the paper was a disaster for parents seeking answers about autism.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
A group of scientists says the idea that life emerged from a prebiotic broth is past its expiration date.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Anyone with a working nose wants to stay far away from rotting fish. But researchers at the University of Leicester discovered that foul fish have a lot to tell us about how fossils form.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station will soon get to enjoy "a room with a view." Space shuttle Endeavour is bringing up a dome-shaped observation module with a total of seven windows, giving astronauts unprecedented views of Earth and space.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Researchers say a valve in the tails of human sperm controls when they start moving. When the acid level drops inside the sperm, they start to wiggle.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
The president's proposed budget was unveiled this week. How did science make out? This hour Ira Flatow and guests look at the budgets of the major U.S. scientific institutions. How are research, alternative energy development and space travel affected? And will Congress sign on?
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Dinosaurs are often portrayed as a drab green or grey, but some may have been much brighter. Reporting in Science, Jakob Vinther and colleagues analyzed the fossilized feathers of 150-million-year-old dinosaur Anchiornis huxleyi and found its plumage was surprisingly flashy.
Roughly 27 million Americans took prescription antidepressants in 2005, making them the most commonly prescribed class of medications in America. Ira Flatow and guests discuss depression, from how it's diagnosed and treated to how antidepressants stack up against psychotherapy and placebos.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Cheating athletes used to rely on steroids to pump up performance. Then they discovered erythropoietin and human growth hormone. What's next? Gene doping, or genetic manipulation, according to Dr Theodore Friedmann, chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency's Gene Doping Expert Group.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Temple Grandin is one of the world's greatest animal behaviorists. She is also autistic — and has put that to work for her. Grandin has written several books on animals, including Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior. This weekend, HBO will premiere a made-for-TV movie based on her life.
New research dispels the notion that migrating insects are simply at the mercy of the wind. Researchers have found that the moths can actually select wind currents and often end up traveling faster than many migrating birds.
Blue whales are updating their playlist, according to new research on the huge mammals. One scientist says it's because they've got more reason to sing.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
If there's one fact that everyone knows about the physical world, it's that water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, or zero degrees Celsius. But wait — scientists in Israel have shown that you can keep water liquid all the way to minus 40 degrees by pouring it on the right surface.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
The photos from the Hubble Space Telescope paint a Pluto that is significantly redder than it had been for the past several decades. The pictures also show nitrogen ice growing and shrinking, getting brighter in the north and darker in the south. That's got astronomers surprised.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Heavy rains in California, record snowfalls in the mid-Atlantic and fires in Indonesia are all being attributed to the phenomenon. Government meteorologists say the effects of the most powerful El Nino since 1997-98 will very likely persist for another month or two.
After years of polluting and contaminating the environment, the American Smelting and Refining Company's notorious copper-smelting plant in El Paso, Texas, will be cleaned up this year. Asarco will also pay $1.79 billion to settle claims for pollution at more than 80 sites throughout the country.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
After more than 100 years of production, the Asarco plant in El Paso, Texas will clean up its mess this year as a result of one of the largest environmental bankruptcies in U.S. history. The plant has a long history of pollution in this Texas city.
After years of polluting and contaminating the environment, the American Smelting and Refining Company's notorious copper-smelting plant in El Paso, Texas, will be cleaned up this year. Asarco will also pay $1.79 billion to settle claims for pollution at more than 80 sites throughout the country.
What does the feared link between autism and vaccines have in common with banning the use of hand-held cell phones while driving? According to author David Ropeik, both are examples of miscalculations of risk. Ropeik explains how poor assessment of a risk could put us in far bigger trouble than the original danger.
What do an airport baggage screener and a radiologist looking for breast cancer have in common? Both suffer from the limitations of the human eye. A new study finds that when we're searching for rare things, like tumors and guns, they're a lot harder to see.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
NASA's administrator is defending the president's proposed budget for NASA, which cancels the space agency's planned space shuttle successor and instead relies on private companies to taxi crews into orbit. Charles Bolden said executives from seven companies working on commercial crew vehicles are "the faces of a new frontier."
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
A new study in the Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine finds that an abstinence-only intervention was effective in getting very young teens to delay sexual initiation. But the program is not the same as the abstinence-until-marriage programs funded by the Bush administration.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
President Obama's proposed 2011 budget would triple the money available to companies who build nuclear power facilities. Obama supports nuclear energy as a way to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental groups oppose the move, maintaining that nuclear power plants generate harmful toxic waste.
A flawed scientific study that fueled a backlash against vaccination is being withdrawn 12 years after it was published. Parts of the paper were found to be "incorrect."
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China has an intensive breeding program that produced 18 cubs in 2008. But that number dropped sharply to four cubs last year, which has led the scientists to rethink the program. Sarah Bexell, the director of conservation education at the base, tells NPR's Melissa Block the suspected reasons for the drop.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Each New Year's, Christmas and birthday seems to come round faster every year. But why is it that we feel time goes by faster as we get older? Scientists dissect one of life's intriguing mysteries.
Airlines are checking the weather in space these days before taking some of their longest flights. That's because thousands of flights each year now cross the poles, where cosmic storms can interfere with communication and navigation systems, or even expose travelers to worrisome doses of radiation.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
As part of an agreement between the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., and the China Wildlife Conservation Association, 4-year-old Tai Shan will fly to Sichuan province Thursday to join a breeding program. A plethora of panda-philes braved the snow and freezing temperatures over the weekend to celebrate the much-loved bear.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
The NASA budget for fiscal year 2011 would give the agency a more than 30 percent financial boost while dramatically changing the direction of future human exploration. The budget would also fund NASA to contract with private industry to provide astronaut transportation to the international space station as soon as possible.