Health & Medicine
- Health & Medicine
Blame brain cells for lack of focus
Denser tissue in a particular brain region may result in higher distractibility, a new study finds.
- Health & Medicine
Coronary bypass rates drop
Heart patients have been less likely to undergo the surgery since 2001, with many getting a less invasive procedure.
- Life
Sickle-cell may blunt, not stop, malaria
Once thought to keep parasite out of cells, the trait appears to diminish the severity of infection.
- Health & Medicine
Body & Brain
A genetic cause for small brains, heart links to HIV and calcium, and more in this week’s news.
- Health & Medicine
Armadillos may spread leprosy
A new strain of the disease has shown up in patients and in the animals in parts of the Deep South, suggesting a cause of rare U.S. cases.
- Life
Half-asleep rats look wide awake
In a discovery with ominous implications for sleep deprivation, researchers find that some brain regions can doze off while an animal remains active.
- Humans
Because some foods carry organophosphate residues
Three new papers link prenatal exposures to organophosphate (OP) pesticides with diminished IQs in children. Fruits and veggies are one continuing source of exposure to these bug killers. As to what we’re supposed to do with that knowledge — well, the Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy organization, offers some guidance.
- Chemistry
Pesticides tied to lower IQ in children
Chemicals once sprayed in homes — and still used on farms — were found to have significant effects in three studies.
- Health & Medicine
Flies on meth burn through sugar
Cellular effects may explain why addicts often have a sweet tooth.
- Health & Medicine
Mucus-related gene tied to lung disease
People with pulmonary fibrosis are much more likely to make excess amounts of a normally beneficial protein, a study finds.
- Health & Medicine
Experimental Biology 2011 conference
Even larvae can love the blues, plus distemper’s roots, fat-busting blueberries and more meeting news.
- Life
Gut bacteria come in three flavors
Everybody has one of a trio of types — and which one seems to be less important than how the bugs behave.
