Health, features and articles | Educational Science

Dec 31, 2013

Mindfulness Meditation May Reduce Anxiety, Depression

Mediation programs may help reduce anxiety, depression and pain in some patients, but may not lead to a boost in positive feelings or overall health, according to a new review study. The review analyzed information from 47 previously published studies with a total of 3,515 participants. Each study included a...

Dec 31, 2013

Genome of the Blood-Sucking Hookworm Decoded

Scientists have decoded the genome of a lowly, blood-sucking hookworm, an advance they say could lead to cures for hookworm infection, a painful condition afflicting more than 700 million people worldwide, mostly in underdeveloped countries. But the worm's unique relationship with the human immune system means the new findings may...

Dec 31, 2013

If You Don't Like People Tweeting About Cancer, Don't Read It (Op-Ed)

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. If there is a set of rules about coping with cancer, I have never seen it. Perhaps in some circles a commonly accepted method exists. If so, I remain in...

Dec 31, 2013

No More Eye Drops? Contact Lens Protoype Delivers Glaucoma Meds

Like a miniature donut stuffed inside a tiny pita pocket, a common glaucoma medicine is sandwiched inside this specially designed contact lens. In laboratory experiments, the lens, which can also correct vision, releases the eyesight-saving medication at a steady rate for up to a month. Its construction offers numerous potential...

Dec 31, 2013

Devastating Plague Strains Arose Twice, Could Return

Many centuries before the Black Death wiped out a third to half of Europe, an equally virulent pandemic called the Plague of Justinian killed upwards of 100 million people in just two short years between 541 and 543 A.D. Scientists have long debated the connection between what have been called...

Dec 31, 2013

Numbers That Become Memes Can Be Dangerous to Society (Op-Ed)

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to LiveScience's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Some numbers are both memorable and incorrect. Take the idea that we only use 10% of our brains. Despite there being no medical evidence for the remarkably low percentage, many...

Nov 30, 2015

'Body by Darwin: How Evolution Shapes Our Health and Transforms Medicine' (US 2015): Book Excerpt

Jeremy Taylor is author of Body by Darwin: How Evolution Shapes Our Health and Transforms Medicine (University of Chicago Press, 2015), a former career science television documentary maker with the BBC, and author of Not A Chimp: The Hunt For The Genes That Make Us Human (OUP, 2009). He contributed...

Nov 30, 2015

Risk of Stillbirth Raised by Weight Gain Between Pregnancies

Weight gain between pregnancies may increase the risk of stillbirth or infant death, a new study from Sweden suggests. The researchers analyzed information from more than 450,000 women who had two pregnancies between 1992 and 2012. Women whose body mass index (BMI) increased by more than 4 points between pregnancies...

Nov 30, 2015

What Clues Does Your Dog's Spit Hold for Human Mental Health?

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Dogs were the first animals people domesticated, long before the earliest human civilizations appeared. Today, tens of thousands of years later, dogs have an unusually close relationship with us....

Nov 30, 2015

Why Are There So Many Bob Dylan Lyrics in Medical Lit? The Answer, My Friend…

Hey, Mr. Scientist man: Bob Dylan references in biomedical literature have increased exponentially since 1990, a new study finds. In the study, the researchers conducted a search of the biomedical papers published through May 2015 and found 213 references unequivocally citing the singer/songwriter. The earliest citation dated back to 1970,...

Nov 30, 2015

Shingles Linked to Increased Risk of Heart Attack, Stroke

A bout of shingles may increase your risk for other serious health conditions — namely, a stroke or a heart attack — a new study finds. People in the study who had shingles, a disease caused by the herpes zoster virus, faced a 2.4-fold increased risk of stroke, and a...

Nov 30, 2015

MERS Vaccine Protects Camels, Which Is Good for People

A vaccine that protects against the virus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) has been shown to be effective in camels, a new study finds. The vaccine, which was developed by German scientists, reduces the amount of the virus found in the camels infected with the disease, according to...

Nov 30, 2015

Ingredients of Plague Risk in Western US Identified

Small outbreaks of the plague still occur in the western United States, and now new research shows these clusters don't happen at random. Instead, they tend to pop up in areas that have certain mix of climates, animals and elevation, a new study finds. Every year, an average of seven...

Oct 31, 2015

Man Dies After Tapeworm Inside Him Gets Cancer

A Colombian man's lung tumors turned out to have an extremely unusual cause: The rapidly growing masses weren't actually made of human cells, but were from a tapeworm living inside him, according to a report of the case. This is the first known report of a person becoming sick from...

Oct 31, 2015

A 'Natural' Herb Can be Poisonous, Woman Learns

Herbal remedies that are touted as natural may not always be safe, as a new report shows: A woman in the United Kingdom who was trained in using herbs experienced severe symptoms of poisoning after she accidentally overdosed on a medicine called deadly nightshade. When the 50-year-old woman was admitted...