Why Children Choose the Snacks They Do
Attitudes, relationships, intentions and personal behavior control are all factors which influence whether children reach for junk food rather than opting for healthy snacks, such as fruit and vegetables. A University of Cincinnati study finds intentions are a major factor behind a child’s snack choices. This is driven by several variables, such as the child’s […]
Brain Blood Flow Changes Could Trigger Brain Freeze, Migraines
You’ve got a delicious ice cream cone in your hand and you can’t wait to taste it. You quickly take a big bite out of the frozen treat when – BANG – you get this incredibly intense shooting pain in your head. Some call it an ice cream headache or brain freeze. Although it can […]
Running Down Body’s Internal Clock Can Make You Sick
Our internal body clock may play a role in determining whether we get sick or not, according to a recent study from Yale University. Any disruption to our body’s 24-hour clock, such as not having enough sleep, can cause it to run down, leaving us susceptible to infection and illness. Our internal circadian clock is […]
Science Scanner: Previously-Unknown Stone Age People Discovered
An international team of scientists has discovered a previously-unknown Stone Age people. The fossils of human remains, found in south-west China, reportedly offer a rare glimpse of a fairly recent stage of human evolution. The remains of what the scientists call “red-deer” – because they hunted and cooked extinct red deer – were first found […]
Science Scanner: Search for Elusive Higgs Boson Nears End
The search for the mysterious sub-atomic particle known as the Higgs boson may soon be over. Two teams at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory report they’ve seen hints of a Higgs boson and that the results of their experimentation are consistent with those conducted with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). A […]
Science Scanner: Swiss Launch Attack on Space Junk
The Swiss are taking aim at space junk – the thousands of man-made objects launched into space over the years which have accumulated into a virtual junkyard filled with now-useless debris, like spent rocket stages and old satellites. NASA keeps a close eye on about 16,000 of these objects and scientists have expressed concern about […]
Should Sugar be a Controlled Substance?
If you love your cookies and candy and can’t go a day without your favorite soda or daily ice cream cone, then a new warning about the dangers of sugar is bound to leave a bitter taste in your mouth. California researchers are calling for sugar to be treated like a controlled substance – similar […]
Gene Therapy Treatment Reverses Vision Loss
Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania may have found a way to prevent, and even reverse, a serious inherited eye disease which leads to blindness. The disease, called X-linked Retinitis Pigmentosa (XLRP), causes early, severe and progressive vision loss. It is one of the most common inherited forms of retinal degeneration in people. Peoples with […]
Science Scanner: Fear of Terrorists Keeps Man-made Avian Flu Under Wraps
In December, the U.S. government asked scientists working on a man-made version of the avian flu virus to withhold certain details of their studies out of concern terrorists might use the information to manufacture and spread the dangerous virus, causing a worldwide pandemic. At the time of the request by the U.S. National Science Advisory […]
Stroke, Heart Attack Risk Greater Than Thought
If you think the odds of having a heart attack or stroke in your lifetime are low, you could be kidding yourself. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine reveals some sobering statistics. Even if you are at low risk of having a cardiac incident in the short term, having one or […]