Health, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 30, 2007

Study: Obesity is Socially Contagious

People who notice a friend packing on pounds might want to steer clear if they value a sleek physique. A new study finds that when the scale reads obese for one individual, the odds that their friends will become obese increase by more than 50 percent. The study, published in...

Jun 30, 2007

Scientists Create 12-Headed Jellyfish

Jellyfish with up to a dozen heads have been created in the laboratory by carefully monkeying with a few genes. The genetic experiments could shed light on how natural colonies of other multi-headed organisms first originated, including some that build coral reefs. Researchers targeted so-called Cnox genes, which help control...

May 31, 2007

Penis Myths Debunked

When it comes to penises, length matters more to men than to women, according to a new study that reviews more than 60 years of research and debunks numerous sex myths. About 90 percent of women actually prefer a wide penis to a long one, according to two studies included...

May 31, 2007

Have Sex While You Sleep

If you think it’s impossible to have sex while you sleep, think again, according to a new study. There are at least 11 different sex-related sleep disorders, collectively referred to as “sexsomnia” or “sleepsex,” that affect people who are otherwise psychologically healthy—causing them to unknowingly engage in various sexual activities...

May 31, 2007

Origin of Deja Vu Pinpointed

The brain cranks out memories near its center, in a looped wishbone of tissue called the hippocampus. But a new study suggests only a small chunk of it, called the dentate gyrus, is responsible for “episodic” memories—information that allows us to tell similar places and situations apart. The finding helps...

May 31, 2007

AlzheimerÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s Cases to Quadruple by 2050

More than 106 million people worldwide will develop Alzheimer’s disease by 2050—four times as many people as have the condition now, a new study says. Currently, at least 26 million people suffer from the disease, characterized by progressive memory loss, language difficulties and eventually difficulty moving. The disease primarily affects...

May 31, 2007

Vacuum-packed Foods Breed Deadly Bacteria

Those sealed glossy packs of cheeses and lunchmeat on your grocer's shelf can provide a particularly friendly home for nasty bugs that cause food poisoning, new research shows. Vacuum-packed foods are deprived of oxygen to keep them fresh and boost their shelf life, but the same strategy is a boon...

May 31, 2007

Endurance Athletes Risk Deadly 'Water Intoxication'

Health experts cautioned yesterday that some endurance athletes drink too much water during exercise and are at risk of deadly water intoxication. Marathon runners, triathletes and cyclists are familiar with dehydration, caused by not drinking enough. But fewer are aware that too much water can kill. Water intoxication is formally...

May 31, 2007

Study: People Literally Feel Pain of Others

A brain anomaly can make the saying I know how you feel literally true in hyper-empathetic people who actually sense that they are being touched when they witness others being touched. The condition, known as mirror-touch synesthesia, is related to the activity of mirror neurons, cells recently discovered to fire...

Apr 30, 2007

Mystery Deaths Plague Coroners

WASHINGTON—Edge-of-your-seat story lines ripped from the headlines and saturated with mind-taxing scientific clues are the hallmarks of forensic shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. While the coroners’ sleuthing can typically hone in on a cause of death by the show’s end, real medical examiners across the country are puzzled...

Apr 30, 2007

Meditation Sharpens the Mind

Three months of intense training in a form of meditation known as insight in Sanskrit can sharpen a person's brain enough to help them notice details they might otherwise miss. These new findings add to a growing body of research showing that millennia-old mental disciplines can help control and improve...

Apr 30, 2007

Human Ancestor Had a Pea Brain

Higher primates such as humans are considered the brainiacs of the mammalian world. But a 29-million-year-old fossilized skull suggests that one of our remote ancestors was a bit of a “pea brain,” sporting a noggin smaller than that of a modern lemur. The skull belonged to a common ancestor of...

Apr 30, 2007

The Strange History of Cheese

For many, the mild, slightly nutty flavor of Gruyère is the perfect addition to a steaming bowl of French onion soup or a ham sandwich, but for the medieval peasants who first created it, the flavor was secondary to matters of survival and location. Gruyère resulted from the historic collision...

Apr 30, 2007

Researchers Find Ã¢â‚¬ËœSkim Milk CowsÃ¢â‚¬â„¢

In a few years, skim milk may come straight from the cow, it was reported this week. Skim milk is usually produced by taking all of the fat out of regular milk, but in 2001, researchers found a cow that skipped that step. While screening a herd of cows, they...

Mar 31, 2007

Bizarre Human Brain Parasite Precisely Alters Fear

Rats usually have an innate fear of cat urine. The fear extends to rodents that have never seen a feline and those generations removed from ever meeting a cat. After they get infected with the brain parasite Toxoplasma gondii, however, rats become attracted to cat pee, increasing the chance they'll...