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Lately, I’m feeling quite skeptical about the studies I read regarding coffee consumption, especially since it’s known that sometimes a major industry (like oil, or tobacco, or coffee) tends to… influence certain researchers to publish favorable results. I just recently wrote about how 9 out of the top 10 climate change deniers are influenced by […]
Autism is still yet poorly understood, and researchers are just starting to figure out the mechanisms behind this strange condition which seems to affect more and more children (and not only) with each passing year. A 6 year autism study The ambitious six year effort attempted to gauge the rate of autism in a South […]
Researchers from the University of Texas and Yale infected a computer with schizophrenia in order to find out more about how the human brain behaves and understands things. Human behaviour from a computer Computers can show some signs of virtual schizophrenia too, if they can’t ‘forget’ fast enough. So researchers used a virtual computer model, […]
Viagra isn’t just for grown ups, not anymore. As a matter of fact, few people know that at first, viagra was used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), and treating erectile dysfunction was just a bonus; of course, the huge advantages that the ‘bonus’ provided made it into the most effective and sold medicine out […]
Due to the rising of the phenomena, there has been a surge in the studies concerning obesity; there are, of course, a significant number of factors which affect it, and the number continues to grow each month. This time, it’s bottle feeding. Obesity in babies Researchers from the Center for Obesity Research and Education at […]
In the long and tenuous fight agains HIV and AIDS, researchers seem to have made a small, but extremely important step towards finally beating the virus. HIV vs antibodies Researchers at the University of Melbourne have reported identifying the antibodies which fight HIV in a breakthrough that gets us likely closer than ever to develop […]
In what can be considered somewhat paradoxal, according to a recent study from the University College London, scientists have found larger than average volumes of grey matter in certain brain regions of people easily distracted. Meaning, people who are easily distracted may have “too much brain”. This conclusion came after scientists compared the brain activity […]
According to a recently published study reported by Swedish scientists, people who are obese and middle aged are up to four times more likely do develop dementia than people of normal weight. Published in the journal Neurology, the research was conducted 8,534 Swedish twins over the age of 65, of which data showed that 350 […]
The Ebola virus has been the subject of numerous panic inducing books and movies, portraying it as a devastating killer, and in all seriousness its quite deadly. Research on the virus and its numerous variation has made across the past decades, but so far little to no advances in prevention have been made and currently […]
In what can be considered a breakthrough in the battle against worldwide depression, scientists from Germany’s Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry have found a link between a particular gene and depression which might provide solid treatment in the future. The discovery was made after reserachers analyzed the results of a study conducted upon 15,000 people […]
More than one quarter of children aged 16 and below living in the UK can expect to live to be 100, according to figures published by the Office for National Statistics; they also concluded that 11 million people who are alive today will reach that mark, which is quite surprising if you ask me, especially […]
In a breakthrough discovery that could revolutionize transplants, British researchers have managed to create human kidneys from stem cells, which could lead to transplant patients growing their own organs; the artificial organs were created using human amniotic fluid and animal foetal cells. The kidneys are now about half of centimeter long, which is about what […]
Researchers have managed to restore light perception to mice through gene therapy, by inserting algae genes into the retina. The treatment has succeeded in restoring the ability to sense light and dark to blind mice, and clinical trials in humans could begin in as little as two years. “The idea is to develop a treatment […]
The average brain can only hold about five to seven pieces of information at a time within 30 seconds – this is called working memory. What people usually do to get pass the 30 seconds interval is they re-expose themselves to the information, for instance if you want to remember a 7 digit phone number […]
Almost all Nobel prize laureates are active in an artistic field as well as in science. They are 25 times more likely (that’s 2500%) than an average adult to sing, dance or act, and 17 times more likely to be an artist. This proves wrong the general belief that there aren’t any useful connections between […]
In the theoretical and absurd case of a pigeon going on a police identification line, do you think it would use the same processes you’d use ? If your answer is “yes”, you may seem a bit strange… but you’re right. A study published by researchers from the University of Iowa found that pigeons recognize […]
It’s somewhat evidently observable that the elderly have more trouble focusing or multitasking than young people, but a recent study in which scientists used brain scans shows an unexpected explanation to the generation deficit. Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco led by neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley, recruited 20 relatively young adults, average age 25, […]
The death of medical marijuana is drawing closer and closer, as researchers find out that the cannabinoid THC, the primary active ingredient, is only responsible for the ‘high’, not for the pain relief. The study indicates that at least some of the painkilling effects are mediated via a receptor that wasn’t previously known to interact […]
The brains of adults can grow significantly in a staggeringly short amount of time if you just start learning like children do, according to research that had the purpose of treating braind disorders; they seem to have stumbled into something different, but extremely interesting. The researchers unexpectedly discovered that adult brains can grow in only […]
I always find myself amused whenever I hear the term “food addiction” get mentioned, simply because, hey, who isn’t addicted to food? Besides me being a smart ass and humans having to eat to live (even zombies have to eat some brain – it’s still food right?), seriously there are a lot of people out […]
I had no idea IBM was doing this kind of thing too, but I recently found out that they developed a technology that could revolutionize the treatment of drug resistant bacteria. A whole team of engineers and researchers headed by Dr. James Hedrick at IBM Inc. has worked on this technology, which relies on a […]
Aphrodisiacs have been used to improvement sexual performance and desire for thousands of years now, but which of them are really effective or simple old waives’ tales? Researchers from University of Guelph claim they’ve conducted the most elaborate study to date as far as aphrodisiacs are concerned. “Aphrodisiacs have been used for thousands of years […]
Five years ago, an outbreak of a mysterious and deadly disease in central China first started alarming local authorities when an alarmingly high mortality rate was linked to it. At first, the outbreak was considered to be bacterial, namely human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA), carried by infected ticks that passed the deadly disease on to farmers […]
For the first time in modern history, researchers have managed to reconstruct a three dimensional circuit of connected cells in the brain, thus offering insight in how it works; the model, which was built using microscopes and a supercomputer offers a novel insight and an unprecedented opportunity to discover how the complex mechanism of the […]
While gene-therapy is still regarded as a very innovative practice, it seems like the procedure might take traction as of today when remarkable results were concluded after the first successful double-blind gene therapy for Parkinson disease. In the case of this dreadful disease, medical researchers injected patients with a a gene that codes for glutamic […]
It never ceases to amaze me how this kind of idiotic, or perhaps even intentionally wrong studies are published and accepted by the world. What am I talking about ? Well, you know those pamphlets and promotional stuff that show your brain with holes in it when you take ecstasy, or that you will get […]
While a dog’s psychological value to its owner is very much attested, helping cure loneliness and such, a recent study published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, finds that people who own and walk a dog are 34 percent more likely to meet federal benchmarks for physical activity. “Walking is the most accessible […]
The recent tsunami wave that hit the Japanese coast this Friday simply devastated the countries costal areas. Besides the actual casualties (now reported to around 1,700), there are a few thousand people still isolated (footage of Japanese citizens stranded on rooftops have been circulating everywhere recently) and thousands more left homeless. The Japanese Government and […]
To be touched by a careful nurse, and to feel taken care of is very important, and often neglected; having that sense of comfort and tranquility might just be what gives that extra boost to the patient. Touching patients can lead to a numerous of responses, from calmness to discomfort, from intimacy to even aggression. […]
It’s ignorance like this that never sees to baffle me. Steve Pop is an overnight notorious psychotherapist who, like most of today’s center stage and tomorrow’s props, became famous after stating live on BBC Radio that “spending two hours on a game station is equivalent to taking a line of cocaine in the high it produces […]
Pancreatic cancer, also known as pancreatic carcinoma, is an aggressive type of cancer that invades the pancreas, an important organ near the stomach and the liver. While some pancreatic cancers can be caught and treated early, the prognosis for this disease is usually not good; the National Institutes of Health report that about 80% of […]
Ironically, the Medical and Pharmaceutical industry isn’tclean at all; the huge sums of money involved, and the interests that revolve around them often lead to unpleasant and unwanted consequences, such as inaccurate studies or overpriced meds. Also, despite the numerous efforts to make medical journals disclose funding sources for what they publish, the results have […]
Pictured on the left is Eden Sawczenko, an autistic four year girl from Stevenage, that has had a lot of problems bonding with other children, not being able to understand emotions and actually frawining upon them. Her best friend in the world is Kaspar, a very friendly human-like, child-sized robot built by scientists from University […]
A new study conducted by the German Medical Association reported that about half of the doctors in Germany have prescribed placebo at some point, and no less than 88% of GPs in Bavaria have sent patients home with placebo treatments. Placebo’s are still a matter of debate throughout the medicine world and not only, and […]
Neuroscientists are always looking for new and interesting ways to manipulate individual neurons and neural networks-- shooting magnetic waves at our brains may be the best route yet.
The fight against Alzheimer’s is a harsh and rugged one, and despite numerous advancements, there still isn’t a definitive cure for the disease around – or a fail proof way to detect it in the early stages.. Still, if you can’t defeat it, it’s still better to slow it down a little, and that’s exactly […]
Artists suffer for their art – it’s a well known fact. But for an artist at the New York University, things escalated to a whole new level: the camera he installed himself in his head was rejected by his body, causing some serious health issues. Let’s rewind a little; back in November, Wafaa Bilal, an […]
It’s been a little over a year since the earthquake that caused so much damage and cost so much lives, and people are starting to wonder what the situation is like in Haiti; or actually, not so many people are wondering about that. United Nation’s special envoy, former Canadian Governor-General Michaelle Jean sums it up […]
British scientists claim to have made a significant breakthrough regarding a universal flu vaccine; this new vaccine, developed by researchers from the Oxford University is different from all other types of vaccine, as it targets the proteins inside the virus, rather than proteins on the flu’s external coat. The major advantage is that the proteins […]
Unfortunately, pretty much every human being with access to medical care has taken some sort of painkillers at some point – unfortunately because of the reason; but painkillers don’t make the pain signal go away. What happens is the signal still goes to the brain, but the opiates such as morphine alter the way the […]
Art and science almost always seem to be standing at opposite seats of the table, so it’s really hard to explain one through the means of the other. But if we were to look at some of the best compositions in the world, music that transcended time and delighted generations and generations, what would we […]
Courage is not the absence of fear, but being afraid and facing it; for a 44 year old woman who is referred to “SM” for privacy reasons, that is not an option – she can not feel fear, biologically. Researchers have tried and tried with their best techniques to scare her, but there was absolutely […]
The latest in a long line of studies conducted on the fruit fly showed that organs have the molecular mechanisms to control their proportions, a process in which a protein called p53 plays the crucial role. The study was conducted by researchers at IRB Barcelona headed by ICREA Professor Marco Milán and will be published […]
Nairobi, Kenya is home to one of the world’s biggest slums, more than one million people living in subhuman conditions in the African state capital. I’ve seen and read a lot of reports from there, and other African states alike, and the situation is indeed dire. Imagine having nothing to eat – now imagine having […]
Obesity is a condition that affects a significant portion of people throughout the world; as a result, a whole industry of “get rid of obesity” emerged, each offering its own “unfailable” method that just has to work. However, until now, nobody conducted a extremely thorough study to pinpoint exactly what you have to do to […]
The typical healthy human brain contains about 200 billion nerve cells, called neurons, all of which are connected through hundreds of trillions of small connections called synapses. One single neuron can lead to up to 10.000 synapses with other neurons, according to Stephen Smith, PhD, professor of molecular and cellular physiology. Along with a team […]
Alzheimer is one of the nastiest diseases you can get; it is a degenerative disease that affects your brain cells, and as far as we know, the best way to prevent it is by being mentally active throughout your life. The most recent study conducted about it takes a look at ways of detecting the […]
One of the “highlights” of being a student or a young employee is having to stay up at night and study and/or do a lot of work. When coffee alone just won’t cut it, many turn to energy drinks. However one of the most common practices regarding energy drinks is mixing them with alcoholic beverages. […]
I recently finished reading The Generous Man by Tor Nørretranders in which the author tries to explain the awkward act of giving away, charity, by invoking social mechanics – sex to be more accurate. People are generous, and by giving they prove they posses enough resources and skill to make it in the world with […]
The bubonic plague, known to history as The Black Death or simply The Plague, was responsible for marking one of Europe’s most darkest hours, twice decimating the continent’s population, killing off two thirds. The disease is caused by a Gram-negative bacterium called Yersinia pestis, of zoonotic nature, especially carried by rodents – more exactly rats. […]
