Health & Medicine

Humans

Pet tarantulas can pose a hairy threat

A new medical case report reaffirms why even largely non-venomous tarantulas can make questionable pets. Some respond to stress by expelling a cloud of barbed hairs that can lodge in especially vulnerable tissues. Like your eyeball.

Health & Medicine

Texting and driving don’t mix, just as suspected

Sending or receiving messages proves even worse than cell phone calls for young adults on simulators.

Life

Lupus not identical in twins

Differences in DNA methylation may account for why one sibling gets the autoimmune disease while the other stays healthy.

Health & Medicine

2009 Science News of the Year: Nutrition

Natural vanilla extract comes from pods (shown), but most vanillin is synthesized in the lab. Credit: De-Kay/istockphoto That yeast smells good Yeast has long been pressed into service for making beer and bread. Now the fungus has been tapped for a loftier flavor: vanillin, vanilla’s dominant compound (SN: 5/23/09, p. 9). Natural vanilla comes from […]

Health & Medicine

2009 Science News of the Year: Body & Brain

Numbers of passengers arriving from Mexico in March and April 2008 show which cities would have been most vulnerable to H1N1 transmission. Credit : The New England Journal of Medicine ©2009 H1N1 strikes and spreads Like the years 1957 and 1968, 2009 will be known as a pandemic flu year. The springtime eruption of a […]

Health & Medicine

Darker liquor, never sicker

People report feeling worse the next morning after drinking bourbon than after drinking vodka.

Health & Medicine

When body meets H1N1 flu

Two studies map interactions between virus and human cells; one study reveals natural flu fighters.

Health & Medicine

Gene variant may help against emphysema, asthma

Uncommon version seems to lessen risk of lung disease in smokers.

Health & Medicine

Mom and Dad not equally to blame for some bad genes

Common genetic variants may have different effects on disease depending which parent passes along the trait.

Health & Medicine

Nearsightedness increasing in the United States

A new study suggests that myopia has increased by more than 60 percent since the 1970s.

Health & Medicine

New material could support stem cell development

A ’smart’ gel could help coax stem cells to develop into heart cells.

Life

Model for powerful flu fighters from existing drugs

Computer screening mines inventory of existing drugs to find possible new drugs that the H1N1 and H5N1 flu viruses just wouldn’t be able to resist.