Anthrax, small pox and giant viruses – Russian scientists are warning of a host of threats that could be unleashed on the world as global warming melts the frozen far north of the country. A recent anthrax outbreak on the Yamal peninsula left a child dead, 23 people infected and the government scrambling to deploy hundreds of rescue workers and soldiers to stop any further spread. The most likely source of the epidemic was "burial sites for animals that died of anthrax 70 years ago", according to Boris Kershengoltz...

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Submitted on August 12th 2016 by everlost with 4 comments

Today, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced their intention to grant licenses to additional marijuana growers for research, thereby ending the DEA-imposed 48-year monopoly on federally legal marijuana. Since 1968, the University of Mississippi, under contract to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), has maintained the only facility in the United States with federal permission to grow marijuana for research.

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Submitted on August 14th 2016 by kxh with 1 comments

During the Depression, cheap, nutritious and filling food was prioritized — often at the expense of taste. Jane Ziegelman and Andy Coe, authors of A Square Meal, discuss food trends of the time.

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Submitted on August 15th 2016 by rti9 with 3 comments

Children use their sense of time to guess when the school bell will ring, when to pause while chatting with a friend, and how long it typically takes Dad to buy groceries. A good sense of time makes life less unpredictable, and may also smooth out some social interactions. Most children get better at estimating time as they grow. They learn by averaging their experiences — for instance, previous trips to a supermarket or conversational pauses. Some children have an innate sense of time and rely less on this imprecise averaging tactic.

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Submitted on August 12th 2016 by everlost

Drinking water supplies serving more than six million Americans contain unsafe levels of a widely used class of industrial chemicals linked to potentially serious health problems, according to a new study from Harvard University researchers. The chemicals — known as polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFASs — have been used for decades in a range of industrial and commercial products, including non-stick coatings on pans, food wrappers, water-repellent clothing and firefighting foam. Long-term exposure has been linked to increased risks of kidney cancer...

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Submitted on August 9th 2016 by geoleo

Brain scan study reveals hodgepodge effects of sleep deprivation.

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Submitted on August 14th 2016 by NotWearingPants

Melbourne researchers say they have successfully grown and implanted cornea cells to cure blindness. The cells were grown on a layer of synthetic film and transplanted into the eyes of animals, restoring vision. Researchers are now preparing for human trials. The technique, developed by researchers at Melbourne University and the Centre for Eye Research, could replace transplants of donated cornea.

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Submitted on August 16th 2016 by 8mm

A gene therapy will be offered for sale in Europe with a money-back guarantee, according to GlaxoSmithKline, the company commercializing it. The treatment, called Strimvelis, is the first outright cure for a rare disorder to emerge from gene therapy, and its price tag of 594,000 euros ($665,000), announced last week, makes it one of the most expensive one-time treatments ever sold by a drug firm. Now, we’ve learned, it’s also the first genetic fix to come with a warranty.

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Submitted on August 9th 2016 by drunkenninja

In Laredo, Texas, paramedics help everyone and don’t ask questions. By Abe Streep.

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Submitted on August 10th 2016 by AdelleChattre

A bed which will rock you to sleep and claims to also improve the quality of your slumbers is being developed by the Sensory-Motor Systems Lab at ETH Zurich. The Somnomat uses specially designed motors which produce smooth movements without making too much noise.

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Submitted on August 10th 2016 by junglman

Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi has been cleared of cancer after revealing he is finally in remission. The 68-year-old, who was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer in 2012, revealed the good news during a plaque-unveiling at Spire Parkway Hospital's Specialist Care Centre in Solihull, where he'd been receiving treatment. "I am in remission and hopefully, this situation will continue," he shared.

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Submitted on August 15th 2016 by dianep

“Applied behavioral analysis” teaches social skills through unrelenting drills—which some say forces people on the spectrum to hide who they are.

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Submitted on August 12th 2016 by gladsdotter

When an experienced physician became convinced he had ALS, none of the specialists he consulted could persuade him he was perfectly healthy. By Mert Erogul.

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Submitted on August 10th 2016 by AdelleChattre

French teens smoke at a much higher rate than their American counterparts. The French health minister is trying to remove the glamour and raise the price.

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Submitted on August 15th 2016 by rti9

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Submitted on August 14th 2016 by Appaloosa with 2 comments

Carbs are pinned to be the villains in many diets, but those poor guys are just misunderstood.

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Submitted on August 15th 2016 by rti9

In India, kidney trafficking is big business. This week, the police arrested five top doctors from Mumbai’s elite Dr L H Hiranandani Hospital, including its CEO and medical director, for their alleged involvement in a sophisticated organ-harvesting racket that extracted kidneys from poor villagers. Acting on a tip-off from a worker at the hospital, the police first uncovered the racket in July after busting a suspicious transplant surgery wherein a woman was to donate her kidney to her husband. It was found that the woman was a poor villager from the state of Gujarat, with no relation to the man.

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Submitted on August 15th 2016 by baron778

What does the 4 billion dollar a year blockbuster Alzheimer's drug donepezil have in common with insecticides, chemical weapons and venom?

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Submitted on August 15th 2016 by tranxene

It is helpful to understand that anger is contextual and social. When anger fails to fill a constructive framework, however, it can morph into undesirable expressions of the emotion, anger experts say. Anger externalized can turn into violence and aggression; anger internalized can cause depression, health problems and communication difficulties, they note.

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Submitted on August 15th 2016 by tranxene

Age is just a number, and aging depends on the body doing it.

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Submitted on August 12th 2016 by gladsdotter