A new headline-grabbing report from the White House claims that swine flu could plausibly infect up to 50% of Americans, causing flu symptoms among some 60 to 120 million of them, and leading to as many as 1.8 million hospitalizations and 30,000 -90,000 deaths. Where, exactly, do numbers like these come from? The new report [...]
The American Heart Association is urging Americans not to eat so much sugar — a major villain in the country’s obesity epidemic, and a possible cause of other risk factors for heart disease too, including high blood pressure. Adult women should generally eat no more than six teaspoons per day of added sugars (100 calories) [...]
Babies born too small are more likely to have low bone mineral density when they grow up, a new study reports today in the Public Library of Science journal, PLoS Medicine. Researchers in Helsinki, Finland, followed 144 Finns, now aged 18 – 27, who were all born preterm (before 37 weeks of gestation) and with very [...]
In the past, research into the relationship between blood pressure and cognitive impairment has yielded a wide range of results—some studies found that low blood pressure was linked with memory and processing problems, others that high blood pressure was associated with these risks, and others found no correlation at all. In an attempt to home [...]
Ever wonder how all that fat and protein in a low-carb diet could be good for you, even though you’re losing weight? A new study today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that, well, in fact, it isn’t. Mice that were fed a high protein, high fat diet — designed to [...]
Women with high levels of the hormone testosterone tend to be less risk averse and more likely to pick risky business careers than women with lower testosterone levels, a new study shows. Researchers from Northwestern University and the University of Chicago took saliva samples in 2006 from roughly 500 MBA students at the University of [...]
There is a wealth of research showing that married people tend to have better survival rates when they encounter illness compared with those who are unmarried or widowed. The correlation between psychological and emotional health and improved immunity is something scientists refer to as “psychoneuroimmunology.” In the case of married patients, they attribute the better [...]
With so many options on the market for programs, pills and treatments to help you kick the habit, how can you tell which is the best method to use? TIME asked Dr. Michael Fiore, a professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and founder of the school’s Center for Tobacco Research [...]
By tracking humans as they wandered in the forest, desert and blindfolded through a giant field, scientists determined that there is some truth to the popular belief—when people are lost, we actually do walk in circles. It has long been common perception that people tend to meander in orbits when disoriented, and in fact, scientists [...]
A study published this week in the Journal of Research in Personality finds that personality traits that cause people to worry too much and endure chronic stress may actually increase their risk for illness and premature death. A handful of studies have shown that neuroticism—broadly, the tendency to worry too much—can actually be beneficial for [...]
