Malcom Gladwell makes it sound so easy. Need a burst of insight or inspiration? Just blink and the truth will reveal itself to you.
Body & Mind
Your Latest Health Care Provider: A Plant
You’ve got a lot on your mind when you’re sitting in your doctor’s waiting room — how crummy you may be feeling, how much your blasted co-pay will be, how long you’ll have to wait before somebody actually sees you. You’re …
Placebos Work Even if You Know They’re Fake: But How?
Physicians have long believed that some form of deception is essential to the placebo effect: after all, if you tell people that you’re giving them a fake drug, why would they respond by getting better?
Explaining Why Meditators May Live Longer
(Updated) The image of the ancient but youthful-looking sage meditating on a mountaintop might be closer to reality than you think, according to a new study that found that after a three-month stay at a meditation retreat, people …
Be Honest. Does this Study Make My Butt Look Big?
Are you sitting down? A British researcher has proposed a new form of reflexology — one based on the notion that the sensations of the body are mapped onto the buttocks, just as they are in the brain, where they can more …
Is a Wandering Mind an Unhappy One?
When your teacher told you to stop daydreaming and pay attention, she might actually have helped improve your mood as well as your school performance — if the findings of a new study on mind wandering are anything to go by.
Study: Why Deafness May Improve Vision
Scientists have long known that deaf or blind people have heightened senses outside of their impairment. But what hasn’t been clear is how the mechanics of a compensating sense work.
Spend Too Much For Those Shoes? Blame Your Genes
Science has yet to isolate the Godiva Chocolate or Prada gene, but that doesn’t mean your weakness for pricey swag isn’t woven into your DNA. According to a new study of identical twins, it’s less TV ads or Labor Day sales that …
Understanding the Frightened Mind
When you’re scared, do you find yourself frozen stiff or trying to escape?
Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and GlaxoSmithKline say they’ve uncovered the neural switch that regulates between an active or …
Surgeons nip and tuck — but cosmetic procedures won’t shatter body-image delusions
People who fret over slight or imagined physical defects may seek out cosmetic procedures to fix them. But those ‘fixes’ can rarely cure a case of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), according to a study released today in the Annals of Plastic Surgery.
Previous research, according to the study, shows that some 7%-8% of U.S. …
FDA: obesity drug works, but safety concerns remain
A potential new obesity drug appears effective at helping patients lose weight, according to a report released today by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but concerns remain about side effects — which could include depression, anxiety, impact on heart rate and risks for pregnant women. The document was released in advance of a
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Which comes first, inactivity or childhood obesity?
New research highlighted by the BBC and published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood suggests that the common understanding of the relationship between physical activity and childhood obesity may possibly present things in the wrong order. That is, while it’s a widely held belief — and premise of the First Lady’s Let’s Move
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Obesity rises in 28 states, remains highest in the South
In January of this year, public health officials applauded the fact that, after steadily rising for more than three decades, obesity levels in the U.S. finally appeared to be leveling off. And while holding steady with a third of the adult population obese and more than two thirds overweight hardly had health professionals jumping for
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