Health & Medicine
- Microbes
The year in microbiomes
This year, scientists pegged microbes as important players in several aspects of human health, including obesity and cancer.
- Health & Medicine
Eating only low glycemic index foods may not help the heart
Eating healthy carbs with high glycemic index scores is not bad for your heart, a new study suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Electric detection of lung cancer
In 1964, researchers hoped to improve lung cancer diagnosis by measuring the skin’s electrical resistance.
- Health & Medicine
Old product might help smokers quit
A drug used in Eastern Europe for decades by people trying to quit smoking outperformed a nicotine patch in a six-month test.
- Life
Fast test reveals drug-resistant bacteria
A new test uses time-lapse photography to see within a few hours whether individual bacterial cells are vulnerable to antibiotics.
- Health & Medicine
Year in review: Risks of e-cigarettes emerge
Electronic cigarettes dispense water vapor laced with flavors and often a hefty dose of nicotine. These vapors may be far from benign, studies in 2014 suggested.
- Neuroscience
Year in review: Young blood aids old brains
Ingredients in young blood can rejuvenate old mice’s bodies and brains, scientists reported in 2014.
- Health & Medicine
Year in review: Gut reacts to artificial sweeteners
Saccharin messes with the body’s ability to metabolize fuel, a condition that often precedes diabetes, obesity and other metabolic problems.
- Health & Medicine
Gene variant linked to robust flu vaccine response
Targeting an immune signaling protein called interleukin-28B might boost protection generated by flu shots.
- Genetics
Early heart attack tied to rare mutations in two genes
Rare mutations in two genes greatly increase the risk of having a heart attack early in life, a study shows.
- Health & Medicine
Hallucinated voices’ attitudes vary with culture
Culture puts good or bad spin on voices heard by people with schizophrenia.
- Life
Imprisoning parasites can deter malaria’s spread
Disabling a protein traps malaria-causing parasites within red blood cells and prevents the organisms from reproducing.
