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Let’s play a little imagination game: you are a renown professor of psychiatry at an important university and you are offered the presidency of the national society of neurology. However, you’re not quite enthusiastic about all these as the simple sight of one of your students or patients would be enough to make you blush […]
When Oscar was diagnosed with a very aggresive form of cancer called anal sac adenocarcinoma, his days seemed numbered – literally. Doctors gave him very little to no chance of living 100 days when they noticed he was unresponsive to chemotherapy and radiation. But things took an unexpected turn, and in two weeks, Oscar was […]
The simple thought of being caught in a horn-honking traffic jam for a couple of hours is definitely a scary one, which would definitely increase the rate of your heartbeat. But, unfortunately, traffic can have much more serious effects on one’s heart, especially now, when a simple drive around the town has become an endurance […]
As you probably know (but may very well choose to ignore), ageism is going rampant throughout virtually every civilized country in the world, and this is by no means a casual thing, but it’s quite systematic, regardless of sex. What’s even worse, even old people think the least about themselves in terms of intelligence, competence […]
This is what researchers believe to be the first true comeback of a gene in the human/great ape lineage; the study was led by Evan Eichler’s genome science laboratory at the University of Washington and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and they pointed out that the infection-fighting human IRGM is (as far as we know) […]
If you are a smoker you’ve definitely heard more arguments than you can count against keeping such a habit. However, you continued to smoke, no matter what scary studies did scientists come up with. But apparently, this is not a decision to affect only you: your canary, dog, cat or why not turtle, might be […]
It claims the life of a child every 30 seconds and about 40% of the entire world population is at risk because of it. About 500 million people become very ill with malaria every year and about 2 million of them don’t make it. The situation seems really grim especially as in some parts of […]
Tired of sitting in a corner at parties and spending most of your spare time conceiving evil plans to destroy the world? I am sure you would want to buy whatever it is that makes some Mr. or Miss Congeniality, but unfortunately, as researchers at Harvard University have discovered, it may all be in the […]
If you’ve ever been to a rock concert, you know that unique feeling when you leave the arena, and the whole world is in your pocket; that feeling appears whether you’re a headbanger or not, no difference there. But the difference, it seems, appears in your head. When I first heard what inspired Associate Professor […]
Eating too much fatty food does not only lead to being overweight and related diseases, but it can also disturb the balance of one’s circadian rhythms, which means your 24-hour biological clock will stop working thee way it should. Dr. Oren Froy and his colleagues of the Institute of Biochemistry, Food Science and Nutrition at […]
The term “social engineering” is often misunderstood; what it refers to is the act of manipulating people (or masses of people) into doing whatever it is that you want. The term is not quite similar to a people trick or a people fraud, and it’s often about making people divulge information. Russell Blaylock, M.D is […]
The latest study conducted by researchers from the Duke University Medical Center was performed on two groups of (old and young) adults. The first group had an average age of about 70 while the younger ones were about 24 years old. Neuroscientists found out that the mechanism behind the part of the brain responsable for […]
It’s obvious that one of the biggest challenges the president elect has to face is rejuvenating the infrastructure; let’s talk about traffic jams for a bit. Everybody hates them, we all want to avoid them, but they exist. They are an unintended consequence of personal driving. Some transportation planners often speak about the fact that […]
We all know how unpleasant it is to have an incapable, grumpy and never-satisfied boss. It’s annoying, nerve-wrecking and even …lethal. According to some new research having an awful boss may have more implications than initially thought. If your boss has no consideration for your ideas, is not communicative enough or is simply incapable of […]
Though we have to admit there are some small steps toward an improving in general health care, we’ve expressed our opinion about how bad things are on numerous occasions. Only the fact that major pharmaceutical companies spend more on advertising than research is a huge problem, that (along with others) leads to a domino-like effect […]
Contrary to almost a half of century of research, Elly Nedivi, associate professor of neurobiology at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and colleagues found that a certain type of neuron that plays a crucial part in autism spectrum disorders is able in fact to remodel itself. It can do this in a strip […]
Frank Guenther of Boston University in Massachusetts and his colleagues worked with a man who was unable to move or communicate; they implanted an electrode into his brain which allowed him to use a speech synthesizer that produces vowel sounds as he thinks them. This work shows promise of going even further and not far […]
The gender of the person one receives the heart from may in fact prove highly important for their future evolution. As reported on November the 12th at the American Heart Association’s annual Scientific Sessions meeting, the number of patients whose gender matched their donors’ proved to be less likely to reject the organ or to […]
Intelligence is very hard to define as a trait, as it’s usually a simplified term used to describe a quantum of related abilities, such as the ability to solve problems, to understand abstract issues, to learn and to plan. But the notion of intelligence should (by any means) be understood at a whole new level, […]
It’s not because they deserve it, if that’s what you’re thinking – you mysoginistic bastard; and it’s not because they’re just much sweeter than man. Actually, the old tale that a woman loses a tooth every time she delivers is not as far from the truth as you’d think. A study published in this month’s […]
This year’s Nobel Prize for chemistry has been earned by three scientists who researched into the mysterious green glow of a jellyfish. They will split the prize which has been given to them for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein GFP. Osamu Shimomura of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts; […]
It’s natural that when you are stressed out, you tend to search for an explanation for your current situation and to search for answers; too many people have felt this and this is a global issue even without the economy crisis that struck us. But in such times when you feel that your finances are […]
Antibiotics are agents that act against microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi or protozoa. It’s obvious that since the development of antibiotics, the world has changed significantly. Basically, in developed countries people take pills for anything, which could have a damaging long term effect, creating newer types of damaging microorganisms, which are more resistant to antibiotics. […]
One of humanity’s fiercest enemies in the modern world is without a doubt this terrible malady, which has caused an endless number of deaths and suffering; while news and developments in treatment appear every day, there is still no safe receipe for curing it. However, if things get bad, there is now a new technique […]
It may seem weird, but ear infections don’t attack only your ears, but your weight too. If you get them during your childhood, there’s a big chance you will develop a taste for fat foods, and thus this affinity will probably lead to obesity. Scientists that made this study suggest that this appears because middle […]
Bacteria have sometimes behaviour that can amaze scientists, by its complexity and efficiency. Salmonella can commit suicide and help their “brothers” to establish infections that are more damaging, thus helping their species. But scientists believe they have found the answer to this surprising kamikaze behavior. This phenomenon which is called self-destructive cooperation often helps Salmonella […]
Every once in a while, you hear about the hardest of problems that have really easy solutions. In numerous cases, cures have been found in most common of substances, or even foods. This time, a study led by researchers at Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland showed that in small concentrations, something as common as […]
If you ever visited a neighboring country and found that the people there had little or no connection to your own country’s culture, language or even physical appearance, it’s only natural that you wonder how this can be; after all, if the countries share a border, they have to resemble many traits?? Not really. It […]
The Neanderthal has spakled controversies around scientists for many years, and most questions remain unanswered even today; they had many adaptations to a hard life, such as hort, robust builds, and rather large noses, which show they lived mostly in cold climates. They were almost exclusively carnivorous and top predators and their brains were probably […]
Everybody pondered at least once in their lives the possibility of being immortal, and this idea sparkled in the immagination of many people throughout history. Now, Stuart Kim, a PhD at Stanford and professor of developmental biology and genetics conducted a study that led to results that shocked pretty much everybody involved, contradicting the […]
Whether you want to admit it or now, the world (and most of all America) has a problem with obesity. The fact that people are eating less healthy and working out less is something that can’t be denied even by the most optimistic of us. However, even taking into consideration all those aspects, the numbers […]
We all know (or really should know) the benefic impact a healthy lifestyle has on your body and mind. But according to a study led by U.S. researchers, exercising and having a balanced diet can not just keep you fit, but it can also lead to some swift and dramatic changes at the genetic level.In […]
Ever wake up in the morning and just couldn’t get out of bed? Did you ever have something to do and just didn’t have what it takes to do it? Well, all you lazy people, rejoice! In may not be your fault after all. A simple test could show whether difficulty in defeating your laziness […]
A study conducted by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH) at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health showed that cat ownership probably has a very good effect on young children of ages up to 5 years. The study was published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. […]
It’s still unclear how sleep deprivation affects us, as there are still so many things scientists have failed to understand about sleep itself. But now, neuroscientists at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore have shown for the first time what happens to the visual perceptions of healthy but sleep-deprived people who struggle […]
British scientists have received the green light to research devastating diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s using human-animal embryos, after the House of Commons rejected a ban yesterday. Already a wave of contradictions and the scientific world is divided into two camps. An amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill was rejected […]
Just like when you lie certain things happen in your brain, the same thing happens when you think something about somebody. But what happens in our brain when we judge people or at least when we make an idea about someone? Those (and many other) questions have been tackled by MIT neuroscientist Rebecca Saxe. Her […]
Photo by out of rhythm A recent study has shown one of the world’s most dangerous viruses, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) unprecedented detail. They analyzed just the sexually transmitted version. Scientists found that among billions of HIV variants only a few lead to sexual transmission. George M. Shaw, M.D., Ph.D., professor in the UAB […]
Photo by ±‡ U a € ï ¥ a H ‡± Life has ups and downs, reminding more or less of an emotional rollercoaster; but some memories stay in your memory way longer than the others. Emotional memories of traumatic life events (physical or mental), especially cases of accidents or serious illnesses are stored […]
Or at least this is what a study conducted by scientists from Mcgill suggests. They made the largest study of breastfeeding and the results they found were that it increases both IQ and academic performance. In the article in which the study was published, Dr. Michael Kramer reports the results from following the same […]
Well this sure sounds like a good plan to me… Scientists found out that Ketamine (also called Special K if you hang out with the right people), which is used as a horse tranquilizer but also as a club drug could ease depression. Who would have guessed ? Ketamine, which can also cause […]
How can this be? Medicine has progressed… we have drugs for everything, surgery, etc. So how come people live less and less in a country that claims to be the most civilized in the world ? In fact, it decreased with more than six years for women between 1960 and 2000. Now, a new, long-term […]
University of Maryland researchers have managed to shed some light in an important matter which puzzled medical scientists and not only for ages: how iron carried in human blood is absorbed and transported into the body. Among the benefits of this discovery I’ll just name a better understanding of iron deficiency, the world’s number one […]
Recently, it seems there’s a gene for everything, from generosity to ruthlesness. That still doesn’t mean that you can blame everything on your genes, but it may go to show the fact that even some of the world’s most cruelest dictators may owe their behaviour partly to their genes, at least according to a study […]
According to a new research, published in PLoS, as the total number of different species in a certain group grows, the chance of the rate of new species apprearing decreases greatly. The research team believes these findings suggest that new species appear less and less as the number of species in a region approaches the […]
Prions (or proteinaceous infectious particle; on comes from analogy to virion) are the nasty little buggers responsible for disorders such as mad cow disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. They’re dangerous especially as they’re really hard to detect before symptoms appear. Now, according to Nature, scientists are trying to develop sensors that can detect […]
About 2.3 million diagnosed with diabetes just in the UK, and it’s estimated that some 750.000 people have it but don’t know yet. Most of them have diabetes type 2, which is caused mostly by obesity and usually develops in middle age. Type 1, or insulin-dependent diabetes, is a less common autoimmune disease that results […]
Viruses are sub-microscopic infectious agents that need other cells in order to reproduce. In fact, some scientists claim that viruses are not living beings, as they do not meet the criteria of the definition of life, because they don’t have cells; but they do have genes and evolve by natural selection. Still, they […]
The science of clothing has evolved greatly: we have light skiing suits that keep us warm at -20 (and more) Celsius degrees, we have clothes that allow transpiration from the inside to get out but don’t allow water from the outside to come in, and also a whole lot of other inventions which aid our […]
Everyday you hear about something that cures (or almost cures) cancer; some stand out and are quite effective, some are not. This drug appears to be in the first category, as it is highly potent compound with a unique structure, and scientists are thrilled to have found it. It was discovered by a collaborative team […]
