Health, features and articles | Educational Science

Jan 31, 2010

Is 'Water Birth' Safe?

Supermodel Gisele Bundchen made news recently by giving birth to her son Benjamin in an unusual way: at home in her own bathtub. It wasn't an accident or surprise delivery; instead she did it as part of a growing trend called water birthing, considered by some women and midwives to...

Jan 31, 2010

Different Colors Describe Happiness vs. Depression

Are you in a gray mood today? How about a blue funk? Maybe you're seeing red, because you're green with jealousy. The colors we use to describe emotions may be more useful than you think, according to new research. The study found that people with depression or anxiety were more...

Jan 31, 2010

Links to Spirituality Found in the Brain

Scientists have identified areas of the brain that, when damaged, lead to greater spirituality. The findings hint at the roots of spiritual and religious attitudes, the researchers say. The study, published in the Feb. 11 issue of the journal Neuron, involves a personality trait called self-transcendence, which is a somewhat...

Jan 31, 2010

Childhood Obesity Takes Psychological Toll, Too

The ballooning waistlines of children hit the spotlight when Michelle Obama admitted publicly her daughters had an unhealthy body mass index. And while many urge kids to slim down to avoid heart disease and other physical ailments, the emotional consequences from teasing and low self-esteem could be just as debilitating,...

Jan 31, 2010

Tiger Woods and Sex Addiction: Real Disease or Easy Excuse?

Tiger Woods is scheduled to break his months-long silence about the sex scandal that has plagued the world's most famous athlete. It's not clear how he will explain himself, though according to some reports Woods has been attending a private rehabilitation clinic in Mississippi that treats addictions — including sex...

Jan 31, 2010

Hourglass Figures Affect Men's Brains Like a Drug

Watching a curvaceous woman can feel like a reward in the brain of men, much as drinking alcohol or taking drugs might, research now reveals. These new findings might help explain the preoccupation men can have toward pornography, scientists added. Shapely hips in women are linked with fertility and overall...

Jan 31, 2010

Nouns and Verbs Learned in Different Brain Regions

Nouns and verbs may go hand and hand in a sentence, but they are learned in different regions of our brains, a new study suggests. The work could explain why children learn nouns before verbs, and adults also perform better and react faster to nouns during cognitive tests. The researchers...

Dec 31, 2009

Half of Depressed Americans Get No Treatment

About half of Americans with major depression do not receive treatment for the condition, and in many cases the therapies are not consistent with the standard of care, according to a new study. The study also showed that ethnicity and race were important factors in determining who received treatment, with...

Dec 31, 2009

Cell Phone Radiation Might Improve Memory

Amid ongoing claims that long-term cell phone radiation may lead to brain tumors comes a new study suggesting the radio waves may protect and even reverse Alzheimer's disease, at least in mice. And the radiation gave mice without Alzheimer's a boost in brain activity. It surprised us to find that...

Dec 31, 2009

Couch Potatoes May Have Shorter Lives

Lounging in front of the tube not only eats up hours in your day, it may also shorten your life, according to a new study. The study, which looked at the connection between watching TV and death for 8,800 Australian adults, found that each hour of TV-viewing was associated with...

Dec 31, 2009

Politicians Say Cell Phones Cause Cancer

Cell phones cause cancer, according to a breakthrough analysis by politicians from Maine who read some scary stuff on the Internet about it. If this small, enlightened group of representatives, led by State Representative Andrea Boland, is able to convince the rest of the state legislature later this month, then...

Dec 31, 2009

Embryos Like to Be Rocked Like Babies

Like babies that can be lulled to sleep with swaying, embryos also prefer to be rocked. By gently rocking embryos while they grew during in vitro fertilization, scientists increased pregnancy rates in mice by more than 20 percent. The same rock-a-bye procedure could lead to more success for in vitro...

Dec 31, 2009

U.S. Babies Are Getting Smaller

Babies born in the United States are getting smaller, according to a new study. The findings suggest that birth weights in this country have declined during the past 15 years, most dramatically among the least likely group of mothers. The researchers estimate that birth weights for full-term babies have decreased...

Dec 31, 2009

Magnesium May Boost Brainpower

Mice given extra doses of a new magnesium compound had better working memory, long-term memory and greater learning ability. Before you go popping heavy doses of magnesium, however, know that much more testing is needed. Though rodent brains work similarly to ours, animal studies do not always predict what will...

Nov 30, 2011

Secret Coca-Cola Recipe Displayed at Museum

The secret recipe for Coca-Cola, the world's best-selling soft drink, has stayed under lock and key in a bank vault in Atlanta since 1925. That is, until today (Dec. 8), when the priceless list of ingredients was carefully moved to a new vault that is now on display at the...