“Look both ways before you cross the street.” Along with, “Stop, drop and roll,” it’s a safety lesson that is drilled into children from a very young age. Yet for all of our practice, according to research from psychologists at the University of Illinois, pedestrians have a tendency to skimp on safety when distracted by talking on a cell
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A team of Australian researchers are set to begin a clinical trial next year to see if a technique for regrowing breast tissue will prove successful in humans. The novel strategy, which could offer hope to breast cancer patients who have undergone mastectomies as part of treatment, involves placing a “scaffolding” in the breast, and
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With cigarette taxes incrementally crawling upward, indoor smoking bans gaining traction across the country, and the dangers of smoking regularly hammered home by public health officials and news outlets, it would seem that the U.S. is winning the war against cigarettes. But, according to the results of a new survey conducted by the
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Amid fears that religious ritual was eroding due to swine flu fears, an innovative Catholic from the town of Fornaci di Briosco in northern Italy has invented an electronic holy water dispenser. As Reuters first reported, inventor Luciano Marabese first developed the dispenser—which works similarly to soap dispensers, but instead
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Finding comfort within a group may be helpful when it comes to therapy, but when it comes to justifying bad ideas, taking cues from others can steer you the wrong direction, according to new research from Northwestern University. As the Los Angeles Times reports, the notion that “everyone else is doing it” can be detrimental—and even
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When the Food and Drug Administration announced its plans late last month to ban the U.S. sale of raw oysters harvested during warmer months in the Gulf of Mexico, regional oystermen and connoisseurs of the shellfish alike cried foul.
In an attempt to bring better diagnostic tools to health care workers and rural patients in developing countries, researchers with STAR Analytical Services are working to develop a mobile phone application that can recognize—and distinguish between—different types of coughs. The goal is to create a simple, portable method to help
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Giving Tamiflu to patients who may have been exposed to swine flu—such as family members of confirmed cases—as a preventive measure, may result in their developing drug-resistant strains of the virus, according to an account published in this week’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. In a letter to the editor, a team of
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Have you ever gotten half-way into a story only to realize that you’ve told this exact tale before, to precisely the person you’re boring with it now? (In fact, you may have already told it to them several times?) According to research published in the current issue of the journal Psychological Science, losing track of whom you’ve
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As my colleague Laura Fitzpatrick reported last year, the “designer vagina” trend is on the upswing, with a growing number of young women seeking out surgery to trim, sculpt and perfect their private areas. Yet while more women may be going under the knife in hopes of improving their intimate aesthetics, according to research published
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Ever since he appeared at the Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas last week, photos of former baseball slugger Sammy Sosa’s markedly lighter visage have been bouncing around the internet, as everyone from baseball fans and sports commentators to dermatologists and cultural analysts scratched their heads about what might have caused the
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There is a long-standing love affair between sports and alcohol, and the mementos of this relationship abound at football stadiums, baseball parks, and of course, in TV advertising. (As of 2003, some 60% of the advertising budget for the American alcohol industry was dedicated to commercials during televised games, according to data from
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Google recently teamed up with the Department of Health and Human Services to create a map function that will let you find out where you can get both H1N1 and seasonal flu shots by simply entering in your zip code or home town. The recently launched “flu shot locator” is still in initial phases, and currently only has data for about 20
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