This weeks special on designer babies includes the no-cry feature,
along with the pick-up-after-yourself gene, and extra tan skin
News that scientists have for the first time genetically altered a human embryo is drawing fire from some watchdog groups that say it’s a step toward creating “designer babies”. But an author of the study says the work […]

Judging body language, a key to most relationships, is missing online
An April 2008 Harris Interactive survey conducted on behalf of WooMe identified some problems with online dating and making a first impression on the Internet.
More than 70% of the single US online adults surveyed said flirting online was more difficult than in person.

 
Space vegies such as this could solve world hunger, or just create more leftovers
Scientists have said that vegetables grown in zero-gravity conditions in space can grow to huge sizes, which could help solve the world’s food crisis.
According to a report in the Telegraph , it is thought that the near zero gravity conditions in space result […]

 
Apparently baby have a way of sucking the arthritis out of their moms
Breastfeeding has unplanned benefits like protecting nursing mothers from rheumatoid arthritis, according to a new study.
The study found that women who had breastfed for 13 months or more were half as likely to get rheumatoid arthritis as those who had never breastfed. Those […]

Drawing on a background that ranges from experience as an aerospace technician to a stint in research and development on the Williams F1 team, Marcus Cunnington has designed and built the 6.3kg (around 13.9 pounds) Free Spirit - a carbon fiber composite design that claims the mantle of the world’s lightest manual rigid wheelchair.

 
 
Cigarette vending machines in Japan may soon start counting wrinkles, crow’s feet and skin sags to see if the customer is old enough to smoke.
 

 Drugs and alcohol are becoming a growing part of teenager sex lives
More and more teenagers in Europe are turning to alcohol and drugs to improve their sex lives, a new study has revealed.
Researchers questioned 1,341 young people in nine cities across Europe - a third of men aged 16 to 35 and a quarter of […]

The University of Toronto in Canada has developed a pair of robotic grippers that can apply as little of 20 nanoNewtons of force on an object, using its three-millimeters-long arms to grab cells 10 micrometers across and transport them. What’s more, the gripper has sensors that allow it to know how hard it’s grabbing something […]

The Endocannabinoid System is a physiological system that blocks hunger similar to smoking tobacco
A drug from a new class of weight-loss treatments disrupted wiring needed for brain development in young mice, American researchers said, raising concerns about using such medications in children.
Mark Bear and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology studied the effects […]

 The country of Yemen is experiencing a huge coastal outbreak of the evil screw worm
Screw worm females go after bare flesh, laying 250-300 eggs in a host. When you feel that itch, whatever you do, don’t scratch it. The reason why they’re called screw worms is that the maggots will only burrow deeper, causing tissue […]

 Nanomedical start-ups generate 77% of returns but get only 27% of investment
Venture capital (VC) firms invested $702 million in nanotechnology start-ups last year across 61 deals, slightly down from $738 million across 73 deals in 2006. But this VC spending is sharply out of sync with investment returns. Although application-oriented life-sciences companies […]

 Segmented “nanoworms” composed of magnetic iron oxide and
coated with a polymer are able to find and attach to tumors.
Scientists at UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and MIT have developed nanometer-sized “nanoworms” that can cruise through the bloodstream without significant interference from the body’s immune defense system and—like tiny anti-cancer missiles—home in on tumors.

Anthropometry is the study of the dimensions of the human body
Having short arms and legs may raise a person’s risk of developing memory problems later in life, US researchers said on Monday.
They said women with the shortest arm spans were 50% more likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease than women with longer arm spans. […]

 
What is it worth to you to have shoes that anticipate your pressure points?
While some people think its crazy to spend more than about $35 on a pair of shoes, I’ve come to think of may feet as the ultimate interface with the world. So, if you are into cutting edge sneakers and the whole […]

Traditional DNA testing takes a full day to complete
A University of Virginia forensic chemist has developed a method for handling rape evidence that reduces part of the DNA analysis time from 24 hours to as little as 30 to 45 minutes.
The method also improves the sperm cell recovery rate by 100 percent.

 A rift in a relationship can be very emotional.  This researcher
says it ain’t so bad.  We think he’s a crackpot
Breaking up is hard to do, but not as hard as we think.
New research suggests we overestimate the heart-crushing blow from a romantic split, and some of us make particularly inaccurate forecasts.

Automatic Baby Bottom Cleaner
Have you ever seen a kid so dirty you wish you could just tie him up to a tree and spray him down? Or a diaper so messy you just want to grab the kid and repeatedly dipping him into a warm tub filled with soapy water? Unfortunately, the modern tub is […]

DaVinci’s drawings of the brain didn’t quite capture how stupid we get when we get older
Decaying brains, or the fear thereof, have inspired a mini-industry of brain health products — not just supplements like coenzyme Q10, ginseng and bacopa, but computer-based fitter-brain products as well.

For days when being the hamster is not such a bad option
Developed by both Steelcase, a furniture manufacturer, and James Levine from the Mayo clinic, this treadmill desk allows you to game, work or just look at funny pictures on the internet and “work out” at the same time. The functions should be pretty obvious […]

Some diets are beautiful.  Others just kill you… literally
Crash dieting doesn’t reduce your waistline alone; it significantly reduces your life expectancy too.
Researchers at Glasgow University observed that fish given a “binge then diet” food regime had a reduced lifespan of up to 25%.

Vitamins always work better when they get shot straight into your bloodstream
Hard-working people suffer daily from exhaustion, insomnia, backaches and other minor ailments. Perhaps all they need is a dose of preventive medicine in the form of vitamins and other nutritional supplements.
On April 1, a private service, called Tenteki10, opened in Ebisu Garden Place, to […]

 
 Pots smokers around the world can breath, cough! hack!, a sigh of relief
The largest study of its kind has unexpectedly concluded that smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung cancer.
The new findings “were against our expectations,” said Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles, a pulmonologist who has […]

Sometimes you may just want a few bites of an apple, but you feel compelled to stuff down the whole thing since otherwise you’d just have to throw it away.

Breastfeeding has become a popular sport among newborns
About 77 percent of new mothers breast-feed their infants at least briefly, the highest rate seen in the United States in more than a decade, according to a government survey released on Wednesday. In 1993 and 1994, just 60 percent of new mothers breast-fed their babies, but […]

Approx 23% of the population shares their prescription drugs
In one-on-one interviews with 700 Americans, roughly 23 percent reported loaning their prescription medications to someone else, and 27 percent reported borrowing prescription medications.