As summer comes to a close, so does BBQ season. That’s a good thing for your health, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which finds that consumption of red and processed meat — …
Why Being Hard-To-Get Attracts Consumers (And Men)
Why would a person drive across town to get a bottle of wine rather than pick up a nice red down the street? Why would a guy at a bar seek out the woman across the room instead of the one right in front of him? According to a …
Is Divorce Counseling for Happily Married Women Really Necessary?
The marriage statistics have been drilled into everyone’s heads: half of all “I do’s” end up as “I don’ts.” But now, news of a new service that counsels happily married women on the ins and outs of divorce has some people …
The Healthland Podcast: Customizing Your Baby, Masturbation, and the Vaccine Wars
Welcome back! This week we debate the ethics of a blood test that can reveal your baby’s sex at just seven weeks of pregnancy. Also: a big new study on how masturbation affects sexual development. Finally, science editor Jeffrey …
First Photo Released of Charla Nash, Face-Transplant Recipient
Charla Nash, who lost her face and hands after being mauled by a friend’s 200-lb. pet chimpanzee two years ago, is recovering well from her face-transplant surgery in May. On Thursday, Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston …
Can Tanning Be “Addictive”? Not So Fast
We’ve all seen the headlines about sex, food and rock-and-roll “lighting up” the same brain regions as drugs. The latest? “Tanning Bed Users’ Brains Like Addicts’,” claims the UPI, citing a new study.
Study: People May Be Born Good (or Bad) at Math
If you struggled through high school algebra, you probably thought you simply weren’t born good at math. You might have been right, at least according to a new study by Johns Hopkins University psychologists that suggests that math ability is linked to your inborn “number sense.”
Why Pregnant Women in California Have High Levels of Toxic Chemicals
Unintended consequences are a pain. California has long had some of the strictest flammability regulations in the country for furniture and other household items. As a result, in the 1970s flame retardant chemicals called …
The Results Are In: First National Study of Teen Masturbation
Masturbation has long been considered a normal sexual behavior for children, and now the first nationally representative study of the practice finds — er, confirms — that teen boys, more so than girls, do it early and often.
MIT Scientists Develop a Drug to Fight Any Viral Infection
Scientists at MIT are developing a new drug that may fight viruses as effectively as antibiotics like penicillin dispatch bacteria. The broad-spectrum treatment is designed to trigger cell suicide in cells that have been invaded …
New York City Mandates Sex Ed Classes for Public School Kids
When New York City’s public school students return to classes this year, there will be a new addition to their curriculum: sex education classes that will include instruction on how to use a condom and strategies for resisting …
Q&A: Warren Jeffs’ Nephew Speaks Out on Verdict, Sexual Abuse
Warren Jeffs, the “prophet” of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), the nation’s largest polygamist Mormon sect, was sentenced on Tuesday to life in prison for the rape and sexual assault of two …
Spermless Mosquitoes: A New Way to Curb Malaria?
Scientists may be onto a new weapon against the spread of malaria, one that doesn’t require chemical repellents or bed nets: a genetically engineered sterile male mosquito.