Health & Medicine
- Health & Medicine
Yummy Bugs
Do you enjoy chocolate? You can make it more nutritious by bugging it—with crickets, for example. Or how about ant-fortified tacos? This site introduces Westerners to the idea that many commonly encountered insects are edible. Indeed, most are lower in fat—and higher in protein—than beef, lamb, pork, or chicken. The site’s author argues that “insects […]
By Science News - Health & Medicine
Diminishing Obesity’s Risks
Mouse data suggest that, properly managed, obesity can be benign.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Shields Down: A cancer-fighting gene declines in old age
Decline of an important anti-cancer gene could contribute to increased cancer risk among the elderly.
- Health & Medicine
Fueling a Flu Debate: Do vaccinations save lives among the elderly?
Flu shots seem to prevent some deaths and limit hospitalizations for pneumonia in elderly people.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Lonely white cells
In chronically lonely people, white blood cells show abnormal gene activity that may affect health through immune responses.
By Brian Vastag - Health & Medicine
Lack of Evidence: Vaccine additive not linked to developmental problems
Thimerosal, a mercury-containing vaccine preservative, shows no signs of causing memory, attention or other problems in children.
By Brian Vastag - Health & Medicine
Keep Out: Treated mosquito nets limit child deaths
Mosquito nets treated with insecticides decrease death rates among children in Kenya's malarial zones.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Distracted? Tea might help your focus
An amino acid in tea combines with the brew's caffeine to enliven brain cells that aid concentration.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Tea compound aids dying brain cells
A constituent of green tea rescues brain cells damaged in a way that mimics the effect of Parkinson's disease.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Malaria’s sweet spot
The malaria parasite's reliance on a sugar in the gut of mosquitoes may offer a way to block the disease's transmission.
- Health & Medicine
Exhaust fumes might threaten people’s hearts
Nanoparticles in diesel fumes thwart proteins that dissolve blood clots, perhaps increasing the risk of heart attacks.
- Health & Medicine
Fattening Carbs—Some Promote Obesity and Worse
Easily digestible carbohydrates induce obesity and liver disease in a test on rodents.
By Janet Raloff