Health, features and articles | Educational Science

Jul 31, 2009

Study: Machismo Cuts Men's Lives Short

Tough guys who buy into ideals of masculinity are much less likely to seek preventive healthcare services, such as a prostate exam, compared with other men. The new finding, based on survey data, reveals that such manly beliefs could help to explain the lower life expectancy of men compared with...

Jul 31, 2009

Babies' Brains Churning With Activity

The look of amazement in the eyes of an infant suggests the wheels are churning away inside that noggin. New research confirms they are. Scientists have shown that when 9-month-olds watch people reach for objects, the motor region in their brains gets activated, as if the babies were doing the...

Jul 31, 2009

How to Know if You Have Alzheimer's

This Week's Question: I've been forgetting names of people lately and I have this dread that this is an early symptom of Alzheimer's. How can I tell? I don't know a geezer who hasn't asked this question. Once you hit 60, you begin to wonder if your lost keys have...

Jul 31, 2009

The Truth About Record-Setting U.S. Life Expectancy

Life expectancy in the United States rose to an all-time high, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today. But that's only half the story. The country is behind about 30 others on this measure. Though the United States has by far the highest level of health care...

Jul 31, 2009

What You Should Know About Arthritis

This Week's Question: I'm pretty sure I have arthritis in my knee. Is there any danger this will spread? First, anyone who thinks they may have arthritis should see a doctor. Self-diagnosis is hazardous to your health. Now for some information about arthritis all geezers should know. Arthritis, which comes...

Jul 31, 2009

Human Lifespans Nearly Constant for 2,000 Years

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, often the harbinger of bad news about e. coli outbreaks and swine flu, recently had some good news: The life expectancy of Americans is higher than ever, at almost 78. Discussions about life expectancy often involve how it has improved over time. According...

Jul 31, 2009

Bonding with a Captor: Why Jaycee Dugard Didn't Flee

Why didn't she try to escape sooner? is the question on many people's minds in reaction to the Jaycee Dugard story. Dugard was recently reunited with her family after being held captive for 18 years. She was apparently kidnapped at a bus stop near her home in South Lake Tahoe,...

Jun 30, 2009

Like Sex? Thank a Parasite

It's long been a mystery why sex become so hot back when life evolved beyond simple creatures that reproduced asexually by simply dividing in two. Asexual creatures do not even need to find a partner. While that might not sound like much fun, it certainly is efficient, working out to...

Jun 30, 2009

Can't Sleep? Log On

It is estimated that as many as one American in ten meet the criteria for an insomnia disorder; if effective treatment can be offered in an inexpensive automated form, many more people could be helped. SHUTi (Sleep Healthy Using the Internet) is an automated online treatment system to help people...

Jun 30, 2009

Serious Cyclists' Sperm Suffers

For any guy who has endured more than thirty minutes on a road bicycle seat, there is usually some concern over the strange numbness that occurs in places that should not go numb. Well, a new study has some good and bad news. Spanish researchers have found that active male...

Jun 30, 2009

Swearing Makes Pain More Tolerable

That muttered curse word that reflexively comes out when you stub your toe could actually make it easier to bear the throbbing pain, a new study suggests. Swearing is a common response to pain, but no previous research has connected the uttering of an expletive to the actual physical experience...

Jun 30, 2009

40 Years After Moon Landing: Why Can't We Cure Cancer?

Editor's Note: Forty years ago this month, humans landed on the moon for the first time. We asked Christopher Wanjek why, four decades later, we can't cure cancer. Will we ever win the war on cancer? Richard Nixon had every reason to be optimistic when, during his 1971 State of...

Jun 30, 2009

Nap Time! One-third of Americans Do It

A mid-day nap is more common than you might think in America. One-third of U.S. adults nap on a typical day, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center. Naps are more common among men than women, and more common among the poor than the rich. Naps can...

Jun 30, 2009

Rorschach Test: Discredited But Still Controversial

Though the Rorschach is the most famous psychological test in the world, it is little understood outside of psychology circles. The test, in the news this week and under much debate, is a series of 10 colored ink blots created nearly a century ago by Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach. The...

May 31, 2009

Sleepless Flies Shed Light on Human Insomnia

Like humans, flies deprived of sleep one day will try to make up for it by sleeping more the next day, a phenomenon referred to as increased sleep drive or sleep debt. And they're hard to wake up. So found Paul Shaw and colleagues at Washington University School of Medicine...