Health, features and articles | Educational Science

Jan 31, 2016

Microcephaly: Causes & Symptoms

Microcephaly is a condition in which a child's brain doesn't develop properly. The most obvious symptom is that the child has a smaller head than others of the same age and gender. Because the brain doesn't grow at a normal rate, the skull doesn't either. There are a number of...

Jan 31, 2016

Coffee Pot: What Happens When You Mix Marijuana & Caffeine?

You can now add coffee to the growing list of foods and drinks that are available as products infused with marijuana. Several companies have started selling cannabis-laced coffee, claiming to give users an added buzz to their cup of joe. But what happens when you combine two psychoactive substances: marijuana...

Jan 31, 2016

Kalamazoo Shooting: When Is a Person Brain Dead?

Abigail Kopf, a teenage victim of a shooting this weekend in Kalamazoo, Michigan, remains in critical condition. But based upon the possibility that Kopf could die from her injuries, at the request of and with the permission of her parents, the team treating Kopf contacted an organ donation organization, Dr....

Jan 31, 2016

Unexpected Stop for Marijuana Tourists? The Emergency Room

A phenomenon called marijuana tourism may be leading to an uptick in marijuana-related emergency-room visits in Colorado, one of the few states where recreational use of the drug is legal, a new report finds. Since it became legal to sell marijuana in Colorado in 2014, the number of emergency-room visits...

Jan 31, 2016

Checking Embryo Viability? Give It a Good Squeeze

Much like a piece of ripe fruit, a human embryo has a certain squishiness that could provide fertility clinic staff with clues about its viability, a new study finds. In fact, the technique of gently squeezing a series of embryos appears to be the most accurate way for researchers to...

Jan 31, 2016

What Caused This Man's Bladder to Be Encased in Calcium?

A man in Qatar who had blood in his urine and pain for more than a month when he peed found out that his symptoms were caused by his body's attempt to fight off a parasitic worm infection, a new case report reveals. Blood in the urine can be a...

Dec 31, 2015

New Oregon Law Allows Pharmacists to Prescribe Birth Control Pills

Women in Oregon no longer need a doctor's prescription to get birth control pills, according to a new state law. Instead, they can fill out a health questionnaire and receive oral contraceptives from a licensed pharmacist. The law removes barriers to birth control — typically, women get a prescription during...

Dec 31, 2015

3 High-Tech Ways to Track What You Eat

LAS VEGAS – Keeping track of everything you eat can help you lose weight, but it isn't always as easy to track your every snack and sip as it is to, say, clock how long you jogged today. But now, new gadgets aim to make food tracking easier and more...

Dec 31, 2015

Brief Psychotic Breaks Remain a Mystery

Not all psychotic episodes signal the beginning of a long-term mental health disorder like schizophrenia. In fact, when patients experience one of these short-term breaks with reality, it's not precisely clear how the individuals should be diagnosed. Now, a new study finds there are no significant differences in the prognosis...

Dec 31, 2015

Long-Term Opioid Use Linked to Depression

People who take prescription opioids, which are used for treating pain, for longer than a month may have an increased risk of developing depression, according to a new study. Pain itself can also lead to depression, but in the study, the link between depression and opioid use held even when...

Dec 31, 2015

Some Antibiotics May Change Gut Bacteria in Kids

Children who take certain antibiotics called macrolides to treat an infection may experience changes in their gut bacteria, a new study suggests. And children given more than two courses of macrolides during the first two years of life may face an increased risk of developing asthma and becoming overweight later...

Dec 31, 2015

Addiction Changes Brain Biology in 3 Stages, Experts Say

Experts who research addiction have long argued that it is a disease of the brain. Now, in a new paper, they present a model of addiction, broken down into three key stages, to illustrate how the condition changes human neurobiology. Essentially, each of these three phases affects the brain in...

Dec 31, 2015

Smartphone Trick Could Change Your Sedentary Lifestyle

Using reminders on your smartphone to prompt you to get moving during the day could help you reduce the amount of time you spend sitting, a new study suggests. The researchers found that people in the study who used such smartphone reminders spent 3 percent less time sitting per day,...

Dec 31, 2015

It's Not Your Fault You Sleep-In on Weekends (Op-Ed)

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Sleeping in over the weekend is one of life’s great pleasures. Yet some of us are much better at it than others. A teenager is much more likely to...

Dec 31, 2015

Grey Matters: Scientists Link Brain Size and Smarts

Having a big head might not be such a bad thing, if it means you have a gigantic brain. Animals with bigger brains may be better problem-solvers, according to a new study. Scientists long thought a correlation existed between an animal's relative brain size and its cognitive abilities, but even...