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August 19, 2010
We've evolved ways to come back from the brink of death—and doctors' efforts to help may just be getting in the way. 
August 18, 2010
Gene variants associated with for type-1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis may confer previously unknown benefits. As a result, the human race may have been evolving to be more susceptible to these diseases.
August 12, 2010
Men who reach sexual maturity in an environment with few available women are at risk of dying sooner than their luckier confrères.
July 30, 2010
A new study adds our social relationships to the "short list" of factors that predict a person's odds of living or dying. Social connections—friends, family, neighbors or colleagues—improve our odds of survival by 50 percent.
July 15, 2010
Scientists are regularly blown away by the complexity, power, and sheer number of microbes that live in our bodies. We have over 10 times more microbes than human cells in our bodies.
June 3, 2010
Dreams of eternal youth feature in many cultures throughout history, but it was only in the 20th century that research into longevity really began.
June 1, 2010
To pin one big evolutionary shift on a particular molecule is ambitious. To pin two on it is truly audacious. Yet doing so was just one of the ideas floating around at "A Celebration of DHA" in London this week.
May 27, 2010
Stress caused by psychological shock from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, felt even by people with no direct link to the event, may have led to an increase in male children being miscarried in the U.S.
May 24, 2010
Breast milk, but not formula, may improve the functioning of a baby's genes in a way that protects the infant from illness.
May 19, 2010
A loving mother who kisses her child's boo-boos may be providing more health benefits than she knows.
April 7, 2010
Some folks wash their hands or take Vitamin C, zinc or echinacea to keep colds and flus at bay. But a new study shows that looking at sick people could do it.
February 25, 2010
Group living conveyed many survival benefits for early humans, but it also carried risks—most notably the spread of harmful disease.
February 22, 2010
Willpower plays a role in dieting. But keeping the weight off after you've lost it? This is where our physiology can get in the way.
January 12, 2010
Scientists have found about 100,000 elements of human DNA that probably came from viruses.
January 11, 2010
The subtle but ongoing pressures of human evolution could explain the seeming rise of disorders such as autism, autoimmune diseases, and reproductive cancers.
November 17, 2009
A golden glow is the healthiest and most attractive look for Caucasian skin, researchers have claimed.
November 12, 2009
Switching from a low-fat, plant-based diet to one high in fat and sugar alters the collection of microbes living in the gut in less than a day, with obesity-linked microbes suddenly thriving.
October 20, 2009
Saturated fat dulls the brain's response to key appetite hormones, an effect useful in our evolutionary past during times of scarcity, but not so much in a well-fed society.
September 21, 2009
Blame your brain for sabotaging your efforts to get back on track after splurging on an extra scoop of ice cream or that second burger during Friday night's football game.
August 4, 2009
Not sleeping well? It's a common complaint. Sixty-four million Americans report at least occasional bouts of insomnia.
July 13, 2009
How to extend your life by a decade or two.
July 10, 2009
A long-awaited study of aging in rhesus monkeys suggests, with some reservations, that people could in principle fend off the usual diseases of old age and considerably extend their life span by following a special diet.
May 14, 2009
Most mammals are solitary. Primates, on the other hand, are an order full of social animals. But sociality comes with a cost—we make great hosts for viruses. And our primate brand of closeness makes us particularly vulnerable.
May 13, 2009
Men really do have an excuse for supposedly being wimpy about coughs and colds—their immune systems are not as strong as women's.
May 4, 2009
Having strong memories of that rich, delicious dessert you ate last night? If so, you shouldn’t feel like a glutton. It’s only natural.
April 22, 2009
It is well established that intestinal parasites dampen mammalian immune reactions. But in a surprise result, scientists have found that another kind of parasite—the body louse—does too.
April 1, 2009
Women may be onto something when they reach for the blusher—people really do think healthy females should display a rosy glow.
February 17, 2009
That irresistible craving for a cheeseburger has its roots in the dramatic growth of the human brain and body that resulted from environmental changes some 2 million years ago.
December 10, 2008
The massive human brain enables language—and psychosis.
December 3, 2008
An imperfect body might be just what the doctor ordered for women and key to their economic success, an anthropologist now says.
November 25, 2008
Because our bodies and brains are sculpted for scarcity it takes a lot of self-control to eat well amid plenty.
November 7, 2008
A neuroanthropologist explains what Colombian teenagers can teach neuroscientists about addiction.
October 16, 2008
The vast majority of genes which cause disease when mutated trace back to the origin of the first cell. Other large groups emerged more than one billion years ago around the first appearance of multi-cellular organisms.
September 30, 2008
The obesity epidemic has led to increased scientific interest in how the brain controls human feeding behavior. Why do we get hungry? What biological mechanisms tell us what to eat and when to stop eating?
August 21, 2008
Want to live a little longer? Get a second wife. New research suggests that men from polygamous cultures outlive those from monogamous ones.
July 31, 2008
Long-suffering victims of allergies such as asthma and hay fever might enjoy a surprise benefit: people with one of these atopic diseases are up to 25 percent less likely to get the most common type of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL).
May 7, 2008
A gut hormone that causes people to eat more does so by making food appear more desirable.
May 6, 2008
Getting the best for our brains and bodies—antioxidants are just the start of it—means selecting scraggly and scarred produce over their supersized cousins.
April 22, 2008
It took 4 million years of evolution to perfect the human foot. But we’re wrecking it with every step we take.
April 16, 2008
Anxiety gets a lot of bad press. Dwelling on the negative can lead to chronic stress and anxiety disorders and phobias, but evolutionarily speaking, anxiety holds some functional value.
March 25, 2008
Inflammation, the body's response to injury, actually alters levels of brain chemicals, causing behaviors similar to clinical depression. This pathway could explain why depression evolved.
March 14, 2008
The idea that people wouldn't continue to do things if they didn't work is very common, and on a superficial level it makes some sense. It's also absolutely false.
March 10, 2008
What makes you suddenly dart into the bakery when you spy chocolate-frosted donuts in the window, though you certainly hadn't planned on indulging?
March 6, 2008
Smells so irritating they make you cough or gag may act on a single type of cell in the nose that senses caustic chemicals and warns the brain of potential danger.
February 29, 2008
Researchers have found the behaviour of immune system genes varies from race to race—potentially affecting how they respond to infection.
February 22, 2008
Where would we be without honey, sugar cane, molasses, maple syrup and corn syrup? Down in the dumps, for sure. But it's not our fault. It's the fault of our primate heritage.
February 15, 2008
Researchers have discovered that many of the genetic variations that have enabled human populations to tolerate colder climates may also affect their susceptibility to metabolic syndrome.
February 14, 2008
It is never too late to reap the benefits of a healthy, active lifestyle, research has concluded.
February 6, 2008
A major genetic survey shows how we are changing.
January 29, 2008
People who exercise more in their free time appear to be biologically younger than their more sedentary counterparts.
January 8, 2008
Taking exercise, not drinking too much alcohol, eating enough fruit and vegetables and not smoking can add up to 14 years to your life, a study says.
January 7, 2008
Ugandan and French scientists have for months been observing the behavior of a group of chimpanzees whose uncanny aptitude for self-medication could help their human cousins discover new drugs.
January 4, 2008
It looks unlikely that medical science will abolish the process of ageing. But it no longer looks impossible.
December 13, 2007
Women do not tip over during pregnancy because their spines are built differently from men's—and have been ever since our ancestors began walking upright.
November 28, 2007
Fear of looking unattractive can be a stronger motivation for keeping people going to the gym than the hope of looking good, a study says.
November 15, 2007
We put a lot of faith in the medical establishment these days, and doctors can certainly tell us a great deal about our constitution. But there's one person who knows more about your health than any doctor—you.
November 12, 2007
The best ways to prevent cancer look remarkably like those needed to prevent obesity and heart disease as well.
November 8, 2007
Mothers around the world are armed with anti-bacterial gels, sprays and baby blankets, diligently protecting their children from nasty forms of bacteria. But this is not an unmitigated good.
November 7, 2007
A recent academic review concluded that food, as opposed to specific nutrients, may be key to having a healthy diet, contrary to popular practice in the food industry and government.
November 1, 2007
There are several reasons why the world is still plagued by diseases we cannot treat or vaccinate against, one of them being the vast complexity of the human immune system.
October 26, 2007
Severely restricting calories leads to a longer life and can maintain physical fitness into advanced age, slowing the seemingly inevitable progression to physical disability and loss of independence.
October 22, 2007
Scientists have found a gene that regulates lifespan in mammals which could one day lead to treatments to hold off ageing and its related illnesses such as Alzheimer's, cancer and heart disease.
October 19, 2007
In the cause of equal rights, feminists have had much to complain about. But one striking piece of inequality has been conveniently overlooked: lifespan. In this area, women have the upper hand.
October 12, 2007
For the first time, scientists have linked the all-too-human preference for a food—chocolate—to a specific, chemical signature that may be programmed into the metabolic system and is detectable by laboratory tests.
September 21, 2007
Researchers have discovered two genes in mammalian cells that act as gatekeepers for cellular longevity.
September 21, 2007
The body's complicated cell-making process may help to avoid cancer.
September 14, 2007
Lonely people's immune systems go haywire, so no wonder they are more likely to get sick and die young.
September 10, 2007
To think that world domination could have begun in the cheeks. That's one interpretation of a discovery which indicates that humans carry extra copies of the salivary amylase gene.
September 5, 2007
The genes that underpin schizophrenia may have been favoured by natural selection, according to a survey of human and primate genetic sequences.
September 4, 2007
Kids grow up fast these days, but many parents are worried it's too fast when little Sally needs a training bra at age six and Timmy sports a moustache at ten.
August 30, 2007
Traditional mating patterns make men the key to explaining away the "wall of death," an enduring puzzle in the study of human longevity.
August 19, 2007
Sweat is our interior coolant, part of a uniquely human biologic machine.
July 20, 2007
Individual expectations of rewards may explain why some people feel better after receiving fake drug treatments—a phenomenon known as "the placebo effect."
July 17, 2007
Humans may be the best subject to study for evolutionary effects across generations.
July 16, 2007
A spine specialist trying to figure out why people so often have bad backs says he has come up with a new theory about when and how early humans evolved the ability to walk upright.
July 11, 2007
Lower social status may be the root cause of both shyness and poor health.
July 3, 2007
Some of the nastiest gut bacteria may have evolved from hardy ancestors living deep under the sea, a new study suggests.
June 27, 2007
Foods of the kind that were consumed during human evolution may be the best choice to control type 2 diabetes.
June 22, 2007
Humans may be susceptible to infection by HIV because our ancient ancestors evolved resistance to another virus.
May 16, 2007
Modern humans and their societies reflect what their ancestors ate.
April 24, 2007
It's the milestone that many dream of reaching, but few actually do.
April 17, 2007
Cancer is a natural consequence of human evolution.
March 16, 2007
For years, experts have said that the strong, silent male is not one to ask for help when he's hurt, and therefore at a disadvantage when it comes to getting better. But new research says this might not be completely accurate.
February 27, 2007
Milk wasn't on the Stone Age menu, says a new study which suggests the vast majority of adult Europeans were lactose intolerant as recently as 7,000 years ago.
February 20, 2007
Scientific studies of why foods such as Brussels sprouts and stout beer are horribly bitter-tasting to some people but palatable to others are shedding light on a number of questions.
February 19, 2007
People, apes and monkeys are highly intelligent, social creatures with far too much spare time on their hands.
February 8, 2007
New model offers new ways to study gender differences in aging.
February 6, 2007
Men, take note: Your penis might be telling you something.
January 18, 2007
Social status alone affects people's well being and lifespan.
January 11, 2007
What if humans cast aside processed foods and saturated fats in favour of the sort of diet our ape-like ancestors once ate? Nine volunteers gave it a go... and were glad they did so.
January 10, 2007
Different ethnic groups not only carry different genes, but there are greater disparities than previously believed in the degrees to which genes that were the same among ethnic groups were expressed.
December 6, 2006
A key enzyme that cuts short our cellular lifespan in an effort to thwart cancer has now been linked to body mass.
November 20, 2006
The younger your mother, the better your odds of extreme longevity, study finds.
November 17, 2006
The dynamics of evolution are fully in play within the environment of a tumor, just as they are in forests and meadows, oceans and streams.
November 14, 2006
The human body produces a natural painkiller several times more potent than morphine, research suggests.
November 10, 2006
People who are happy, lively, calm or exhibit other positive emotions are less likely to catch colds and report fewer symptoms of the illness when they are under the weather.
February 10, 2006
Evolution seems to have selected for a positive attitude (because those who are convinced they will fail, will fail, and their genes will be eliminated). But how we get that positive attitude seems to be less important.
March 24, 2006
In a new example of the power of your mind, researchers have found that just the ritual of medical care could be important to improving your health.
March 15, 2006
By exploring how humans evolve to win the battle with diseases and how they are sometimes vanquished by those pathogens, scientists hope to find drugs that can mimic successes and stave off the worst that viruses and bacteria can produce.
October 3, 2005
The Black Death was a continuing series of epidemics of a lethal, viral, haemorrhagic fever that used the CCR5 gene as an entry port into the immune system, the same gene used by HIV.
February 15, 2006
Appreciation for sweet tastes is hard wired into the brains of most insects and animals, including humans, according to a recent study.
January 3, 2006
How do fake drugs called placebos kill some patients' pain?
November 3, 2006
Many now believe that something must have changed in our environment to precipitate such dramatic rises in obesity over the past 40 years or so.
November 1, 2006
Even though the autistic can experience emotions such as fear, rage and pleasure, thhe may lack genuine empathy for other people and be oblivious to subtle social cues that most children would pick up effortlessly.
October 11, 2006
Research on the link between relationships and physical health has established that people with rich personal networks—who are married, have close family and friends, are active in social and religious groups—recover more quickly from disease and live longer.
September 4, 2006
Evolution and the environment, not just gluttony, has led to a global obesity pandemic, with an estimated 1.5 billion people overweight—more than the number of undernourished people
July 20, 2006
Scientists have uncovered evidence of a new class divide: the lower our social standing, the faster we age.
April 5, 2006
Scientists have found tangible signs that a low-calorie diet could reverse signs of ageing in the body.
April 20, 2006
Evidence has been accumulating since the 1930s that calorie restriction—reducing an animal's energy intake below its energy expenditure—extends lifespan and delays the onset of age-related diseases.
March 31, 2006
It's true—you might die of loneliness, but not until you're older.
April 3, 2006
It might be regarded as a statement of the obvious. But scientists have proved what everyone else takes for granted —that laughter really is good for you.
December 6, 2005
Though getting older may seem inevitable, a major new study from the forthcoming issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology examines the point in human life when your body simply stops aging.
November 29, 2005
Your medicine really could work better if your doctor talks it up before handing over the prescription.
November 14, 2005
People who live in warm climates are attracted to spicy foods because the red-hot seasonings keep people healthy, according to a scientist who takes a Darwinian approach to medicine.
November 11, 2005
Looking at how social factors affect human health offers proof of conventional wisdom—and some more surprising insights into disease and prevention.
October 28, 2005
Single nutrients, toxins, behaviors or environmental exposures of any sort can silence or activate a gene without altering its genetic code in any way researchers have discovered.
October 20, 2005
Genetic material derisively called “junk” DNA because it does not contain the instructions for protein-coding genes and appears to have little or no function is actually critically important to an organism’s evolutionary survival.
October 17, 2005
Researchers find evidence that men and women differ in their inflammatory reactions to work-related burnout and depression. (Link is to a .pdf of the original article)
October 11, 2005
If you are one of those people who drops off instantly into a deep sleep every night, then the chances are you inherited the ability from your parents.
October 7, 2005
Anorexia and bulimia may be autoimmune diseases—and so may several other psychiatric illnesses.
September 13, 2005
New research finds the human immune system has foregone evolutionary changes that would allow it to produce better antibodies in less time because the improved antibodies would be far more likely to attack the body's own tissues.
September 6, 2005
It's a wonderful adaptation should you come across a bear. But too much of a good thing and you're in trouble.
August 30, 2005
Our hominid ancestors suffered from tuberculosis, according to new genetic research that traced the origins of the disease-causing bacteria to three million years ago in East Africa.
August 8, 2005
People aren't horribly off the mark as long as they do not rely on media reports and stick to what's happened to people they know.
July 26, 2005
Discerning bitter flavors offered a survival advantage by protecting ancient people from poisonous fare. Today, the same sensory sensitivity may cause an aversion to bitter-tasting nutrients, some of which might lower the risk of cancer and heart disease.
July 5, 2005
Scientists investigating gender differences in pain have found that not only do women report more pain throughout the course of their lifetime, they also experience it in more bodily areas, more often and for longer duration when compared to men.
June 6, 2005
The great physical diversity that evolution has forged in human beings is in evidence wherever we look, but the genes exhibiting the greatest diversity at the DNA level happen to function in a wholly invisible process: immunity.
May 19, 2005
When temperatures plummet, most people bundle up in thick sweaters, stay cozy indoors and stoke up on comfort food. But a provocative new theory suggests that thousands of years ago, juvenile diabetes may have evolved as a way to stay warm.
May 13, 2005
Junk plays a central role in many theories of ageing; the "free radical" theory, for example. But now there is a new take on junk, where it comes from, and how it causes us to get old.
May 12, 2005
The season in which a woman is born influences the age at which she will go through the menopause, suggests a survey of northern Italians.
May 5, 2005
Men who are depressed have higher levels of inflammatory markers associated with coronary heart disease than men who are not.
May 4, 2005
Pregnant women present during the September 11 World Trade Center collapse have passed on markers of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to their unborn babies through transgenerational transmission.
May 4, 2005
The most comprehensive study to date exploring the genetic divergence of humans and chimpanzees has revealed that the genes most favoured by natural selection are those associated with immunity, tumour suppression, and programmed cell death.
April 21, 2005
Researchers have found a brain mechanism that may calm you down in life or death situations and may give you a better chance at survival.
April 19, 2005
Markers of health linked with positive well-being.
April 19, 2005
New research in mice provides more evidence that a brief bout of stress can give the immune system a beneficial boost—under certain conditions.
March 23, 2005
Intense exercise may curb your sweet tooth and boost immunity.
March 14, 2005
For some blood types, evolution and environmental selective pressures are clearly important for their persistence.
March 10, 2005
Plagues in the Middle Ages have made around 10% of Europeans resistant to HIV.
March 8, 2005
A sense of humour may improve cardiovascular response.
March 2, 2005
Analyzing metabolism for personalized nutrition.
February 22, 2005
Meat-eating has greatly influenced the evolution of the human body.
February 18, 2005
When most of us think about the health benefits of exercising, it's probably in terms of losing weight. But there’s plenty of evidence that it's also good for the mind.
February 9, 2005
Love may banish the blues for women more easily than for men, according to a new study.
February 8, 2005
A gene segment variation that can cause a certain form of schizophrenia is associated with overall benefits for human survival, and the initial mutation occurred in a single common ancestor about 100,000 years ago.
February 8, 2005
Motherhood is a difficult job. In fact, the results of a new study suggest that, historically, taking on the role early in life was linked to shorter lifespans.
February 2, 2005
Why our ancestors said yes to drugs.
January 28, 2005
Genes may be the key factor in determining how active a person naturally is, but health authorities can tackle the growing obesity epidemic by promoting simple activities like standing up and walking.
January 27, 2005
Researchers say they have discovered the molecular switch that turns the bad fats in food into the cholesterol that clogs your arteries.
January 25, 2005
Scientists have long known that some illnesses are hereditary, but a group of researchers has come up with a more general explanation for humankind's susceptibility to disease.
January 6, 2005
People who are sensitive to bitter tastes seem to have a higher risk of cancer.
January 5, 2005
Women may be more at risk of eating disorders than men because of the way their brain processes information.
January 1, 2005
More than half of adults over the age of 65 have trouble sleeping, but even short-term exposure to either morning or evening social and physical activity improves cognitive performance and subjective sleep quality.
December 21, 2004
Experts show us how to change our everyday environment so that it encourages healthy eating and exercise habits.
December 16, 2004
Why do we strive so much for pleasurable experiences—and why, when we have it all, we risk everything for more excitement.
December 9, 2004
Addiction to nicotine may be in the genes.
December 6, 2004
Scientists have discovered structural similarities suggesting that viruses that infect hosts from all three domains of life may have evolved from a common ancestor billions of years ago.
December 3, 2004
Life expectancy is increasing in the developed world. But Cambridge University geneticist Aubrey de Grey believes it will soon extend dramatically to 1,000. Here, he explains why. (But also read the "alternitive view"--link is in the box.)
November 30, 2004
Our genomes consist of networks of roughly 25,000 interacting genes, and these networks are obviously very stable and resilient to changed conditions. How can order be maintained?
November 17, 2004
The number of cigarettes smoked per day and the level of nicotine dependence is largely down to a person's genes.
November 4, 2004
Enticing sights and smells of our favorite foods might make stomachs growl, but new research shows food can do even more, activating the same brain areas as illegal drugs and alcohol.
November 3, 2004
This phenomenon is conserved across species—from the barn owl to rodents to humans—suggesting that these effects are mediated by fundamental mechanisms.
November 1, 2004
There could be a good reason for why we get the winter blues.
October 27, 2004
Each of us is somewhat biochemically distinct, woven out of singular genetic strands that influence metabolism and other body functions.
October 22, 2004
"The evolutionary picture of the human being is quite an interesting one, because what we've managed to do is create an environment for ourselves that is much safer than anything we've lived in before."
October 4, 2004
There appears to be a fast, mutual, positive feedback loop between stress hormones and a brain-based aggression-control center. It may explain why, under stress, humans are so quick to lash out and find it hard to cool down.
September 22, 2004
Experts say adopting four simple lifestyle measures more than halves an elderly person's risk of dying.
September 16, 2004
Relationships are good for your health, warding off disease and stress.
September 13, 2004
You may not be as young as you feel, but research has found that a positive attitude may delay the ageing process.
September 9, 2004
There seems to be a dream-specific region in the brain.
August 30, 2004
The biological advantage that women have is taken as a certainty, because the mortality of males is higher than that of females from the very outset of life.
August 25, 2004
Men over 70 can mount an immune response similar to that produced by much younger men if they get regular moderate physical activity of about six hours a week.
August 11, 2004
Genes could explain why women are more prone to stress-related anxiety and mood disorders.
July 15, 2004
Exercise doesn't just make you stronger, healthier and better-looking—it also helps your brain shrug off damage and the effects of aging.
July 12, 2004
More people quit addictions than maintain them, and they do so on their own.
July 6, 2004
Hoping to extend his life span through an extreme diet, one man finds serenity and bliss.
July 5, 2004
Getting stressed now and again may be good for your health, research suggests.
June 28, 2004
The ability to discern bitter tastes developed as an evolutionary mechanism to protect early humans from eating poisonous plants.
June 18, 2004
Discovery of herbal medicines may have genetic link.
June 17, 2004
Body size is largely inherited, a fact ignored by a recent health committee report.
June 15, 2004
Testosterone damps pain sensation in males.
June 15, 2004
Lowest death rates in those who have one or two drinks daily.
June 8, 2004
Over 200 sugar compounds, technically known as saccharides, occur naturally in plants. And eight of them have been identified as essential to optimal human health.
June 8, 2004
Status appears to be a reason some people live longer than others.
June 2, 2004
A new analysis of the foods Americans eat finds that sugary snacks and sodas reign supreme.
May 28, 2004
Is being fearful or shy actually bad for your health?
May 27, 2004
Want to know two of the biggest risk factors for an early death? How about being young and male.
May 26, 2004
Scientists now report that just looking at foods you like activates a part of your brain that controls drive and pleasure. And that correlates closely with your desire for food.
May 19, 2004
An obesity study suggests that eating behaviors are not as hardwired as we might think.
May 14, 2004
Obesity researchers have found that the mere presence of food triggers brain regions associated with motivation and pleasure.
May 4, 2004
High-protein, low-carbohydrate diet fanatics take note: The billions of cicadas set to emerge from the ground en masse later this month are a healthy alternative to that bacon double-cheeseburger without the bun.
April 26, 2004
The supposed need to boost our bodies' defences is the defining illness of our age.
April 23, 2004
New research has revealed a molecular basis for the "Mozart effect"?the observation that a brief stint of Mozart, but not other music, may improve learning and memory.
April 21, 2004
Fearful types may meet their maker sooner, at least among rats. Researchers have for the first time connected a personality trait?fear of novelty?to an early death.
April 12, 2004
Filling our mouths with fat lights up pleasure centres in the brain, which may help us understand why we cannot get enough of certain foods.
April 7, 2004
Scientists are trying to find out which genes govern whether or not people live long lives.
April 6, 2004
Our future weight could be set in first weeks of life.
April 5, 2004
Modern anorexia may stem from an adaptation that helped ancient nomadic people find food, according to a recently proposed theory.
March 26, 2004
Most of us think aging is inevitable. But one scientist has committed her career to proving us wrong.
March 23, 2004
Whether it's snacks, sandwiches or full restaurant meals, recent experiments have shown that we eat more when we're given more.
March 19, 2004
When our human ancestors started eating meat, evolution served up a healthy bonus?the development of genes that offset high cholesterol and chronic diseases associated with a meat-rich diet, and they started living longer.
February 26, 2004
Eating grubs may look unappetising, but our ancestors would have been thrilled.
February 23, 2004
People on diets should be forgiven for moaning that chocolate tastes better when you're hungry. Just missing breakfast makes you more sensitive to sweet and salty tastes.
February 18, 2004
A new fact about fear: researchers say that it's okay in limited doses.
January 26, 2004
Scientists at the Universities of Edinburgh and Newcastle-upon-Tyne are about to embark on one of the biggest studies of its kind into the role the brain plays in making people fat.
January 22, 2004
Scientists say that they have shown how the brain can crack complex mental puzzles while its owner is sleeping.
January 15, 2004
Changes in cells' mitochondria may explain current predispositions to common diseases.
January 14, 2004
The purpose of disgust has been quantitatively demonstrated for the first time—it is an evolved response that protects people from disease or harm.
January 5, 2004
Shan Guisinger's "Adapted to Flee Hypothesis" traces the roots of human anorexia back more than 11,000 years to the late Pleistocene era, when nomadic foragers migrated around the globe.
December 16, 2003
How you react to stress influences how easily you resist or succumb to disease, including viruses like HIV, discovered UCLA AIDS Institute scientists. Reported in the Dec.15 edition of Biological Psychiatry, the new findings identify the immune mechanism that makes shy people more susceptible to infection than outgoing people.
December 11, 2003
We've often heard that red wine and dark chocolate in moderation can be good for you. Now it appears that a little stress may be beneficial, too.
December 8, 2003
Do yourself and your brain a favor, go out for a walk.
November 24, 2003
Stone tools dating to 2.6-2.5 million years ago, along with associated broken animal bones, have been found in Gona, Ethiopia, at a place that served as the earliest known controlled setting for food preparation.
November 21, 2003
You really do crave rich foods when stress is unrelenting. And a very special and well-meaning collaboration between your brain and your body makes you do it.
November 18, 2003
If we emulated lab worms we'd live to be 500. Good news for homeowners in debt, then.
November 11, 2003
In the quest for an effective weight loss diet that also is nutritionally complete, researchers in the November issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings report preliminary weight loss results of a regimen that is similar to the Atkins diet that are encouraging, but merit further, broader study.
November 10, 2003
Scientists are learning that exercise has a much more direct and powerful impact on the brain than previously believed—an exciting discovery that may lead to safer and more effective approaches to preventing and treating a variety of brain injuries and diseases, from spinal cord injuries to depression.
November 10, 2003
A new study shows just how different men and women really are—when it comes to their hearts, that is. It also helps solve several mysteries about women and heart problems, and highlights the need for better treatment of the No. 1 killer of women.
November 6, 2003
We know that the foods we eat affect the body. But they may have even more of an influence on how the brain works—it's general tone and level of energy and how it handles its tasks. Mood, motivation and mental performance are powerfully influenced by diet.
November 6, 2003
Even early humans knew a thing or two about dental hygiene. Our ancestors used grass stalks as tooth picks, experimental findings suggest.
November 5, 2003
Despite widespread attention to diet, calorie intake may not be a major factor in causing death by heart disease, according to a 17-year study of almost 9,800 Americans. Instead, losing excess weight&mash;or not becoming overweight to begin with—and exercising may do more to ward off death from heart disease.
October 28, 2003
In government laboratories and elsewhere, scientists are seeking a drug able to prolong life and youthful vigor. Studies of caloric restriction are showing the way.
October 27, 2003
A tiny round worm can live six times longer than normal if certain genes and hormones are tweaked, according to a report in the journal Science.
October 27, 2003
Diversity of human appearance and form has intrigued biologists for centuries, but nearly 100 years after the term “genetics” was coined by William Bateson in 1906, the genes that underlie this diversity are an unsolved mystery.
October 24, 2003
Experts at the Medical Research Council found most fast food is very dense in calories—you only need a small amount to bump up your calorific intake. They found that these "energy dense" foods can fool people into consuming more calories than the body needs.
October 23, 2003
Turning down food from an all-you-can-eat is a stiff test of self-control. Now scientists claim to have found a natural 'fullness' hormone that could make it easier to resist overeating, helping to fight obesity.
October 23, 2003
Your eyes play tricks. And your brain makes it worse. Both teenagers and adults misjudge how much they pour into glasses. They will pour more into short wide glasses than into tall slender glasses, but perceive the opposite to be true. The delusion of shape even influences experienced bartenders, though to a lesser degree.
October 21, 2003
Of all the possible causes of cancer the biggest is simply growing old. As this ScienCentral News video reports, scientists trying to understand why are turning to an age-old friend of bakers—yeast. They show that aging appears to be a carcinogen.
October 16, 2003
Cynthia Kenyon thinks we can have it all: health, wealth, hordes of children—and a long life. A very long life. What made this professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco, so sure? A little worm.
September 29, 2003
Being a fathead has its compensations. Scientists have discovered that people with large skulls are more likely to fare well in the twilight of their years—at least when it comes to remembering what they are doing.
September 23, 2003
Findings published in the current issue of the journal Science indicate that starting a low-calorie diet at any point in adulthood lengthens life span—at least in fruit flies.
September 16, 2003
"Between now and the year 2123 a tragedy of Brobdingnagian proportions will befall humanity, causing the death of more than six billion people. I'm serious." Michael Shermer prolonging your life.
September 15, 2003
Since 1992 more and more research has shown that the USDA pyramid is grossly flawed. By promoting the consumption of all complex carbohydrates and eschewing all fats and oils, the pyramid provides misleading guidance. In short, not all fats are bad for you, and by no means are all complex carbohydrates good for you.
September 11, 2003
UCSF researchers have identified a biochemical feedback system in rats that could explain why some people crave comfort foods—such as chocolate chip cookies and greasy cheeseburgers—when they are chronically stressed, and why such people are apt to gain weight in the abdomen.
September 9, 2003
Humans evolved beyond their vegetarian roots and became meat-eaters at the dawn of the genus Homo, around 2.5 million years ago, according to a study of our ancestors' teeth.
September 2, 2003
Despite its billing as “today’s best buy in public health,” walking is far from an American way of life. But making areas for physical activity more accessible may be one way to get more people on the move, new research suggests.
September 2, 2003
Staying healthy may involve more than washing hands or keeping a positive attitude. According to a new study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, it also may involve a particular pattern of brain activity. By monitoring activity levels in the human brain's prefrontal cortex, the researchers demonstrate for the first time that people who have more activity in the left side of this area also have a stronger immune response against disease.
August 29, 2003
With the full sequence of the human genome now in hand, scientists are turning renewed attention to the molecular processes that regulate the genes encoded by DNA. Estimates are that only a tenth of all genes are expressed at any given time. What controls when and where genes are activated?
August 25, 2003
If dioxin and ionizing radiation cause cancer, then it stands to reason that less exposure to them should improve public health. If mercury, lead and PCBs impair intellectual development, then less should be more. But a growing body of data suggests that environmental contaminants may not always be poisonous—they may actually be good for you at low levels.
August 25, 2003
Scientists have found for the first time a way to rev up a potent anti-aging enzyme in living cells, an advance they said could speed the development of drugs to extend human life span and prevent a wide range of geriatric diseases.
August 22, 2003
Whether coping with the blackout of 2003, or watching the stock market rise and fall, we’ve all felt stressed at some point in our lives. Normally, we think stress is bad for us. But some neuroscientists say that in small doses it can actually be good for us.
August 21, 2003
A rare genetic disorder may lead scientists to genes for social behavior, a Salk Institute study has found. The study zeros in on the genes that may lead to the marked extroverted behavior seen in children with Williams syndrome, demonstrating that "hyper-sociability"—especially the drive to greet and interact with strangers—follows a unique developmental path.
August 15, 2003
A protein profile that predicts the prognosis for people with lung cancer has been identified by Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers. They found that a distinct pattern of expression of 15 proteins in lung cancers lets them predict whether a person with lung cancer has a good or poor prognosis, says a study in a recent issue of The Lancet.
August 15, 2003
People who underwent eight weeks of meditation training produced more antibodies to a flu vaccine and showed signs of increased activity in areas of the brain related to positive emotion than individuals who did not meditate, according to a new study in Psychosomatic Medicine.
August 6, 2003
The new find suggests that small changes in chemical sequences of human DNA—the master molecule of heredity—may interact to reduce people's resistance to cancer-causing environmental factors such as radiation, smoking and many chemical carcinogens, scientists say.
August 1, 2003
Since the time when humans first learned to record their thoughts in written form, codes have kept sensitive information from prying eyes. But conveying information through a code requires someone who can read it as well as write it. The same is true for one of nature's methods for transmitting information that activates or silences a gene: the "histone code."
August 1, 2003
All of us experience a successive decline in learning and memory capacities with ageing. In the course of their investigations of the neurophysiological basis of this decline, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine in Göttingen have obtained new insight into the mechanisms of age-related learning deficits in the mouse model.
July 31, 2003
For years we’ve been told to blame our obsession with thinness on society's glorification of it, and that eating disorders like anorexia were "social diseases." But research shows that genetics likely plays a big role too.
July 30, 2003
Healthy older people living with a partner feel they have the highest quality of life, whilst those in residential homes are likely to report the poorest, according to new research funded by the Economic & Social Research Council as part of its Growing Older Programme.
July 28, 2003
Britons aged between 45 and 69 could receive a rather strange phone call early next year. It will be their doctor, inviting them to come in for a blood test to have their DNA stored for posterity.
July 25, 2003
Drinking three or more cups of coffee a day can almost halve the risk of cirrhosis of the liver, according to a new study in Norway. The protective effect applies even among alcohol drinkers, whose risk of cirrhosis is much greater. But trying to compensate for excessive alcohol consumption by drinking lots of coffee is unlikely to work. Seven or eight cups a day provide no more protection against cirrhosis than do three.
July 23, 2003
A vegetarian "ape-diet", based on the foods our simian cousins eat, is as effective in lowering cholesterol as an established cholesterol-lowering drug, reveals a new study. High cholesterol levels increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.
July 22, 2003
People who are energetic, happy and relaxed are less likely to catch colds, while those who are depressed, nervous or angry are more likely to complain about cold symptoms, whether or not they get bitten by the cold bug, according to a recent study.
July 18, 2003
A team in Australia asked 1079 men with prostate cancer to fill in a questionnaire detailing their sexual habits, and compared their responses with those of 1259 healthy men of the same age. The team concludes that the more men ejaculate between the ages of 20 and 50, the less likely they are to develop prostate cancer.
July 18, 2003
Cornell scientists hope that medical researchers will come to recognize the role of rapid evolution. "HIV is evolving so quickly that researchers are struggling to make an effective vaccine. As we say in our report, evolution can substantially alter predator-prey dynamics. Attempts to understand population oscillations cannot afford to neglect the potential effects of ongoing, rapid evolution."
July 17, 2003
Telomere shortening may be one of the earliest and most prevalent changes on a cell's path to cancer, according to two new studies. Telomeres, the ubiquitous safety caps on the ends of chromosomes, help to maintain genomic integrity. As cells divide and age, telomere DNA is lost and telomeres get shorter and shorter.
July 11, 2003
Higher education or a larger brain may protect against dementia, according to new findings by researchers from the University of South Florida and the University of Kentucky. The study, published in the June issue of the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, provides important new evidence that either more years of formal education or better early brain development may help delay dementia in later life.
July 10, 2003
Scientists from Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a strategy that could one day be used to create functional human organs such as kidneys and livers. They present their research today at the American Society for Microbiology's conference on Bio- Micro- Nano-systems.
July 9, 2003
Knowing which gene causes Huntington's disease has so far not led to a cure or even a treatment. But as this ScienCentral News video reports, biomedical researchers have a powerful tool for stopping faulty genes from doing their damage
July 8, 2003
Chemical imbalances in the brain may be partly to blame for some life-disrupting sleep disorders, scientists have found. Brain scans showed people with two kinds of sleep problem—sleep apnoea and REM behaviour disorder (RBD)—produced abnormally low levels of the neurotransmitters dopamine and acetylcholine.
July 7, 2003
New findings suggests that some people with depression might have problems metabolizing the B vitamin folate—supporting the idea that supplements could help ward off the condition, researchers say.
July 4, 2003
A Los Alamos National Laboratory researcher and her colleagues have found that people with less common types of proteins on their white blood cells seem to mount a better immune response against the Human Immunodeficiency Virus—the virus that causes AIDS—and tend to fight progression of the disease better than people with common white blood cell proteins.
July 1, 2003
Scientists have found that people who carry a version of one particular gene may find it harder to give up their habit. However, there may be an upside. It seems that the same variant may protect people from developing lung disease.
June 30, 2003
"This study tells us that there many genes that affect lifespan, each on its own having only a small effect," said Cynthia Kenyon, PhD, UCSF professor of biochemistry and senior author on a paper in Nature reporting the research. "The beauty of the daf-2 gene is that it can bring all of these genes together into a common regulatory circuit. This allows it to produce these enormous effects on lifespan."
June 30, 2003
"We were very surprised to discover that people who speak different sorts of languages use their brains to decode speech in different ways," said Dr Sophie Scott, a psychologist at the Wellcome Trust. "It overturned some long-held theories."
June 18, 2003
Researchers from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Jacobs School of Engineering have uncovered evidence that major evolutionary changes are more likely to occur in approximately 400 ‘fragile’ genomic regions that account for only 5 percent of the human genome.
June 16, 2003
Cancerous and precancerous cells can detect that they are abnormal and kill themselves, or remain alive indefinitely but cease proliferating, through two intrinsic processes called programmed cell death and cellular senescence. Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island have uncovered a precise molecular mechanism that helps trigger the "stop growing" response of cells. The study is published in the June 13 issue of the journal Cell.
June 12, 2003
Just as our personal genetic code dictates our hair color and height, it also influences our response to medications. Some people may thrive on a drug that won't work on everyone. Some patients have serious adverse reactions to certain drugs. In others, generally effective medicines may be useless.
June 10, 2003
That there is a relationship between physical and psychological health goes back to the ancient Greeks, but it is only quite recently that it has been recognised that the immune system can have profound effects on thinking and emotion. One link is via stress.
June 6, 2003
Whether someone is looking directly at you or not when they are angry or afraid has an effect on how your brain interprets those expressions, says a group of Dartmouth researchers. In their study, the researchers found that the direction of another's gaze influences how your brain responds to fear and anger expressed by that person, specifically in your amygdala, which is the area in the brain that regulates emotions, detects potential threats and directs emotional behavior.
June 6, 2003
For decades, scientists have disagreed about the way the brain gathers memories, developing two apparently contradictory concepts. But newly published research by a team of scientists at Rutgers-Newark's Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience (CMBN) indicates that both models of memory may be partially correct--and that resolving this conflict could lead to new approaches for the treatment of memory disorders such as Alzheimer's Disease.
June 4, 2003
While women appear to begin with a lower density of tiny capillaries in their skeletal muscle than do men, this density seems to increase at a higher rate than men as a result of exercise, according to a new analysis by Duke University Medical Center researchers.
May 30, 2003
It is not the kind of news that will help matters. A study involving over 60,000 people suggests that people prone to anxiety are more likely to get cancer.
May 29, 2003
Preliminary observations of stroke patients with problems relating emotionally to others suggest that in order to feel empathy, people must be able to imitate the actions of others. According to one of the UCLA researchers, Marco Iacoboni, the findings suggest that empathy, or the ability to feel the emotions of others, is correlated with the degree to which one mimics their behavior. The findings contradict the longheld view that an intellectual, computer-like brain generates empathy within itself, suggesting instead that "a brain needs a body to understand other brains," he says.
May 27, 2003
Scientists may have discovered why the brain’s higher information-processing center slows down in old age, affecting everything from language, to vision, to motor skills. The findings may also point toward drugs for reversing the process.
March 27, 2003
The technique research scientists are using is similar to bio/neurofeedback. Patients who are unable to move a muscle can gain the ability to communicate by generating “waves” to form words and sentences. This is more evidence of the effectiveness of brain training!
March 27, 2003
Smaller than a virus, more precise and less dangerous, a new delivery system to get correcting genes into the brain is being developed, good news for Parkinson’s patients and others.
March 26, 2003
A molecule that naturally degrades a protein linked to Alzheimer's disease appears to reduce the levels of that protein by nearly 50 percent when delivered by gene therapy, researchers at the Salk Institute and UC San Diego have found in collaboration with researchers at the University of Kentucky.
March 26, 2003
Scientists from Imperial College and Charing Cross Hospital believe that it may be possible to improve memory by up to 10 percent through the use of neurofeedback. A trial with 40 persons shows promise.
March 26, 2003
Scientists have developed a natural alternative to morphine that appears to be as effective at killing pain, but has fewer side effects. The new drug is based on proteins called glycosylated enkephalins which are produced by the human body to reduce pain.
March 20, 2003
A new website is helping to protect traditional healers from exploitation by pharmaceutical companies while making a large and growing list of healing herbs available to the public.
March 20, 2003
Researchers hope to stop viruses such as HIV from entering cells by using nanotechnology to create tiny particles that interfere with the proteins to which viruses attach. Take a look at the future now!
March 20, 2003
The world's first brain prosthesis - an artificial hippocampus - is about to be tested in California. Unlike devices like cochlear implants, which merely stimulate brain activity, this silicon chip implant will perform the same processes as the damaged part of the brain it is replacing. This isn't science fiction!
March 10, 2003
Researchers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have looked back in evolutionary time and identified what may be a gene that was once only moderately effective in slowing down cellular reproduction, until it linked up with a more efficient set of genes to create a powerful anti-cancer response.
March 10, 2003
While some aging theories claim that you'd have to swap vitality for a longer life, new research suggests that tweaking a single gene could increase your lifespan without any such tradeoff.
March 10, 2003
Drug-resistant germs are on the rise in the United States and experts predict a sharp jump in the strains of a dangerous form of strep that can overcome two common antibiotics.
March 4, 2003
When it comes to pain, people can be wimps, stoics or somewhere in between. Now scientists have found one reason -- a variation in a single gene that shows stoics really can tolerate more pain.
March 4, 2003
Differences in our sense of taste may have major public health implications. So believes Linda Bartoshuk of Yale University School of Medicine, who has discovered that some people's hereditary sensitivity to bitter taste leads them to avoid cancer-protective fruit and vegetables such as brussel sprouts and spinach.
February 21, 2003
Time for a bit of humility. Some microorganisms can manipulate neural circuitry better than we can...
February 21, 2003
The bone decay of osteoporosis can cripple, but an improved understanding of how the body builds and loses bone is leading to ever better prevention and treatment options.
February 19, 2003
Like all good social psychologists, Jamie Arndt has more than a few ideas about ways people think and behave. He seeks to understand why people work so hard to feel good about themselves. The answer, he believes, can be found in an overriding fear of death.
February 17, 2003
Sleep is not just for resting. New research suggests the brain uses this apparent down time to process information obtained during the day into more permanent memories.
February 17, 2003
I had never heard of the amygdala until this week. It is a tiny thing, the size and shape of an almond - which its name means in Greek - and if you found it sitting on the table after a hectic Sunday lunch with the children, a little kidney-bean blob lurking next to a side plate, you would unhesitatingly sweep it away into the rubbish.
But this little soft nut-shaped blob will, I predict, over the next few years, enjoy a sharp rise into the general consciousness.
February 17, 2003
Your ancestors’ place of origin may determine how your body burns calories, according to a recent study.
February 17, 2003
Research shows that improving the diet of young offenders will reduce their criminal tendencies, says Dr John Briffa
May 1, 2002
Eat meat. That's the dietary advice given by a team of scientists who examined the dietary role of fat in a study that combined nutritional analysis with anthropologic research about the diets of ancient hunter-gatherer societies. But there's a catch: To be as healthy as a cave man you have to eat certain kinds of fish, wild game such as venison, or grass-fed meat such as beef.
May 1, 2002
Would you like to cure any diseases you have, prevent future diseases, and slow down the aging process? Of course you would. This is the promise of the bio-rational approach to health. It’s a new way of looking at the problems of disease and aging through the lens of our evolution...
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