Health & Medicine

  1. 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
  2. Health & Medicine

    Diminishing Obesity’s Risks

    Mouse data suggest that, properly managed, obesity can be benign.

    By
  3. 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.

    By
  4. 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
  5. Health & Medicine

    Lonely white cells

    In chronically lonely people, white blood cells show abnormal gene activity that may affect health through immune responses.

    By
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. 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
  9. 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
  10. 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.

    By
  11. 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.

    By
  12. Health & Medicine

    Fattening Carbs—Some Promote Obesity and Worse

    Easily digestible carbohydrates induce obesity and liver disease in a test on rodents.

    By