Health – Page 50

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To Sleep, To Dream: To Dream, Perchance, to Learn

April 25, 2010

When you have learned a complex task, take a nap and dream about it. A new study shows that dreaming helps consolidate the memory in your mind and helps you perform the task better next time around. Science Daily reported on research by scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. They tested 99 […]

Biomimetics

Blood Clotting Fibers May Lead to Better Networks

April 22, 2010

We all know that blood clotting has kept us alive many times. We would never have survived childhood scrapes and cuts had it not been for a cascade of responses in blood that builds a network of fibers quickly upon which a scab of tissue stops the flow of blood and begins repairs. That first […]

Amazing Facts

Fruit Flies: From Darwin to Design

March 13, 2010

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is an icon of evolution. Since the 1930s these poor little bugs have been mutated endlessly and watched for signs of Darwinian change. So far, though, only useless mutants, unable to survive in the wild, have been produced. Recently, scientists seem more enamored with their design. Two recent articles had […]

Amazing Facts

This Tree of Life Is Real

March 9, 2010

Imagine a tree that can provide both nutritious food and clean water. Moringa oleifera is such a tree. It grows in Africa and Asia and is being looked at as a life-giving plant that can reduce bacterial contamination of water by 90 to 99.99% by filtering water with its seeds. Science Daily has […]

Bible and Theology

Depressed? Believe in a Caring God

February 28, 2010

“Belief in a Caring God Improves Response to Medical Treatment for Depression, Study Finds.” That’s what Science Daily said. The statement assumes, of course, that psychiatry knows what depression is. Another story on Science Daily worried that “Psychiatry’s Main Method to Prevent Mistaken Diagnoses of Depression Doesn’t Work.” It makes sense that diagnosis […]

Amazing Facts

The Brain You Use, and How It Uses You

February 21, 2010

Neuroscientists continue to find out amazing things about the human brain. In some ways we are responsible to use our brains, but in other ways the brain does things to us. If nobody has figured out where the dividing line is for thousands of years, it’s unlikely we will today; but the following findings can […]

Darwin and Evolution

Who Should Be Listening to Scientists?

February 17, 2010

“Stop Listening to Scientists?” is an unusual title for a letter to Science.1 In a commentary last week prompted by the recent scandals regarding climate change, Kevin Robert Gurney (Purdue) made a shocking exclamation: don’t listen to scientists. Here’s how he began. As a climate scientist and a contributing author to the Intergovernmental Panel on […]

Genetics

Is Your Bod Flawed by God?

February 14, 2010

Are your body’s imperfections reasons for you to reject intelligent design and embrace evolution? Professor John Avise (UC Irvine) thinks so. His new book Inside the Human Genome was given good press by PhysOrg: “Distinguished Professor of ecology & evolutionary biology at UC Irvine, Avise also makes the case that overwhelming scientific evidence of genomic […]

Amazing Facts

Barefoot Is Better

January 27, 2010

Who do we wear shoes? It seems obvious; we expect that they help us avoid injuries and provide comfort. Maybe we should think of the injuries we are getting by wearing them. The image of the barefoot person is usually of someone poor, deprived, lower-class, hick, unclean, redneck or something else unattractive. Shoes […]

Cell Biology

Stem Cell News: Cancer Cures Coming?

January 18, 2010

Stem cell research has not been as prominent in the popular media lately, but researchers continue to make impressive strides – mostly with adult stem cells. Science Daily reported the first success treating leukemia with stem cells from umbilical cord blood. A researcher at the Hutchinson Center said, “The real ground-breaking aspect of this research […]

Health

Science Flipflops

December 9, 2009

Science says… on second thought, science says the opposite. Or, we’re not sure what science says. The following recent stories show that things you thought science had proven may not be true at all. What’s next? Take testosterone for fairness: The image of the testosterone-crazed, egotistical, reckless, raging road warrior is all wrong. At least, […]

Health

Consequences of Bad Choices: Well, Duh

November 18, 2009

Responsibility – integrity – honesty – respect – healthy choices. Those are the values of a bygone generation. Do we need science to tell us that our grandparents were right? PhysOrg reported that “Teen sexual activity and gambling [is] associated with taking nonprescribed medications to get high.” And Live Science reported, “Coed Dorms […]

Biomimetics

New Word Means Green Living: Bioplastics

November 17, 2009

Did you know that 10% of America’s oil consumption goes into making plastic? The plastic products from oil pollute our landfills and harm the environment. Next month, a company founded by a biology professor from MIT is going to make plastic from something green: corn. Anthony Siskey and Oliver Peoples, according to PhysOrg, […]

Early Man

Modern Men Are Wimps

October 23, 2009

Whatever happened to survival of the fittest? Our ancestors were much stronger, says the author of a new book on anthropology. PhysOrg reported on a book by Peter McAllister that says today’s males don’t measure up physically to their counterparts even a century ago, let alone those in the Roman empire and earlier. […]

Bible and Theology

Conservationists Moan Lack of Hikers

October 11, 2009

When hiking and backpacking were popular in the 1970s, the number of environmentalists and conservationists rose accordingly. Since then, many content themselves to watch TV and remain city-bound. The internet exacerbated the problem. Science Daily said, “a recent fall-off in strenuous outdoor endeavors portends a coming decline in the ranks of conservation backers.” […]

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