Fabulous Fat: Lipid-Based Nutrient Supplements Combat Malnutrition
Malnutrition affects hundreds of millions of children around the world. Scientists think lipid-based nutrient supplements might help.
Read MoreTag: health
Ongoing Human Evolution Revealed in Data
A research team at Columbia University has conducted a large-scale study of ongoing human evolution. Genetic data reveals how humans are evolving. By Kate Stone When I was about nine years old, a young schoolmate demanded to know, “If evolution is real, then why isn’t it happening now?” Being nine and not a biologist, I wasn’t prepared to answer this question. And yet, it was a question that I’ve heard echoes of in the years to follow. Now, a research team at Columbia University has conducted a large-scale study of…
Read More
How and Why Do Brain Cells Die?
Sometimes our brain cells die, and researchers want to know why. Johns Hopkins University researchers may have found the answer.
Read More
Pathogenic Triggers of Bacterial DNA Discovered
By Shayna Keyles @shaynakeyles Bacteria, those mysterious, microscopic creatures living in, on, and around us, are very often our benign neighbors with whom we quietly cohabitate and occasionally exchange mutual support. However, as anyone who has ever gotten pneumonia or strep throat knows, bacteria are not always looking out for our best interests. Occasionally, bacteria become pathogenic and infect their hosts, and if we are their hosts, we get sick. In a groundbreaking study published on July 29 in Science Access, researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory uncovered the molecular…
Read More
Why Do Women Outlive Men?
Multiple studies have shown that, on the whole, women outlive men. Have you ever wondered where this information comes from and if it is true?
Read More
Marshall Islands Radiation Still Too High Decades Later
By Emily Rhode @riseandsci In the years immediately following the end of World War II, the United States government conducted large-scale testing of nuclear weapons on a small group of islands in the remote Pacific Ocean. On March 1, 1954, the largest nuclear device ever tested by the United States was detonated at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Castle Bravo, as the bomb was known, created a mushroom cloud of radiation almost four and one-half miles wide. This was more than 1,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on…
Read More![Dichroa febrifuga, a medicinal herb that has been historically used to treat fever, is named for its active ingredient, febrifugine. By Keith Edkins (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons](https://magazine.scienceconnected.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Dichroa_febrifuga_Glasgow-e1463012377212.jpg)
Malaria Drugs: Herb Garden to Medicine Cabinet
Malaria kills 1 million people each year, most of whom are children in sub-Saharan Africa. Turning to nature for new malaria drugs. By Bill Sullivan, PhD We live on a lush planet filled with over 290,000 species of plants. Herbs are a particular type of plant that lack a wooden stem, and humans have often sampled them in hopes of finding a new food or flavoring. Sometimes ingestion of an herb produces unwanted effects, such as death. But other herbs have medicinal qualities, such as the alleviation of fever. An…
Read More
Sleepless, Lying Awake in Your Hotel? This Might Be Why
A study shows that the left brain hemisphere is more wakeful than normal when sleeping in a new place for the first time, leaving exhausted travelers lying awake in hotels rooms around the world. The fact that many people sleep poorly during the first night in a new environment – such as a hotel room – is a well-known phenomenon. Now, results from a new study in Current Biology by Brown University researchers could point to why this is the case. We talked to the study’s lead author, Masako Tamaki, to find out why one…
Read More
Does Air Pollution Raise Your Risk of Obesity?
By Kate Stone It is generally understood that breathing polluted air can damage our lungs. However, a new study recently found that lab rats that breathed Beijing’s highly polluted air for eight weeks not only developed breathing problems, but also gained weight. The researchers warn that air pollution exposure can contribute to metabolic dysfunction and obesity. About the Study: Air Pollution and Obesity In a study led by Duke University, with the support of the Chinese government, scientists tested the health impact of Beijing’s polluted air. They placed pregnant rats and…
Read More
Small Metal Stove Grate Makes Big Impact
An inexpensive metal stove grate insert for primitive cookstoves, created by a University of Iowa research team, may decrease global warming and potentially save many lives. By Kate Stone The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 2.7 billion people worldwide still rely on wood fires to cook their food, and more than 4 million die each year from illnesses connected to household air pollution caused by that method of cooking. The insert decreases wood consumption by about 60 percent, and further testing conducted in a national lab in India found…
Read More