Health
The YouTube Cure: How Social Media Shapes Medical Practice
Popular demand for an unproved surgical treatment for multiple sclerosis shows the growing power of social media to shape medical practice—for good and ill
Stories by Katie Moisse
Health
Control Group: Patients Take Biomedical Research into Their Own Hands
The Information Age has patients tuned in and geared up to try alternative and off-label therapies on their own terms, forcing doctors and scientists to change the game
Evolution
Back in style: An ancient shoe from 3500 B.C. looks like moccasins worn in the 1950s
Talk about vintage footwear—an international team of archaeologists has discovered the world's oldest leather shoe. One thousand years older than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, the 5,500-year-old shoe was perfectly preserved by the cool, dry conditions in the sheep dung–lined cave in Armenia where it was found."We thought initially that the shoe and other objects were about 600 to 700 years old because they were in such good condition," Ron Pinhasi said in a prepared statement...
Health
Plastic Fantastic: Synthetic Antibodies Recognize and Remove Toxins in Mice
A sting from a tiny bee triggers a long chain of events. In addition to promoting inflammation and inhibiting coagulation, the molecular hodge-podge that is bee venom can actually cause cells to split open...
Silent but Not Deadly: Muting Gene Quashes Ebola Infection
A proof of concept treatment using RNA interference protects monkeys against the deadly virus, even after exposure
Health
The 2010 Kavli Prizes honors eight scientists in astrophysics, nanotech and neuroscience
Eight scientists will share three million-dollar Kavli Prizes for their contributions in the fields of astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience. The announcement was made today in Oslo, Norway, by Nils Christian Stenseth, president of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, and broadcast live at the opening of the World Science Festival in New York City...
A Batty Hypothesis on the Origins of Neurodegenerative Disease Resurfaces
A study suggests bacteria-eating fish in the Baltic Sea might expose humans to dangerous levels of a neurotoxin, but scientists argue over the significance of the finding
Health
Are the Rules That Determine Who Can Donate Blood Outdated?
Policies that ban men who have sex with men from donating blood no longer make sense, researchers say
Public Health
"Google Flu Trends" Found to Be Nearly on Par with CDC Surveillance Data
Searching for flu symptoms online is a reasonable proxy for actually having them
Health
Working overtime: Good for the wallet, but bad for the heart
Working overtime increases your risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), according to a report published May 12 in the European Heart Journal .
Using data from a study called Whitehall II, which followed 6,014 British civil servants for an average of 11 years between 1991 and 2004, researchers examined the risk of CHD in people who did not work overtime compared to their workaholic office-mates...
Health
Childhood Obesity Shows Signs of Tapering, but It Remains a Public Health Problem
Defining obesity in children and recalibrating the caloric needs of overweight kids are key steps in shrinking the epidemic, researchers say
Health
A medical classic gets a 21st-century makeover, going online and low-cost
The Oxford University Press has launched an online version of the Oxford Textbook of Medicine, complete with all the text, figures and illustrations that make up the three-volume, 6,000-page, 25-pound print behemoth...
Mind
Almost winning is just as exciting for problem gamblers
Oh, so close. Just one more try.
It's hard to understand what keeps problem gamblers betting after a long losing streak. But a new study published May 5 in The Journal of Neuroscience suggests their brains' reward centers, part of the dopamine system (so-called because the neurons release the neurotransmitter dopamine), react the same way to a "near miss" as they would to a win...
Health
Rare Mutation That Causes Mirror Movements Reflects Nervous System's Complexity
The genetic cause of mirror movements reveals how the nervous system is wired during development
Biomarker Studies Could Realize Goal of More Effective and Personalized Cancer Medicine
Finding individual differences in tumors is key to treating the right patient with the right medicine at the right time, researchers say
Mind
Good teachers really do make a difference
Twin studies have shown that genetic factors can account for as much as 82 percent of the variability in children's reading skills. But while genes might set the bar for reading potential, a new study published April 23 in Science shows that teachers play a leading role in helping kids reach it...
Health
MS treatment has patients seeking surgery--but more testing is needed
TORONTO—Like electrical wires, neurons are insulated. But in multiple sclerosis (MS), the insulation (called myelin) is stripped or worn down, slowing conduction along the axons—the wires of the nervous system...
Does Stress Feed Cancer?
A new study shows stress hormones make it easier for malignant tumors to grow and spread
Health
Counterintuitive Cure: A Nanovaccine That Stops Autoimmune Disease by Boosting the Immune System
A new treatment prevents type 1 diabetes in mice by turning the immune system on itself
The Sciences
A Tale of 2 Species: What Do Canine Chromosomes Reveal about Humans?
They say dogs look like their owners. Now scientists are uncovering the genes that give dogs--and humans--their traits
