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How maternal testosterone levels can cause anxiety in offspring

Women suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) show elevated levels of testosterone and testosterone derivatives in their systems, as well as an increased risk of anxiety and depression. As the offspring of these women (both sons and daughters) show similar symptoms, it's been believed that PCOS can be transmitted through genetic code. However, a new idea comes to question this -- specifically, the fact that the fetuses of mothers with PCOS are gestating in high levels of testosterone is what causes these symptoms.

Wireless implants can block or induce the sensation of pain

Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed implantable devices that can activate -- and in theory, block too -- pain signals traveling from the body through the spinal cord before they reach the brain.

Astronaut food: what astronauts eat in space

Many of you reading this hope to one day be able to explore outer space; the thrill of discovery, entwined with the peace and solitude that only the silent void can provide. It's awesome stuff, I'm completely on board. But as it usually goes, great adventures come with great sacrifices.

Canadian Doctors Treats Brain Tumor in World First

The blood-brain barrier has been broken for the first time in history, and this can revolutionize some areas of cancer treatment.

Laughing at bad jokes might be a sign of dementia

We all have a friend that enjoys inappropriate jokes or slapstick humour more than any sensible person ought to. University College London researchers now claim that a twisted sense of humour might be an indicator of dementia setting in, particularly if the person in question used to have a different sense of humour.

Just one energy drink can pose significant health risks

A single energy drink can alter your health significantly, and consuming energy drinks regularly can be absolutely devastating.

Scientists gain an entirely different view on how blood is formed

Scientists have gathered a completely new understanding of how blood is formed in the body, potentially revolutionizing the dogma standing since the 60s.

Holocaust survivors encode trauma in their genes and pass it on to offspring

In a testament to epigenetics, researchers show that it's possible that the marks of trauma can be transmitted down to subsequent generations.

A futuristic garden that lets you grow food at home just raised $230,000 on Kickstarter in 4 days

Let's try again: Imagine you could grow your food at home, year-round, using a futuristic aquarium/garden system!

Can't find motivation to exercise? Do some drugs, expert says

Exercise is good for you, we all know that. Even better with drugs.

Drug resistant Strep and the return of the scarlet fever

In a study published Monday in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers from the University of Queensland caution that the surge in scarlet fever cases may pose an unexpected threat.

Study finds most women are gay or bisexual -- a personal take

The study recorded the biological responses (a fancy wording for arousal) of a sample of 345 women who watched videos of nude males and females. And the data is quite surprising: 82% of participants responded sexually to both men and women.

Eye drops with new chemical could clear up cataracts

Scientists have discovered a new chemical that could reverse cataracts, one of the leading causes of blindness.

"Designer Cells" Reverse Cancer in one-year-old

When one-year-old Layla Richards, from London, was diagnosed with an aggressive strain of leukaemia, the word 'incurable' struck like a hammer.

Halloween's Over. Time to Think Diabetes.

The household goblins have just about finished their bags of Halloween candy, so let’s talk about diabetes. Some countries (Canada, New Zealand) start November with Diabetes Awareness week while the entire world is asked to remember the disease on November 14. Diabetes is a brute of a disease – causing heart disease, kidney failure, blindness, […]

Alien cancer: man develops lung tumors from a tapeworm

In what can only be called a medical oddity, doctors in Columbia found that a man's lung tumor wasn't actually caused by human cancer cells, but those of a parasite. Apparently, due to the patient's weakened immune system, cells from the parasite leached into the rest of the body and eventually developed into cancer. This is the very first reported case of a patient sick with cancer sourced from outside the body. It's literally alien cancer.

Low fat diets have a very low impact, decade-long study finds

A meta-analysis of 53 weight-loss studies spanning over several decades and focusing on 68,000 people found that weight loss have a very low impact - if any.

90 percent of skin viruses are completely unknown

Just like an ecosystem inhabits an area, so to is your skin inhabited by a swarm of micro-organisms - including viruses.

Poor air quality in the office might halve productivity

It's no secret that people nowadays spend most of their time indoors. In high-income countries, as many as 66% of jobs are in the service sector. If you fall in this category, you most likely work in an office environment, which might seem benign enough and boring, of course. However, not all office buildings are built the same. The various materials and furnishings can not only affect your performance at work, but also our health. A new study published in the journal Environmental Health Reports quantified the effects of air quality and found employees working in environments with minimum pollutants in the air performed up to twice as better on cognitive tests.

How oxytocin and THC stimulate social interactions

A new study from the University of California looks at the link between the bonding hormone oxytocin and the effect of marijuana in social contexts that improve interpersonal bonding. Their findings offer insight into how the hormone could make social interactions more fulfilling and satisfying by enhancing our natural cannabinoid receptors.

How robots are transforming healthcare

The world of robotics is extremely exciting. Everyday we come closer to building R2-D2, Terminators, and the Iron Giant. The days of having a Betamax, our “personal healthcare assistant” are even closer still, thanks to robotics in healthcare.

Caught in the act: Scientists find new species of wasp evolving

The concepts of biodiversity and evolution are generally thought of as something that occurs in thousands, maybe millions of years - but every once in a while, scientists catch a species red handed: evolving, becoming a new species.

Brain fMRI study predicts efficiency of anti-smoking Ads

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, scientists from the universities of Michigan and Pennsylvania scanned the brains of 50 smokers while they viewed anti-smoking ads. They recorded their neural activity spikes as they watched the sample of 40 images one at a time, looking for increase activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, the area that handles decision making processes.

Mindfulness techniques reduced the need for health care services by 43%

After using relaxation-response technique, such as yoga, meditation and even prayer, participants involved in a study coordinated by the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) solicited health care services 43% less frequently. The researchers involved in the study say simply learning how to relax to fend off anxiety and depression -second only to cancer and heart diseases in terms of health care costs - might significantly reduce the strain on the health care system. As such, more wide spread use of relaxation-response techniques could free up immense resources that can be diverted for chronic diseases.

Scientists connect brain to a basic tablet - paralyzed patient googles with ease

We're living in the future.

Asthma drug reverses aging in the brain of mice

Science and medicine advances have stretched the life span further than ever. That's good news, but the quality of life is also important. People live longer now than ever, but they also live longer in sickness and suffering of both body and mind. Concerning the latter, a clear, sharp mind can be a rare thing once you pass a venerable age, but a team at the Paracelsus Medical University in Austria may be on to something. Working with mice, the researchers gave some of the elderly rodents a common drug called Montelukast that's used to treat asthma in children. To everyone surprise, the old rats started growing new brain cells and performed almost as well as the young in cognitive tests. If only the drug worked on people, too - we might find out soon.

Scientists can tell whether you're naughty or nice - with a simple brain scan

With a simple brain scan, researchers can now see if you've been naughty or nice - on average.

What happens inside the brain when you think about money

Money. It makes the brain go nuts!

WHO starts pilot implementation of malaria vaccine

In what could become a monumental decision, the World Health Organization has decided to roll out pilot tests for a malaria vaccine.

Processed meats DO causes cancer, red meat probably does too

An eagerly awaited report from the World Health Organization (WHO) states that processed meats such as bacon and sausages cause cancer, and red meat likely does so too.

1 in 10 veggie hot dogs contain meat, sprinkled with some human DNA

Nobody wants to know how a hot dog is made, because you always know there's some crazy stuff inside. If you're one of those persons, stop reading now. Alright, time for a reality check. According to the "The Hot Dog Report" released by Clear Food, a company on a mission to demystify the black box that's the US food industry, many consumer brands add more ingredients in their sausages than you'd wished for, i.e. labeled. The company sequenced the genetic material from 345 samples of hot dogs across 75 brands and found around 15% were problematic. This means a deceiving label, whether exaggerating the protein content or finding pork in your chicken sausage. About 67% of the veggie samples had hygiene issues. Perhaps most disturbing is that 1 in 10 so-called veggie hot dogs had meat in them, and 2% of all samples had human DNA inside.

Using ultrasound to operate on the brain

A preliminary study from Switzerland, published this month in the Annals of Neurology, proved the effectiveness of a new method of non-invasive brain surgery: using a newly-developed operating device that relies on ultrasound, in conjunction with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), allowed neurosurgeons to precisely remove small pieces of brain tissue in nine patients suffering from chronic pain without removing skin or skull bone. Researchers now plan to test it on patients with other disorders, such as Parkinson's. Neal Kassell, neurosurgeon at the University of Virginia, not directly involved in the study.

'Pharma bro' increased AIDS drug price 5,000% over night. Now, rival comes with $1 alternative

Martin Shkreli, chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals, became over night one of the most despised figures in the pharmaceutical industry when just as suddenly he raised the price of the only treatment of a rare parasitic infection by 5,000 percent. The drug, Daraprim, was initially developed in 1953 and used to cost $1 a pill only a couple years ago. I have no idea what Shkreli thought would happen after he'd raise the price 500-fold in one go, but he got some serious backlash. "I think that it makes sense to lower the price in response to the anger that was felt by people," he said while under the spotlight, but this promise made a month ago is still unfulfilled shattering whatever credibility Shkreli had left.

Many antidepressant studies tainted by big pharma companies

A new, extremely worrying study found that a third of meta-analyses related to antidepressant studies are written by pharma industry employees.

Twice as many Americans use pot than 10 years ago

Marijuana use has doubled among American adults from 2001 to 2013. About 10% of the population or 22 million are believed to be recreational users, a steep rise driven by both cultural shifts and more permissive laws. About 1 in 3 users abuse the drug (continued use despite knowing it may be damaging health or causing depression or anxiety), though it's worth mentioning that this ratio was the same before the exponential rise in marijuana users.

Alcohol while pregnant: not even a drop, American Academy of Pediatrics urges

"No amount of alcohol should be considered safe to drink during any trimester of pregnancy," wrote the the American Academy of Pediatrics in a report which identified ingesting alcohol during pregnancy as the leading cause of preventable birth defects.

Carbon nanotubes expelled from cars end up in your lungs

Carbon nanotubes are a class of advanced materials that researchers think will transform electronics someday, but while great effort is expended trying to figure out the best way to make them, it appears that our lungs are already littered with them. American and French researchers collected both biological samples from randomly selected asthma patients and swabs from nearby buildings and busy intersections. Eventually they found carbon nanotubes, leading them to believe that the material is expelled throughout the city. The source? Vehicles, it seems, which act like carbon nanotube factories on wheels. Similar findings were detected in samples from Houston, in spider webs in India and in ice cores, suggesting carbon nanotubes are everywhere where automobiles are on the loose.

Ebola survivors can still carry the virus in the eyes, testes, uterus or joints

The current procedure for Ebola survivors is wait 42 consecutive days for the tests to come back negative, then the patients can be discharged from quarantine. More and more evidence is surfacing, however, showing that the virus can still linger on through various nooks and crannies in the human body, undetected from standard testing. For instance, one man was treated for Ebola, but the virus was still present in his eyes. It wasn't dormant either, since the inflammation caused his normally blue eyes to turn into green. Other evidence suggests Ebola can linger in the testes and be transmitted through sexual contact, but also in the uterus and joints. Only the case where Ebola was present in semen led to a transmission of the disease, so survivors aren't necessary contagious. These serious findings do suggest more quarantine measures are required, though.

Lack of flushing toilets costs India $50 billion each year

Defecating outside comes at a great toll to the numerous, and often crowded Indian people. Lack of basic hygiene means hundreds of millions are exposed to bacterial pathogens and children are at the mercy of diarrhea. Economically speaking, this translated to $53.8 billion or 6.4 percent from India’s gross domestic product in 2006, says the World Bank.

How the brain keeps your heat and water balance

What exactly makes you thirsty? Dehydration, obviously, but how does your brain know that your body needs water? And how does that grey, squishy lump resting in your cool and comfortable cranium, know when your body needs to heat up or cool off? Scientists at the McGill University Health Centre Research Institute (RI-MUHC) and Duke University have asked themselves just that, and being scientists, went ahead to find out.

Malaria protein that kills cancer to begin human trials in 2019

Scientists have in the past toyed with the idea of using a disease to fight cancer. Now, after identifying a malaria protein that binds to cancer cells and kills 95% of tumor types, human trials are expected to start within four years. I doesn’t seem like it’s happening fast, but it is, in medical terms. Clinical […]

Delivering orange-coloured death to cancer cells

A research effort at Winship Cancer Institute recently identified a substance in orange lichen and rhubarb that has the potential to be used as a new anti-cancer drug. The substance, an orange pigment known as parietin or physcion, slows the growth and can even kill leukemia cells harvested from patients, without obvious toxic effects on human cells, the study authors report.

These animals don't get cancer, and this might help us obtain a cutre

In the fight with cancer, we need any piece of help we can get. With this in mind, a group of researchers set out to investigate the animals that don't get cancer (or rarely do) - especially elephants and naked mole rats.

New species of wild banana discovered in Thailand

Researchers have discovered a new species of banana christened "nanensis", belonging to the Musa genus, sharing a place in the family Musaceae with more than 70 other species of bananas and plantains. It's scientific name honors the province of Nan where the type specimens were collected.

Artificial skin can feel pressure, then tell your brain about it

Prosthetics has come a long way from its humble beginnings – the crude wooden legs of yore are a far cry from the technological marvels we can create to replace our limbs today. However, there is one thing that, with all our know-how, we haven’t yet been able to incorporate in them: a sense of touch. A research team from Stanford University aims to fix this shortcoming, and has developed technology that can “feel” when force is exerted upon it, then transmit the sensory data to brain cells – in essence, they’ve created an artificial skin.

The robust relationship between bitter foods and sadism

An unexpected correlation was discovered between the preference for bitter foods and everyday sadism an psychopathy, according to a new study published in the journal Appetite.

Ebola still lingers in semen for months, scientists find

We've reported some good news about Ebola, after no new cases were reported for over a month, but the struggle is not over.

Centipede venom could hold the secret of the perfect painkiller

Chinese researchers discovered a chemical compound that works just as well as morphine -- without any of the negative side effects. The substance is derived from the venom of a centipede native to China. The discovery has huge medical applications, and could potentially reduce the country's military reliance on morphine for battlefield use.

Mice live longer after receiving probiotic supplement

Chronic inflammation of the colon has been recognized as a leading factor contributing to senescence and age-related diseases. Previously, scientists identified polyamines (PAs) levels, which are aliphatic low- molecular compounds, as being linked with systemic inflammation. The more PAs you have, the healthier your gut. But as we age, PAs levels fall and intestinal barrier dysfunction may occur. To test how significant is this contribution, researchers from Japan fed mice with probiotic supplements than compared them to a control. They found the mice lived longer, suggesting "ingestion of specific probiotics may be an easy approach for improving intestinal health and increasing lifespan."

Malaria proteins kill 9 out of 10 cancer cells in mice trials

Researchers stumbled upon a new tool to fight cancer in a rather unexpected place; while searching for a vaccine against malaria in pregnant women, a team of Danish scientists found that, simply put, armed malaria proteins are remarkably good at killing cancer cells. They hope to have a working prototype ready for human trials within four years' time. Their discovery has been published in the scientific journal Cancer Cell.
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