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Scottish researchers have found a way to make cancer cells get "addicted" to self-destruction.
If you can see a person or an animal, then it is possible to be seen back. It's a basic caveat they train in the military when discussing camouflage. What's more, if you suspect you're being seen, you must minimize your movements. This level of abstraction was thought to be unique to humans. It's been recently shown that ravens too are capable of imagining someone is spying on them and take greater care hiding their food, as reported in Nature Communications.
Researchers looked at the long-term exposure of marijuana on cognitive skills. Current users showed poorer cognitive ability across all the mediums the researchers tested. What was interesting is that among those who reported not using marijuana anymore, but used to, there was a pattern that suggested poorer verbal memory, which the ability to remember words. For every five year of cumulative marijuana use (365 days of smoking pot x 5), one in two people on average remembered one word fewer out of a list of fifteen.
The Zika virus that created an international state of emergency just got more scarier: apparently, it can be sexually transmitted. Such a case was reported in the US.
Some people have no trouble rising early and being productive, while others are most active during the evenings. This begs the question: are morning persons and night owls set apart by habit or biology? Habits certainly play a leading role, but all things being equal your genes might have a strong word to say in the matter.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared a state of emergency following the Zika outbreak in South America. The virus was thought to be almost benign and doesn’t cause big problems. Hospitalization is almost never necessary, but Zika provided a nasty surprise. It became obvious that the disease causes birth defects such as microcephaly… but […]
The size of the brain isn't essential to superior cognitive abilities -- its shape and packing mechanism matter a lot, too. But while bran folding function is well established, 'the how' has been more elusive to determine. Now, researchers in the US and Europe claim they know what wrinkles the brain: basic physics.
The Zika outbreak in South America is spreading more and more, reaching pandemic levels.
South African scientists have recreated the quagga – an exotic animal related to the zebras that went extinct in the 19th century. Or better put, they created an animal that’s genetically similar to the quagga. The quagga is still a mysterious animal. There has been much debate over the status of the quagga in relation to […]
A new study from the University of Sydney found a surprising link between lower back pain and depression.
A few days ago, the health minister in Colombia warned that the country is extremely vulnerable to the Zika virus that’s spreading like wildfire through South America. He was right, as it turns out. Over 2100 pregnant Colombian women are already infected, as Zika has already been confirmed in 23 countries and territories in the Americas […]
The Ontario Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) mailed free nicotine patches to smokers to see if they really help you quit without any behavioral support. And for one in four of participants who kept to the treatment, it did.
For the first time, the British have received a green light for editing the genes of embryos. They will remove or edit different genes of embryos and see how they develop for seven days, before destroying them.
Here we go again. A new study which investigated so-called addictive effects of food got picked up by the media with moronic headlines. The study in question found similar pharmacokinetic properties (e.g. concentrated dose, rapid rate of absorption) between highly processed foods and drug of abuse. The most rewarding food was found to be pizza, but in fact the researchers found cheese is actually the proxy. Apparently, cheese contains a concentrated amount of a protein known to bind to opiate receptors in the brain. Unsurprisingly, here are some of the headlines we've seen since: "Cheese really is like crack: Study reveals the food triggers the same part of the brain as drugs" (Daily Mail) or "Cheese really is crack. Study reveals cheese is as addictive as drugs" (LA Times). It goes without saying that cheese is not crack, and such headlines could be actually demeaning to crack addicts.
The thymus is one of those under appreciated organs you just don’t hear much about. Sitting in your chest, just in front of your heart, the thymus is at its largest and most active during infancy and childhood. By adulthood, the thymus has shrunk to practically nothing, being mostly replaced by fat. It plays an […]
A team at University of British Columbia claims that a type of clay found northwest of Vancouver is effective against a dangerous class of drug-resistant bacteria. The clay investigated by the Canadian researchers destroyed the ESKAPE germs, in some instances in less than 5 hours. Furthermore, the clay is completely natural and no toxic side-effects have been reported thus far.
University of Florida researchers have discovered how our bodies control dopamine transport in and out of brain cells.
Researchers in China have genetically engineered autistic monkeys which exhibit almost no social interaction.
Researchers found a way to manipulate single cells in three dimensions using sound waves. They devised acoustic tweezers that can position minute particles or cells anywhere within the fluid enclosure without touching, altering, deforming or labeling the particles in any way. The resolution or accuracy is between 1-2 micrometers. Work like this might enable us to design tissue implants which faithfully mimic the human tissues or organs destined to be replaced. Other methods, like 3D biological printing, alter or even destroy cells keeping them from functioning the way they ought to.
Scientific American recently reported that the three countries most affected by dengue fever have approved the use of the first vaccine against this affliction. Officials from Mexico, Philippines and Brazil hope that this will curb the nearly 400 million new infections each year, 22,000 of which result in death.
A study from Emory University looking into prairie voles' consoling behaviors provides new evidence in support of animal empathy. The tests had pairs of voles isolated from each other, one being exposed to mild electric shocks, to study how the rodents react to a distressed mate.
Antibiotics have potentially saved more lives than any other human invention. But bugs are catching on...
A new study finds that many cancers are caused by mutations that block the tumor suppressor gene’s effect, through a process called Intron Retention.
Careful with your diet, dads!
The mosquito-borne Zika virus seems to have spread from Brazil to Colombia, as more than 13,500 people are already infected.
A medical miracle was conducted at Lehigh Valley Health Network in the UK as a man was brought back to life after being almost frozen solid.
Hear all about it here.
Why would you eat snow in the first place? Because it's fun and harmless. It's free ice cream. A new study, however, suggests snow isn't as pure as we care to think. Being colder, the temperature gradient leads noxious pollutants expelled from the tails of vehicles to become absorbed by the snow, and in your organism if you decide to eat it. That being said, if you're having fun in the park, it's better not to eat it. We don't know yet how harmful this is, but ingesting benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, and xylenes mustn't be good.
Scientists are experimenting with a novel mechanism that destroys harmful bacteria that uses light-activated nanoparticles. These are called quantum dots and are typically used by the semi-conductor industry, in solar cells and other applications. When specifically tweaked in size and composition, these tiny particles interact with cells and kill over 90% of bacteria.
Creative thinking requires the simultaneous activation of two distinct networks in the brain, the associative and normative networks. Higher connectivity between these completely different systems of your brain leads to new, original and useful ideas, University of Haifa research concludes.
A new paper published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology examines women's efforts to guard their mates from sexual competition -- especially other ovulating females.
Those suffering of migraine headaches reported these occurred less frequently after they were prescribed medical marijuana. The study made by a team at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is the first to show marijuana actually turned down the knob on migraines.
How eyesight works and other functions.
In an unfortunate turn of events, a new Ebola fatality has been reported just hours after West Africa was declared Ebola-free.
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a method that allows them to coax stem cells to morph into retinal ganglion cells. This type of nerve cells reside in the retina and transmit visual input from the eyes to the brain. If these cells become damaged or die vision-loss conditions develop, such as glaucoma or multiple sclerosis.
Researchers at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) surveyed hunter-gather communities in Africa and South America which practice a traditional lifestyle thousands of years old and found they slept an average of six hours and 25 minutes per night.
University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) scientists have identified a new enzyme that could protect the body from toxic levels of intra-cell sugar. When there is too much sugar in the body it gets processed to glycerol-3-phosphate, a buildup of which can damage internal organs. The team behind the study proved that G3PP is able to extract excess sugar from cells.
Researchers have developed a digital audio platform that can modify the tone of the people who are talking.
The world's largest food and water producer will be sued for allegations that it used child slaves to harvest cocoa beads in the Ivory Coast in Africa.
The government has declared a state of emergency in the most affected areas while scientists are trying to figure out why so many babies are born with this often lethal condition.
When faced with a risky decision, like gambling, some people falter and become very cautions, while others get super excited. As it happens, this trait of character may be determined by the strength of the connection between key brain areas of the brain. It's not only drugs that cause addiction -- gambling is psychologically addictive and can be just as dangerous as substance abuse. Three to five gamblers out of every hundred struggles with a gambling problem and as many as 750,000 young people, ages 14 to 21 has a gambling addiction. The findings might help therapists devise better measures. At the same time, using brain scans doctors can finally see whether their patients are making any progress.
Brain scans of nearly 200 adolescent boys recorded as part of a new study performed in South Korea show that compulsive video game players have radically different wiring in their brains, most notably increased communication (known as hyperconnectivity) between several functional brain networks.
Some 50,000 years ago Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans co-existed, mingled and interbred. While only the human lineage exists today, these inter-species third degree meetings left a permanent mark on our genome. For instance, an ancient human who lived in what is today Romania had 9% Neanderthal DNA. Today, most Europeans and Asians have between 1 to 4 percent Neanderthal DNA.
Columbia University researchers have successfully identified the cellular network that allows mice to remember which environments are safe and which are dangerous. The study also looks into what happens when these neurons are tampered with, offering insight into how conditions such as PTDS, panic attacks and anxiety disorders can be treated.
The prevailing assumption is that mothers who birth more children live short lives due to accelerated biological aging. Researchers turn this historical thinking upside down after they found having more offspring actually prolongs the life of mothers and slows down cellular degradation.
Schistosoma mansoni might not as famous as other nasty parasitic worms like flatworms or roundworms, but outside the U.S. this pesky bugger infests more than 200 million people. Symptoms range from rash to organ damage to paralysis. For years, patients have had to rely on drugs that ward off the infection, but for remote or communities in the developing world this may be out of the question. There's a widely available remedy found almost anywhere in the world though, according to Egyptian researchers. And it's so cheap that it literally grows in the ground: garlic.
A new study looking into how Mexico's soda tax is impacting consumer habits one year after implementation. The results show a decrease in sugar-sweetened beverage consumption accompanied by an increase in sales of untaxed drinks throughout the country.
A new study, performed at Howard University Medical Center found that practicing the transcendental meditation technique seems to stimulate the production of telomerase, an enzyme associated with reduced blood pressure and heart disease. This correlates well with earlier research which found that meditation techniques reduce rates of high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke, as well as slowing of biological aging.
Throughout our hunter-forager days, humans have developed a subconscious urge to over-eat and became less and less psychologically equipped to avoid obesity, especially during the winter months, a University of Exeter study recently found.
One of the most exciting gadgets we've seen at CES this year comes from a French startup called DietSensor, which collaborated with an Israeli company called Consumer Physics. Their latest product called SCiO is a pocket-sized device that uses near-infrared spectroscopy to tell you how many carbs or calories are found inside your food.
