Category: Health

If humans disappear, what will Earth look like a year from now? – Essie, 11, Michigan Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if everyone suddenly disappeared? What will happen to all our stuff? What will happen to our houses, our schools, our neighborhoods, our cities? Who will feed the dog? Who...

The first time I ate Greek yogurt, I thought it didn’t look like a diet food at all. It was a day in May and I had paired it with a strawberry on a hot early summer afternoon. It was one of my first trials of a “diet regime” and I remember thinking that the...

Summary: Adolescent stress alters brain functions, influencing postnatal social behavior in mammals. The study used optogenetics and calcium imaging techniques to understand neural communication in mice that experienced psychosocial stress during adolescence. This stress, combined with pregnancy and childbirth, has been found to affect the function of the glutamatergic pathway, leading to changes in social...

A new study conducted in 42 countries suggests that almost 5% of people may be at high risk of experiencing compulsive sexual behavior disorder (CSBD). However, only 14% of them ever sought treatment for this behavior, according to the study, which was recently published in Journal of Behavioral Addictions. CSBD (sometimes also called sex addiction...

Three elderly men diagnosed with the previously irreversible heart disease transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis experienced an unprecedented spontaneous recovery confirmed by medical scans, leading researchers at UCL and the Royal Free Hospital to identify a unique immune response targeting amyloid in these patients. This breakthrough raises the potential for new treatments and the possibility of using...

ATLANTA — Women with the common heart rhythm disorder atrial fibrillation (AFib) have three times the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, new research reveals. Furthermore, cognitive decline tends to progress about twice as fast in these women compared to men diagnosed with the same disorder. “Symptoms of atrial fibrillation in women are often overlooked by...

Summary: Researchers have created technology that allows them to probe and control neural circuits between the gut and the brain, demonstrating their ability to influence satiety or reward-seeking behavior in mice. The interface uses flexible fibers embedded with sensors, temperature sensors and light sources for optogenetic stimulation. The goal is to use this technology to...

Summary: Researchers have identified a small structure in the brain, the anterior precuneus, or aPCu, as a crucial component in establishing our physical self, or “me.” The APCu is part of a network of brain areas that integrate information about our location, movement and bodily sensations to form our self-awareness. When electrical activity in the...

Using insect repellent and covering up can help protect against mosquito bites Mosquitoes that carry viruses such as dengue and chikungunya have moved into new parts of Europe, increasing the risk of disease, leading experts have warned. European scientists say more frequent heat waves and floods, as well as longer, warmer summers, have created more...

We use letters every day of our lives, but apparently there is one small letter that we don’t recognize. Psychologists at Johns Hopkins University have found that most people don’t know that there are two types of lowercase g. One of these is the open tail ‘g’, which most of us would handwrite with an...