Health, features and articles | Educational Science

Mar 31, 2008

How the Black Death Changed the World

Each Monday, this column turns a page in history to explore the discoveries, events and people that continue to affect the history being made today. Seven thousand people died per day in Cairo. Three-quarters of Florence's residents were buried in makeshift graves in just one macabre year. One third of...

Mar 31, 2008

FDA Takes 2nd Look at Laser Eye Surgery Safety

Perfect vision in minutes. See better than 20/20 today. Throw away your glasses forever. You won't believe your eyes. The LASIK ads are so tempting. How can one resist those attractive women and men, nerds no more, liberated from the yoke of eyewear, at long last taking control of their...

Feb 29, 2008

House Calls Make Comeback

The next time you see the doctor, you might not spend an hour in a waiting room, read eight-month-old magazines or be examined in a cold, antiseptic room. You might not do any of these things, because the next time you see the doctor, you might see him at your...

Feb 29, 2008

Study Debunks Web Predator Myths

Don't believe the hype. It's not just Flavor Flav's catchphrase, it's good advice for parents, teachers, police, and anyone else concerned about the threat of Internet predators. According to a new study by researchers at the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center, most of what you think...

Feb 29, 2008

Workplace Bullying 'Epidemic' Worse Than Sexual Harassment

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Workplace bullying could cause more harm to employees than sexual harassment, researchers say. Belittling comments, exclusion from outings and criticism of work may seem relatively benign and get brushed off by business higher-ups as kid's stuff. But the consequences to employees and even the bottom line are...

Feb 29, 2008

Native American DNA Links to 6 'Founding Mothers'

NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly all of today's Native Americans in North, Central and South America can trace part of their ancestry to six women whose descendants immigrated around 20,000 years ago, a DNA study suggests. Those women left a particular DNA legacy that persists to today in about about...

Feb 29, 2008

Women Are Bound to Get AIDS

Why is it girls have to always be polite and say yes, when boys can just say no and walk away? My 10-year old daughter said these chilling words to me after describing how she had been stuck doing a task at school when she really wanted to do something...

Feb 29, 2008

The Pill Aids in Planned Pregnancies

The same pill that prevents pregnancies could actually help some women undergoing IVF conceive, a new study suggests. More than 15 percent of American couples have difficulty conceiving a child, according to the American Fertility Association. Two types of therapy are currently available for treating infertility — natural methods and...

Feb 29, 2008

Though Preventable, Diabetes Prevalence Soars

Chances are, you forgot to mark March 25 on your calendar this year as the 20th annual Diabetes Alert Day. Despite being a top killer and one of the most expensive diseases in the history of mankind to treat, diabetes is as entrenched as deeply in the American psyche as...

Feb 29, 2008

Robots Tapped For Colonoscopy Work

As if the idea of colonoscopies didn't sound uncomfortable enough, now researchers are developing self-propelling probes that crawl inside the colon and grip its sides with the aid of sticky films. Still, these slithery devices could lead to better, safer, more comfortable colonoscopies to help uncover cancerous polyps. Cancer of...

Dec 31, 2007

Study: How to Live 14 Years Longer

Exercise, don't smoke, and consume five fruit or vegetable servings and only one or two drinks daily and you'll live 14 years longer than smoking, hard-drinking, burger-popping couch potatoes. That's the result of new research on the combined effect of these four healthy behaviors on longevity, detailed in the journal...

Nov 30, 2009

How Brain Scans Are Used In Murder Trials

The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scan of accused murderer Brian Dugan was introduced in the sentencing portion of his murder trial. The defense used the scan to try to demonstrate that the defendant's brain was psychopathic. The main benefit of using fMRI to assess the brain of a...

Nov 30, 2009

Antidepressants Can Change Personalities

Taking an antidepressant can lead to significant personality changes, likely for the better, a new study finds. The study looked at the effects of taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which are widely used to treat depression today, and found that those who took these antidepressants experienced more positive emotions,...

Nov 30, 2009

The 9 Most Provocative Sex Science Stories of 2009

We've loved. We've learned. And we've had some of our sexual suspicions confirmed by scientific research. As 2009 comes to a close, LiveScience looks back at the year's nine most intriguing sex lessons. Sex smells. A man's sweat smells different when he's sexually aroused — and women can tell the...

Nov 30, 2009

Motherly Behavior Grows New Brain Cells

The act of mothering may trigger the development of maternal neurons, at least in rats, according to a new study. The mommy neurons could help a nurturer to recognize her little ones, though the scientists aren't sure of their function. And the rats didn't have to be pregnant or have...