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 […]

 
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 […]

 
 
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.
 

This is either the sweetest way to make $5,000 a month or the
worst punishment you could possibly inflict on your body
Need a break from the working, walking, and standing required by the demanding and stressful life you lead?
Well, pack your bags for Houston because NASA wants to pay you $17,000 to stay in bed for […]

 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. […]

Early Breast Cancer Treatment Has A New Face
If you have breast cancer or other breast disease, the sooner it’s found and treated the better. For a patient, the time between diagnostic test appointments and treatment intervention can seem interminable. This new MRI table and accompanying breast detection software not only take better pictures, but they […]

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.

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%.

 
 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 […]

 
Your brain machinery is clunky, only remembering 3-4 things at a time
Human memory is short. And we would do well to remember that, say researchers at the University of Missouri- Columbia. Their study on the storage capacity of the conscious mind or working memory, as reported by   LiveScience.com, caps the limit at a mere three […]

Engineers have demonstrated how to make microscale origami-like containers that could be used as drug delivery devices in the body. The hinged structures were created in polysilicon and are only 30 micrometers on a side. (One inch is 25,400 micrometers.)

The latest in olfactory help for allergy and pollen sufferers
Japanese hay fever suffers go to great lengths to stave off pollen and this is a less cumbersome and decidedly more fashionable option than the other ones used, called the Nose Mask Pit.

Testing the health benefits of eating chocolate. Oh the humanity!
Scientists in the UK are seeking 150 women to eat chocolate every day for a year in the cause of medical research.
The trial, at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, eastern England, will test whether a natural compound found in cocoa, the main ingredient of […]

The eye uses light to reset the biological clock

If you think that biological clock only reminds us to shut eye every 24 hours, you are wrong. A new study has found that it’s actually light which governs the sleeping patterns of people. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have carried out the study and discovered that […]

 
Manipulating fat cells will soon be the key to weight loss
Australian scientists may have discovered how to help people lose weight without cutting back on food, a breakthrough that could pave the way for fat-burning drugs.
Researchers in Melbourne found that by manipulating fat cells in mice they were able to speed up the animals’ metabolisms.

 
Brain pacemakers improve the rhythm of the brain
Two of the largest and longest studies so far show a “brain pacemaker” can effectively treat depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), researchers said.

 
 
Could “the curse” become the cure? It could happen, if Japanese scientists have their way. Experiments performed at the Keio University school of medicine have succeeded in growing sheets of heart muscle from connective tissue cells harvested from menstrual blood.
 

 New gauze material is infused with nanoparticles to quickly stop bleeding
Medical gauze has received its first upgrade since World War I. Chemists have infused it with nanoparticles derived from kaolin clay, which somehow give it an amazing ability to stop severe bleeding. It was developed when the Navy approached a team of inorganic chemists at […]

 
Geomagnetism is an influential force on humanity
Scientists believe that earth’s magnetic field may be responsible for suicidal behavior among people.
Oleg Shumilov of the Institute of North Industrial Ecology Problems in Russia studied earth’s geomagnetic field from 1948 to 1997 and found three seasonal peaks, from March to May, July and October. […]

Mobility impaired people now have another option, thanks to Honda
Honda will showcase an experimental model of a walking assist device which could support walking for the elderly and other citizens with weakened leg muscles, at the worldly Trade Fair on Barrier Free Equipments & Rehabilitation for the Elderly & the Disabled (BARRIER FREE 2008) which […]

 
 In a wide-ranging look at how children have fared in their first decade of life, a study to be released today offers a promising picture of American childhood: Sixth-graders feel safer at school. Reading and math scores are up for 9-year-olds. More preschoolers are vaccinated. Fewer are poisoned by lead. 

 
 
According to estimates there are 85,000 Alzheimer patients in our country and approximately 20,000 new cases every year. This spectacular increase is due to the increasing ageing population. Unfortunately it is still unclear precisely which ageing process forms the basis of this spectacular rise in the occurrence of the disease. VIB scientists affiliated to K.U.Leuven […]

 
The US Military believes that humans will someday be able to regrow their limbs much like reptiles
The Department of Defense has announced the creation of the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine to ‘harness stem cell research and technology… to reconstruct new skin, muscles and tendons, and even ears, noses and fingers.’ The government is […]

A hypnotist stunned medics by snubbing anaesthetic and sending himself into a trance before undergoing surgery.
Mind-bender Alex Lenkei, who could hear the cracking of bones as the surgeon sawed at his hand but felt nothing, is thought to be the first person in the world to perform the feat.