A hormone known as the “cuddle chemical” helps humans to form monogamous bonds, to feel a loving attachment to their kids, and even to produce breast milk. Now, a new report in Science shows that an avian version of that very same hormone also helps birds to stick together as a flock — a sign that of our seemingly unique social bonds …
Mental Health
U.S. cancer death rates on the decline
Cancer death rates have fallen steadily in the U.S. since the 1950s, a new paper in Cancer Research reveals. Kids and young adults were the first to see a big drop, but now the gains are felt by adults of all ages, the study reports.
If this sounds like a typical news flash that contradicts what you just read yesterday, it’s only …
A treatment for blindness reveals the incredible plasticity of the brain
Recently doctors began gene-therapy trials to treat Leber’s congenital amaurosis, a common cause of blindness in babies and children. Now, a group of doctors reports that they’ve found an unexpected benefit of the gene therapy. After treatment, vision may continue to improve with time — because the brain can re-wire itself to better …
Do redheads really feel more pain? The jury’s still out
You may have seen the recent (and well–publicized) study that shows redheads are more scared of the dentist than other people are. The idea is that the same gene variant that leads to red hair also — for some reason — makes people more susceptible to pain, and less receptive to the common anesthetics that a dentist might use before …
The Science of One-Night Stands
In a confirmation of persistent stereotypes, an international team of psychologists have determined that when it comes to one-night stands, men have much lower standards than women do. The study, published in the journal Human Nature, revealed that when asked whether they would “go out with,” “go home with,” or “go to bed with,” a member …
Neurological clues to how alcoholics process emotion
Alcoholics’ brains may process emotion differently than those of people who don’t have a history of alcohol abuse, according to a study published in the November issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. There is ample research analyzing how alcoholics tend to process emotion distinctly and with a range of …
Do working women get lower quality sleep than men?
While domestic responsibilities are slowly being divvied up more equally among men and women with the increasing prevalence of working moms and stay-at-home dads, there is plenty of evidence suggesting that women still shoulder most of the household and child-rearing responsibilities. A study highlighted by the Economist earlier this …
Does cancer screening save lives? Not nearly as many as you might guess
Most people grossly overestimate the benefits of cancer screening, according to a new survey of 10,228 Europeans. A whopping 92% of women believe the life-expectancy benefit from breast-cancer screening is at least ten times bigger than it really is, or say that they don’t know how much benefit screening provides. (On average …
Weighing the benefits: When should kids get swine flu vaccines and drugs?
A new study in the British medical journal, BMJ, suggests that big-name flu treatments oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir (Relenza) have only a “small benefit” in kids under 12 — but can have serious side effects. Now, even though the study reviewed four trials in kids treated only for seasonal flu, people are already drawing …
Macho men are less likely to seek preventative health care, study says
Men with a strong sense of masculinity are about 50% less likely than their not-so-macho peers to seek out preventative health-care services, according to a survey of 1,000 middle-aged American men. What’s more, even though people with higher job status are usually more likely to follow health-care guidelines, that pattern doesn’t seem …
Four lifestyle rules to keep you healthy
Follow four simple rules and you could reduce your chronic-disease risk by as much as 80%, according to a new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The golden lifestyle rules: never smoking, maintaining a healthy body weight, exercising regularly, and eating a balanced diet.
Sounds simple? It is — and yet only 9% of the nearly …
Stay positive: Study shows that optimists live longer
Optimists outlive pessimists, a new study shows. Of nearly 100,000 women enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative, those who gave optimistic answers on a personality test were 9% less likely to develop heart disease within eight years — and 14% less likely to die — than women who got low optimism scores on the test.
TIME’s Alice …
Breastfeeding may lower risk of cancer
Women who breastfeed appear to have lower risk of developing pre-menopausal breast cancer than those who don’t, according to a new study released today in in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The stats are especially compelling for women with a family history of the disease. Among that group, women in the study who’d breastfed had just …