Archive for the 'Health' Category
Blind, Yet Seeing: The Brain’s Subconscious Visual Sense
• April, 2009Blind, Yet Seeing: The Brain’s Subconscious Visual Sense By BENEDICT CAREY Published: December 22, 2008 BLINDSIGHT A patient whose visual lobes in the brain were destroyed was able to navigate an obstacle course and recognize fearful faces subconsciously. The man, a doctor left blind by two successive strokes, refused to take part in the experiment. He could not see anything, he said, and had no interest in navigating an obstacle course — a cluttered hallway — for the benefit of science. Why bother? When he…
Researchers find safer way to make stem cells
• April, 2009Researchers find safer way to make stem cells By Ben Hirschler Sun Mar 1, 2009 Researchers said on Sunday they had found a safer way to transform ordinary skin cells into powerful stem cells in a move that could eventually remove the need to use human embryos. It is the first time that scientists have turned skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells or iPS cells — which look and act like embryonic stem cells — without having to use viruses in the process. The…
Here’s the “AIRpod” car on… Air
• April, 2009Here’s the “AIRpod” car on… Air La Cinyc AIRPod is the culmination of MDI studies on pollution and urban mobility. This concept will be the first to leave the production line in spring 2009. MDI will respond to an invitation to tender of the city of Paris, “Autolib’”, and is already the subject of applications for various municipalities. With small size, a tiny price, zero pollution, fun and futuristic design, AIRPod mark a turning point in the range of urban vehicles while renewing the idea…
Tropical Forests Recover From Clear-Cutting
• March, 2009Tropical Forests Recover From Clear-Cutting Emily Sohn, Discovery News Deforestation is generally considered to be bad news, especially in the tropics. But there may be some hope: In many places, trees are growing back, according to new research, and some of the new forests are nearly as diverse as the old ones were. The work adds to a growing sense that tropical forests are more resilient than scientists previously thought and that second-growth forests are far from worthless.
HIV Mutates to Death With New Drug
• February, 2009HIV Mutates to Death With New Drug Eric Bland, Discovery News Feb 9 2009 HIV is notorious for its ability to mutate and evade drugs designed to destroy it. Now scientists are testing a new drug that actually speeds up that rate of change in the hope that the deadly virus will mutate itself to death. “The HIV virus is so dependent on mutation that it really lives on the edge of existence,” said John Reno, Chief Operating Officer for Koronis Pharmaceuticals, the company developing…
Coffee Could Fuel You, and Your Car
• February, 2009Coffee Could Fuel You, and Your Car Emily Sohn, Discovery News Coffee can do more than just fuel you through an afternoon slump. It might also power your car. That’s the idea behind a new study that turned used coffee grounds into biodiesel fuel. Coffee will probably never replace petroleum, but discarded cappuccino scraps might someday help reduce our impact on the environment, say the study’s authors. They imagine a day when the byproducts of your latte end up in the gas tank of your…
The Truth About Diet Soda
• January, 2009The Truth About Diet Soda 2008 Men’s Health. Posted Tue, Dec 23, 2008 The Truth About Diet Soda We talk a lot about ”watching what we eat,” but if you never gave a thought to what you ate and instead watched only what you drank, you could probably cut 450 calories a day out of your life. (Yes, nearly a pound of fat loss a week!) That’s what a study from the University of North Carolina found. Americans today drink about 192 gallons of liquid…
Coca Cola hits back over Fanta high pesticide level claims
• January, 2009Coca Cola hits back over Fanta high pesticide level claims By Aislinn Simpson Last Updated: 11:27AM GMT 05 Jan 2009 Soft drink manufacturer Coca Cola has hit back at claims that its Fanta range contains pesticides at up to 300 times the level found in bottled or tap water. The multinational said the “minuscule” amounts of the chemicals were well within accepted limits and the orange and lemon products were safe to drink. Researchers in Spain tested 102 cans and bottles of fizzy drink bought…
Docs Talk the Talk, But Do They Take Flu Shots?
• January, 2009Docs Talk the Talk, But Do They Take Flu Shots? By RADHA CHITALE ABC News Medical Unit Dec. 9, 2008 Some Doctors and Other Health Care Professionals Steer Clear of Flu Shots Every fall, the public is barraged by messages from doctors, nurses and other health care providers to get a flu vaccination to protect against the influenza virus. But the truth is, some doctors and nurses might talk the talk without walking the walk. According to the most recent data from the Centers for…
Truman Show Syndrome delusion: Sufferers convinced they are on reality TV
• December, 2008Truman Show Syndrome delusion: Sufferers convinced they are on reality TV By Tom Leonard in New York 25 Nov 2008 Psychiatric experts say they have identified a new 21st century form of delusion whose sufferers are convinced their lives are being played out as a reality television show. The self-exposure, instant fame culture peddled by reality shows, social networking internet sites such as Facebook and – above all – the home video-sharing website YouTube has provided a “perfect storm” for vulnerable people, encouraging them to…
Jacqui Smith’s Taser plan suffers blow
• December, 2008Jacqui Smith’s Taser plan suffers blow after Met Police Authority’s rejection From The Times November 25, 2008 The authority overseeing Britain’s largest police force warned that a government decision to allow Taser stun guns to be used by non-specialist firearms officers threatened to cause “fear” among the public. Jacqui Smith’s announcement that 10,000 of the weapons are to be supplied to 43 forces in England and Wales suffered an immediate blow when the Metropolitan Police Authority said it had no intention sanctioning their wider deployment…
Intelligent pill, ‘iPill’, gets good gut reaction
• November, 2008Intelligent pill, ‘iPill’, gets good gut reaction From The Times November 12, 2008 New YorkAn “intelligent pill” that can be targeted to release drugs in a specific area of the body has been developed by scientists. Containing a microprocessor, battery, wireless radio, pump and a reservoir for medication, the inch-long capsule is designed to treat digestive tract disorders such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.
Codex Designates GMOs as Contaminants in Food
• August, 2008Codex Designates GMOs as Contaminants in Food The latest Codex Alimentarius Commission meeting held in Geneva recently concluded with some interesting outcomes. Some long simmering acrimony has begun to surface as the U.S. continues to force the biased agendas of Big Pharma, Big Chema, Big Agra and the like forward without considering the input of many other countries. Typically if the U.S. does not want a country’s input, the host country simply denies their official delegates visas to the meeting. Several countries have recently objected…