Health, features and articles | Educational Science

Jul 31, 2012

How Depression Shrinks the Brain

Certain brain regions in people with major depression are smaller and less dense than those of their healthy counterparts. Now, researchers have traced the genetic reasons for this shrinkage. A series of genes linked to the function of synapses, or the gaps between brain cells crucial for cell-to-cell communication, can...

Jul 31, 2012

Marriage Drives Women to Drink, Study Suggests

Marriage may drive a woman to drink, not because she's unhappy but because she's influenced by her husband's alcohol consumption, new research suggests. And men, on average, drink more than women. Men, on the other hand, spend less time with their drinking buddies and more with their wives after tying...

Jul 31, 2012

Hantavirus Deaths in Yosemite: More Mice May Be to Blame

Two people have died from the rodent-borne disease called hantavirus after staying in Yosemite National Park, suggesting that the California park hosts many rodents, especially mice, infected with the virus. The virus kills 38 percent of infected people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, filling its victims'...

Jul 31, 2012

Spray-on Powder Uses Nitric Oxide to Fight Deadly Bacteria

This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. A new compound that releases nitric oxide when exposed to light offers a treatment to help those infected by the potentially lethal bacteria Acinetobacter baumannii. Resistant to most antibiotics, A. baumannii enters the body...

Jun 30, 2012

Batman on the Couch: Psychologist Analyzes Comic Book Character

He wears a caped bat costume in public and funds an alter ego out of his personal fortune. As a child he witnessed his parents' murders; as an adult, he puts his own life on the line, practicing a personal brand of vigilante justice. He may be a comic book...

Jun 30, 2012

You Gave Me What? 5 Crummy Conditions We Inherit

We can't blame all of life's misfortune on our parents, but the range of less-than-ideal physical issues we can pin on them run from the unfortunate to the downright deadly. Many diseases and conditions result from various factors, often including both the genes we inherit to the food we eat...

Jun 30, 2012

Chemicals in Nail Polish, Hair Spray May Increase Diabetes Risk

A group of chemicals found in personal care products may raise the risk of diabetes, a new study suggests. Women in the study with highest concentrations of these chemicals, called phthalates, in their bodies were more likely to have diabetes than women with lowest concentrations, the researchers said. Phthalates are...

Jun 30, 2012

Bath Salts May Be as Addictive as Cocaine, Study Suggests

Recreational drugs called bath salts, which have gained popularity recently and have been in the news for their bizarre effects on users, have the potential for abuse and addiction, similar to that of cocaine. Bath salts, which, despite their name, have no use in the tub, are different variations of...

Jun 30, 2012

Club Drug Ecstasy Harms Memory, Study Reveals

Recreational use of the club drug Ecstasy could cause memory problems, new research finds. The research is the first study of Ecstasy users before they begin to use the drug regularly, which helps rule out alternative causes for the memory loss, said study leader Daniel Wagner, a psychologist at the...

Jun 30, 2012

Chocoholics, Take Note: Cravings Don't Increase Before Menstruation

Lay the blame for your chocolate habit wherever you want, but a new study suggests that women's cocoa cravings do not increase before menstruation. In the study, college women were no more likely to say they had an intense desire for chocolate during the days leading up to their period...

May 31, 2012

Why Being Touched Can Inflame Emotions

It's clear touch and emotion can be closely tied: The brush of a hand can provoke excitement, comfort or repulsion — all depending on who's delivering the touch and when. But new research indicates the emotional connection shows up early as the brain processes a social touch. Using brain scans...

May 31, 2012

More Money Can Mean Less Happiness for Neurotics

Add one more item to the things that torture neurotics: a pay increase. While more money doesn't guarantee more happiness for anyone, increasing income is actually associated with less happiness among neurotic people who already earn a good salary. In fact, as pay increased, well-off neurotics are less happy than...

May 31, 2012

Living Brain Image Wins Photography Prize

Bright-red blood vessels and thick purple veins meander across the surface of a living human brain in the winning image in this year's Wellcome Image Awards contest. A rare peak inside the skull beat out a plethora of other gorgeous shots for first prize, including a colorful caffeine crystal and...

May 31, 2012

New Moms Reveal the Truth About Postpartum Sex

Starting up sex again after the birth of a child can be a fraught issue for new parents. Now, a new study finds that much of what drives women's desire in the postpartum period are not physical factors, but psychological ones. In many cases, social factors such as spousal support...

Mar 31, 2012

How to Use Light to Control the Brain

In the film Amèlie, the main character is a young eccentric woman who attempts to change the lives of those around her for the better. One day Amèlie finds an old rusty tin box of childhood mementos in her apartment, hidden by a boy decades earlier. After tracking down Bretodeau,...