Health, features and articles | Educational Science

Apr 30, 2006

Portable Dipstick to Measure Caffeine

While it might seem strange scientists would think to develop dipsticks to measure caffeine, how they're making them is even weirder. How about three llamas and two camels. The animals, both called camelids by scientists, are among the few whose immune systems produce antibodies that are not destroyed by hot...

Apr 30, 2006

Some Americans May Get Too Many Nutrients

Amid concern that some people take too many dietary supplements, the National Institutes of Health today released preliminary recommendations that generally urge caution. The statement from the agency, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, concerns multivitamin and mineral supplements, collectively called MVMs. Conclusions were reached by...

Apr 30, 2006

Dairy Products Might Cause More Human Twins

Women who consume animal products, specifically dairy, are five times more likely to have twins than those who do not, a new study finds. The reason may involve growth hormones fed to cows. A growth protein called IGF is released from the liver of animals and humans in response to...

Apr 30, 2006

Wham! Wham! Wham! Now Get Some Sleep, Ma'am

NEW YORK—The sound echoed throughout Montefiore Medical Center, like somebody pounding dozens of nails around the clock. Wham! Wham! Wham! The source was actually a pill banger, used to crush medications for geriatric patients who can't swallow whole pills. The process occurred repeatedly each shift, disrupting sleeping patients and annoying...

Apr 30, 2006

Machine Offers Sight to Some Blind People

With her good eye, Elizabeth Goldring can distinguish between light and dark and see hand movement, but not individual fingers. She cannot recognize faces or read. Goldring is an artist, a poet, and a senior fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Advanced Visual Studies. Her vision loss...

Apr 30, 2006

The Psychological Strain of Living Forever

In Oscar Wilde's novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, the main character barters his soul for eternal youth but becomes wicked and immoral in the process. Leon Kass believes humanity risks striking a similar Faustian bargain if it pursues technology that extends life spans beyond what is natural. If our...

Apr 30, 2006

Mystery Disease Makes Peoples' Skin Crawl

Reports of a mysterious medical condition are cropping up across the country but doctors are divided on whether it is a real disease or all in their patients' heads. Called Morgellons Disease, patients who report having it describe sensations of creepy-crawlers beneath the skin and fibrous filaments oozing out of...

Apr 30, 2006

Study: Sexual Desire is in Your Genes

Your sexual desire or lack thereof could be in your genes, scientists announced today. The discovery might change how psychologists view sexuality. The researchers found that individual differences in human sexual desire can be attributed to genetic variations. The study is the first to provide data to show that common...

Apr 30, 2006

The ABCs of IPOs: Easy-to-Pronounce Stocks Do Best

There are myriad strategies for making a company's first day of stock trading a good one. Add a pronounceable ticker symbol to the list. A new study of initial public offerings (IPOs) found that stocks with ticker symbols you can actually say, such as ELY or MUF, did vastly better...

Mar 31, 2006

Optimism Comes with Age

People tend to see the glass half full more frequently as they age, new research indicates. Researchers showed test subjects virtual faces portraying sadness, anger, fear and happiness. They used eye-tracking technology to record which faces the subjects looked at and for how long. Test subjects age 18-21 focused on...

Mar 31, 2006

Easy Way to Cut Cancer Deaths in Half

Cancer deaths could be cut in half if people simply followed advice that's known to work, according to a new study by the American Cancer Society. None of the advice will surprise you: Don't smoke, don't be obese, improve your diet, exercise, and make use of cancer screening tests. This...

Mar 31, 2006

Cell Division Reversed in Possible Path to Cancer Treatment

One key to advanced life is cell division. Cells divide millions of times every day to sustain the life and growth of a single human. But out-of-control cell division can fuel cancer. Now scientists have for the first time reversed the process of cell division, a breakthrough that could eventually...

Mar 31, 2006

Pesticides Found in Cigarette Smoke

As if tobacco itself wasn't bad enough for people, researchers have found three pesticides in the smoke of cigarettes. The chemicals, commonly used in tobacco farming and approved for that use by the EPA, disrupt the human endocrine system, which includes the thyroid and other glands and the hormones they...

Mar 31, 2006

Bullying Creates Vicious Cycle for Overweight Kids

A new study suggests that constant bullying prevents overweight children from exercising, and all the teasing can make it harder to shed the pounds as an adult. About one out of every five children is chronically bullied. Overweight kids are targeted more frequently, and oftentimes while in gym class or...

Feb 28, 2006

Marital Spats Raise Risk of Heart Attack

Fighting with the one you love can leave you broken-hearted, a feeling that now appears to be more than just figurative. Marital spats and dominating behavior are related to hardening of the coronary arteries, which supply blood to the heart. Clogged arteries raise the risk of a heart attack. A...