In our science-via-soundbite culture, it’s easy to glom onto health news that validates the things we love—what? coffee might prevent Alzheimer’s? pass the triple Americano—and ignore headlines that threatens to dampen the fun, such as the drawbacks of drinking.
Everyone’s heard the news that moderate drinking may thwart heart …
Children with persistent abdominal pain were able to find some relief through a novel technique that recruited their imaginations, according to a study published in the journal Pediatrics. Of the study participants, half regularly listened to recordings that instructed them to imagine themselves floating on a cloud, for example,
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Wear clean underwear, brush your teeth, say please and thank you—and sit up straight. Once again, it turns out that mom may have science on her side when it comes to doling out advice. In addition to the benefits to your muscles and spine, good posture can also help boost your confidence, according to psychologists at Ohio State and
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According to new research, it turns out that spending lots of time riding around with the top down doesn’t just put your hairdo at risk. A study presented at a meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation this week in San Diego finds that regularly riding in a convertible without any ear protection
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A product designed to let women fake losing their virginity—an artificial hymen that can be inserted into the vagina before intercourse and releases “just the right amount” of a blood-like substance, according to the distributor—is being denounced by conservative Egyptian politicians and religious scholars, according to the Associated Press.
Sometimes it seems that every day offers a new, contradictory health finding. One day screening for prostate cancer is recommended; the next it’s not. One day the hot new superfood is acai berries. The next it’s dark chocolate, red wine, or fatty fish. Just about every new diet plan or exercise regime raises doubts about effectiveness or …
Europeans’ ability to digest dairy after infancy evolved just 7,500 years ago, spreading out from central Europe — not northern Europe, as previously believed — across the continent and into western Asia.
Researchers in Britain and China are using a new method to measure the rate of genetic mutation among humans — and it seems that all people in the world likely carry at least some new mutations.
For their study, published this week in the journal Current Biology, the researchers enlisted the help of two Chinese men whose families …
According to a study published in the journal BMC Public Health, children as young as 10- and 11-years-old already have notions about the ideal body. An analysis of more than 4,000 students from Nova Scotia revealed that young girls’ happiness with their body image is directly linked to how thin they are. Boys, on the other hand,
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Hip fractures may be one of the most devastating injuries that humans face, but they’re also less frequent than they used to be. Today Canadian researchers announce that the hip-fracture rate fell 31.8% for Canadian women and 25% for Canadian men between 1985 and 2005. (A decline has also been noted in the U.S., but over a shorter …
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) and men …
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 low birth weight …
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 resemble a human low-carb diet …
