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There’s a common number thrown around for how many scents a human can smell – 10,000. Even scientific literature has cited this figure, though it is highly debatable. This makes a lot of people believe that they have an extremely poor sense of smell compared to most animals, like familiar canines. In reality, it seems […]
It’s common sense, right? If you eat foods rich in fatty acids, you’re gonna have some heart problems. Not so fast – scientists say. New research finds that the current level of evidence does not support guidelines restricting saturated fatty acid consumption. Challenging the norm An international research team led by the University of Cambridge analyzed […]
Sea anemones are remarkable creatures. They are a group of water-dwelling, predatory animals, but if you look at them, they look like plants more than animals. Now, a team of evolutionary biologists from the University of Vienna has discovered that sea anemones display a remarkable genome, featuring a complexity of regulatory elements similar to that of fruit […]
What would you prefer: your favorite home-cooked meal, or a bag of deep fried chips? If you’re sure you’d pick the former, well, then, think again! A team of researchers has shown that if they can get people to pay more attention to a particular type of junk food, they will begin to prefer it – […]
When males get more stressed, they tend to become more self centered, losing some of the ability to distinguish their own emotions and intentions from those of other people. For women the exact opposite is true. However, for you people who only read the first line and skim the rest: Women without stress were on […]
Caring for a loved one who suffers from dementia is demanding. It often seems like a losing battle too. One thing that caregivers often fail to do is to consider things from the dementia sufferer’s perspective. That’s not to say that it’s easy. Erratic behaviour, miscommunication and other everyday occurrences can quickly erode the patience […]
Providing free water in schools could be key to helping people in developing countries lift themselves out of poverty according to research from the University of East Anglia. Children who go to schools which provide free water have reported better overall health, and teachers reported fewer children off sick; it seems fairly clear that there’s […]
Is there a connection between intelligence and how likely you are to trust people? According to Oxford researchers, the answer to that question is a definite “yes!”. They based their research on an analysis of the General Social Survey, a nationally representative public opinion survey carried out in the United States; they say that one […]
In an obesity challenged society, physicians first recommend the elderly to maintain an optimal body mass index (a weight to height ratio) in order to prolong their lives. A better indicator and predictor for all-cause mortality, however, may be based on the muscle mass index, according to a recent research published in the American Journal […]
When you buy your spices, you might be getting more seasoning than you might expect. Why not get some free tiny fragments of insects, dirt or animal feces to go with your chilly? According to the Food and Drug Administration spices entering the U.S. are nearly twice as likely as the average FDA-regulated foodstuff to contain Salmonella pathogens […]
Listening to a high pitched tune will enhance the sweetness of food, while a low hum will make your taste buds signal bitter. Obviously, listening to all low frequencies won’t turn your chocolate bar into a pickled vegetable, but research in this respect suggests there’s genuine synesthetic behaviour. Some restaurant owners are already exploiting this […]
When you think about dangerous viruses, gonorrhea doesn’t usually come to mind – but that may well be about to change. Gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease (STD), has become resistant to most of the antibiotics that we have used to combat it over the last three decades. We’ve written before about antibiotic resistant gonorrhea entering […]
There’s been a lot of talk about obesity and what it really is, especially after the American Medical Association recently declared it a disease. Personally, I don’t agree with this idea. I’m no doctor, but it’s pretty clear that you can be obese without being sick in any way – so it’s pretty hard to […]
Considering population growth and increased life expectancy, experts estimate that by 2050 some 115 million people will be afflicted by Alzheimer’s disease – a prevailing neurodegenerative disease that needs no introduction. There’s no cure to Alzheimer’s, but there are treatments that help mild symptoms or prolong sanity before the point of no return is reached. All […]
The largest clinical study ever conducted to date of patients with advanced leukemia found that an incredible 88% of patients entered remission after being treated with genetically modified versions of their own immune cells. It’s like the medicine of tomorrow – today; and it’s super effective. “These extraordinary results demonstrate that cell therapy is a […]
It’s a little out of this world – a psychology graduate student at the University of Ottawa says she can voluntarily enter an out-of-body experience. While scientists are generally skeptical when it comes to this kind of claims, they were thrilled by the possibility to scan her brain during the experience – and the results […]
After growing up to adulthood blinded from birth, a man now has taken a peculiar hobby: photography. Were it not for the efforts of a group of researchers who have devised a system that converts images into sequences of sound, this new found pastime had been impossible. Hobbies or not, the technology is particular impressive […]
It’s been well established that smoking substantially affects health for more than a century (a bit less than that in official gov records), yet its long term effects on future generations may be more dangerous than anyone might have guessed. The perils of second hand smoke have been proven for a while, but scientists will have […]
When researchers first reported a child cured of HIV, they were baffled! The fact that he was reportedly cured just 30 hours after his birth led to immediate skepticism that the child had been infected in the first place. Basically, much of the scientific community thought this was too good to be true. But now, […]
In most of the world, winter long ground to a halt to make way for more harmonious seasons. Still, these are still tense times for your health, as one day can be sunny, the other murky and cold. A lot of people get snuffed and catch a cold. While you’re tucked inside your sheets, blowing […]
In society, there’s a general idea that women are more cooperative than men. But in academia, at the very least, that’s not the case. According to a recent study published in Current Biology women in academia are simply less likely to cooperate than men. The findings are based on an analysis of the publications from […]
It sounds like the synopsis for an apocalyptic movie: scientists uncover a dormant 30,000 years old virus trapped frozen deep in the Siberian permafrost, after it thawed however the researchers were astonished to find the virus was still active and began to infect. The bad news: it’s not a movie plot, this is for real […]
Exploiting both the latest in 3D printing and stretchable electronics, scientists at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Washington University in St. Louis have devised a new electronic membrane that could replace pacemakers. The membrane is designed to ‘cloth’ the heart and constantly delver electrical shocks to maintain a constant heart beat rate, avoiding arrhythmia and minimizing […]
Hygiene is extremely important for hospital workers – regardless of the type of medicine they practice – because they run a high risk of further transmitting any contamination they might have. But now, research has shown that while healthcare workers’ hands are the main source of bacterial transmission in hospitals, physicians’ stethoscopes appear to play […]
A long time ago I wrote a piece on the developments made by a group at University of California, Berkeley that managed to restore light perception to blind mice without using invasive procedures like surgery. A chemical was used and just as easy as putting some eye drops, the researchers enabled mice to sense light when […]
Researchers at Penn State College of Medicine studied the eating habits of overweight women during pregnancy, and found that those who expressed an “eating for two” were more likely to gain excessive weight, which contrary to what some may think is not recommended in their condition. Overweight is defined as having a body mass index of […]
The common saying “think before you speak” is often used after a person spoke something inappropriate. It implies that the person in question has not given enough thought to the consequences of his spoken words. Obviously we can’t speak without thinking, though, so naturally the question arises: how do we plan out our utterances? Researchers […]
An international team of scientists believe they have across the “microbial Pompeii” after they found preserved bacteria and microscopic particles of food on the surface of teeth more than 1,000 years old. The findings were made after the dental calculus or plaque that covered the ancient teeth was analyzed. Some very important discoveries were made in the process: ancient […]
If you’ve ever had a nice fuzzy feeling whenever you heard the voice of a loved one, then, you’re not alone. If somebody’s ever told you that ‘we need to talk’ and out of their tone you understood that something’s bad, then again, you’re not alone. A new study has shown that dogs have an […]
The average obese woman gets less than 70 minutes of exercise per year; if you were to average it out, that’s about 11 seconds per day. Obese men don’t have it much better either: they break a sweat only 3.6 hours annually, researchers say. You can talk about obesity in terms of culture and psychology, […]
Sometimes, I come across stories or various research that make me wonder “why the heck hasn’t anyone else thought of this before?” We should be grateful, nevertheless, that researchers from University of Texas at Dallas have found a way to manufacture artificial muscle that is up to 100 times stronger than the flimsy tissue that […]
Researchers at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor have recently reached some arguable findings, after an analysis of statistical data showed that there’s an uncanny link between the people who show up at the hospital for cat bites related wounds and depression. Also, most people who had been both diagnosed with depression at some point in their […]
Physical workouts, be it simple home fitness, represent a golden standard for living a healthy life. Researchers at Emory University recently proved another key benefit to exercising, one especially useful to the elderly, after they found that even taking a few short walks a day can vastly curb macular degeneration – the leading cause for loss […]
We’ve wrote before on studies discussing some of the effects of gaming might have on real life behaviour. In a most interesting study, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found that even the avatar you choose greatly influences behaviour later on when interacting with real people. The researchers recruited 194 undergraduates to participate in two supposedly unrelated studies. […]
David Ley, PhD, a clinical psychologist in practice in Albuquerque, NM, made an extensive review study of the current scientific literature discussing the idea of ‘porn addiction’. His summary is that, first of all, there’s no such thing as porn addiction, based on the currently published literature since the behavior described in this work can […]
Mammograms have been controversial since their inception – many researchers argued that reduction in mortality from breast cancer comes from improved treatment, and not from the procedures. Now, a very large and thorough study involving 90.000 women and lasting 25 years casts a big doubt on the value of mammograms. Basically, what they found was […]
An imbalance in chloride ions during a fetus’s development is one of the factors for autism, study shows. Some children today show clear symptoms of autism only a year or more after birth, such as the impossibility to focus on eye contact or poor language development. The study made by neuroscientist Yehezkel Ben-Ari and his […]
Human embryonic stem cells can be induced into forming a developing brain tissue. The brain development process represents one of the most specific processes; during it, neuroepithelium, formed as a flat sheet by the nervous system, grows on the exterior layer of the embryo, after which it folds in to create a neural tube giving […]
In popular view, the scientists is a white, skinny male, clothed in a white lab coat, wearing glasses. Of course, in reality it’s not always the case, but there’s no question that a certain gender, race and social upbringing dominates positions in science. Are females and minorities discriminated or is the lack of a balanced […]
It’s one of the most known effects of marijuana – you get a powerful surge in appetite (especially a craving for sweets) after smoking (or inhaling or ingesting the drug) – something colloquially referred to as “the munchies”. While for casual users this is a minor and not troubling side effect (often times even enjoyable), […]
As a non-smoker with many smoking friends living in a country without a smoking ban, going out can be quite a hassle sometimes. Staying in smoky rooms, the way the clothes smell after getting home… I feel like I may be smoking just as well. But as it turns out, smoking bans help smokers just […]
Dennis Aabo Sørensen is the first amputee in the world to feel sensory rich information (in real time), thanks to a prosthetic hand hard-wired into the nerves in his upper arm. After nine years ago he lost his left hand, Dennis Aabo Sørensen got lucky. Silvestro Micera and his team at EPFL (Switzerland) and SSSA […]
A new research paper written by psychologists Elizabeth Dunn and Lara Aknin, along with Michael Norton of Harvard Business School shows that there’s a clear and simple way to be more happy in life – spending more money on others. The notion of generosity has been greatly debated among scientists lately – and it’s not […]
Fetal brain development has been found to be drastically endangered by maternal drug exposure, according to an ongoing study by an international consortium of researchers from Karolinska Institutet. Cannabis consumption during pregnancy can impair the brain development of the fetus, bringing dreadful long-lasting effects after the child is born. The main consequences are affecting the […]
It’s estimated that some 8 million people in the United States suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), causing great angst, depression and poor social integration. There are numerous therapies and techniques designed to help patients recover and banish the specters that lurk in the deepest recesses of their minds, haunting them. A common psychotherapy is fighting […]
A new study that looked to compare how working memory differs in young and old people, found that young people are able to retrieve memories in ‘high definition’. However, it’s not the case that young people necessarily remember more than older ones, the researchers at Vanderbilt University who made the study add. It’s just that […]
The first moments following a nuclear attack are crucial. If you’re right in line of the blast, well … you’re pretty much toast. For people out of the initial blast’s way, but still subjected to lethal fallout, making the right steps can mean the difference between life and death. Not satisfied with the official government […]
Good news is not something you see very often in India. The lack of food and sometimes even water is still a problem, women discrimination is big, being gay has been criminalized (again), and poverty is the common standard. But among that, there’s still some good news: India is now, officially, polio free. Poliomyelitis, often […]
The human brain is arguably the most complex structure in the Universe. To unlock its secrets, scientists all over the world are mapping and simulating parts of the human brain. The latest breakthrough comes from Japan where scientists using the K supercomputer, the fourth most powerful in world, accurately mapped one second’s worth of brain […]
People living in areas with distinct seasons will often say — “smells like winter outside”. It’s that distinct odor in the air, which most of us can’t quite grasp and describe into words. What makes winter smell the way it does, though? What differentiates it from other seasons, say summer, isn’t some new kind of […]
