Health & Medicine

  1. Health & Medicine

    ‘Wave of death’ may not be a last gasp

    A minute after decapitation, a rat's severed head shows signs of life.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Body & Brain

    The brain sleeps in shifts, plus thinking better with folate, how brains feel the beat and more in this week's news.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    Something in the air may cause lung damage in troops

    Unexplained breathing problems in soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan come from deposits that damage tiny passages in the lungs.

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  4. Humans

    Mirror system gets an assist

    Study finds two brain systems are surprisingly active when an amputee observes a task she can’t perform.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Residents of the brain

    It's a zoo in there: Scientists turn up startling diversity among neurons.

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  6. Math

    Varying efficacy of HIV drug cocktails explained

    Steepness of slope in dose-response curve tips off researchers to importance of timing in virus’s life cycle.

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  7. Humans

    Young minds at risk from secondhand smoke

    Children exposed to secondhand smoke at home are at least twice as likely to develop a neurobehavioral disorder as are kids in smokefree homes, a new study finds. And roughly 6 percent of U.S. children — some 4.8 million — encounter smoke at home.

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  8. Humans

    Metal water bottles may leach BPA

    Consumers who switched from polycarbonate-plastic water bottles to metal ones in hopes of avoiding the risk that bisphenol A will leach into their beverages aren’t necessarily any better off, a new study finds. Some metal water bottles leach even more BPA — an estrogen-mimicking pollutant — than do ones made from the now-pariah plastic.

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  9. Chemistry

    Fats stimulate binge eating

    Much like marijuana, fatty foods can spur overeating, a study in rats shows. The new finding also suggests possible therapies to combat the munchies.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Body & Brain

    A good massage can help, plus bed nets for babies, sugar counteracts fish and more in this week's news.

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  11. Life

    Environment blamed for autism

    A new study of twins downplays the role of genes in determining who will get autism.

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  12. Life

    Prion protein is not all bad

    The molecule’s real job may be to maintain myelin around nerves.

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