Health

Animation explains how viruses attack our cells to make us sick

Staying healthy is a lot like medieval warfare. Cells vs viruses. There are cells defending their castles and viruses trying to break through. If a sneaky virus manages to attack a cell, the cell fights it and notifies all the other castles about what to build to defend it. Man, learning about biology is so…

France Lost Thousands of Vials Containing the SARS Virus

Somebody’s definitely getting fired, after over 2,300 vials containing fragments of the deadly SARS virus went missing from the Pasteur Institute in France earlier this week. Not one or two vials, mind you. Thousands of them. Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be okay. Despite the fact that the vials of SARS were stored in a…

Scientists have begun investigating possible health impacts of e-cigarettes, and the preliminary findings aren’t good. “The nicotine-laced vapor generated by an electronic cigarette promoted the development of cancer in certain types of human cells much in the same way that tobacco smoke does,” notes Barry Meier in the NYT.

​Can You Control Your Metabolism With Your Mind?

Well… maybe. In this intriguing video piece, NPR’s Alix Spiegel discusses the work of Columbia psychologist Alia Crum, whose research suggests that food labels have a placebo effect on the way our bodies respond to food and experience hunger. But to what extent do these results mean that we can think ourselves thin? Crum designed…

A Rare Genetic Mutation in These Siblings Makes Them Immune to Viruses

Viruses are incompetent but smart little things. Unable to make proteins on their own, they hijack ours for their own nefarious purposes. But what if we gave the viruses broken proteins? An incredibly rare genetic disorder in a brother and sister pair does exactly that, making them immune to many classes of viruses—and suggesting new…

Everyone Has Hemorrhoids (Yes, Even You)

Much like bathroom-humor at the dinner table, hemorrhoids can be a taboo subject. The truth is, everyone has them. Their job is to protect your anal sphincter muscles (the ones that open and close your anus) and to help keep your anus closed when you have moments of increased abdominal pressure, like when you’re coughing.…

British Scientists Say They’ve Created Artificial Blood for Humans

Somebody ring the bell at the blood factory, because it’s almost time to get those assembly lines running. Almost. A team of British scientists say they’ve created red blood cells suitable for transfusion into humans, a breakthrough that could change the lives of millions—if it works. The announcement comes from Marc Turner, a Wellcome Trust-funded…

Cutting-Edge Cancer Research: Cannibalism, Zombies & Suicidal Cells

Cancer research is tough stuff—but it’s also surprisingly gruesome, too. This Sci Show video explains how the latest insights into curing the disease include cannibalism, zombies and suicidal cells. Don’t worry, it’s not on the human level: these findings are all about what happens to cells. But it’s fascinating to hear about the weird and…

How Do You Get People To Care About Dogs Pooping Where They Shouldn’t?

The answer, some scientists hope, is to tell them how much everyone’s dogs’ poop weighs, and how much it costs to clean that shit up when it lands where it shouldn’t. For instance: There are 8-million dogs in the UK. Guess how much crap they produce on a daily basis. A ton? Fifty tons? Five-hundred…

This App Could Help You Overcome Jetlag Faster

Entrain is an app designed by mathematicians at the University of Michigan and Yale University to minimize the effects of jetlag. They’ve released the app for free so that folks like us can try it out and help perfect it. When your circadian clock is out of sync with your specific location’s day and night…

New Hepatitis C ‘Cure’ Hailed as a Breakthrough, Costs $1000 a Day

An international study involving 380 patients has seen 90% of patients “cured” of Hepatitis C in the course of 12 weeks. Experts are calling the treatment a turning point in the treatment of the pernicious disease, which wreaks havoc on the livers of those it infects. Too bad it costs over $80,000 for a course…

Daytime Napping Linked to Increased Risk of Death

Today in unsettling news: Results published in a recent issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology suggest a correlation between daytime napping and increased mortality risk. Photo Credit: Ernesto De Quesada // CC BY 2.0 The study, led by University of Cambridge epidemiologist Yue Leng, looked at the associations between daytime napping and mortality in…

Retro Educational Posters Reimagine The Human Body As A Factory

This 1933 Chinese health education poster analogizes the human body to an industrial factory, one in a series of images designed to help viewers better understand their own physiology. The US National Library of Medicine has a great collection of these strikingly illustrated posters, as well as a second set of posters from 1951. Even…

COVER YOUR MOUTH, YOU FILTHY ANIMAL

Here for sharing far and wide is an animation that shows just how propulsive (repulsive?) a sneeze can be. The footage was acquired by MIT researchers Lydia Bourouiba and John Bush. The pair collaborated with Eline Dehandschoewercker, a graduate student at ESPCI ParisTech, and used high speed imaging, lab simulations and mathematical models to create…

Tracking an Ebola Outbreak in a City Without Maps

If you Google Map Guéckédou, the Guinean city smack dab in the Ebola virus’s deadly domain right now, you’d see just an abstract blotch of beige and yellow. Zoom all the way in on satellite view, and you can barely make out the outlines of buildings. Don’t even think about trying Street View. Google Maps…

Twenty years ago, only 1–2% of women with cancer in one breast opted for a double mastectomy. Today, that number can approach 25%. Why? According to surgical oncologist Todd Tuttle, the spike is largely explained by an inconsistency between real and perceived risk of developing cancer in the second breast.

Could Google Glass Really Help People with Parkinson’s?

While the world has been squabbling about Glassholes, doctors have quietly been testing the potential of Google Glass in medicine. Features that may seem silly to use in a cafe or on the subway have real advantages in the doctor’s office. Hand-free control? Remote diagnosis? On-demand medical records? Check check check. Now researchers are testing…

Bad News: E-Cigs Alter Cells a Lot Like Tobacco Does

A new cancer study brings more bad news to the e-cigarette industry. Scientists exposed human bronchial cells to e-cig vapor and found that it altered the cells in a way not dissimilar to tobacco. In other words, that delicious, seemingly risk-free nicotine vapor might not be so benign, after all. Don’t worry too much, though,…

Nanoparticles in Consumer Products Could Be Damaging Your DNA

Masses of products—from cosmetics to clothing—now contain nanoparticles, to kill microbes, lengthen shelf life or provide other wonderful properties. But new research from MIT and Harvard suggests they could also be damaging your DNA. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health’s Center for Nanotechnology and Nanotoxicology have found that that both silver and zinc…

Is It a Good Idea to Vaporize and Inhale Alcohol?

Vaporizing, and then inhaling alcohol has gained a lot of attention lately. In the 1950s it was introduced as a treatment for excessive fluid in your lungs, called pulmonary edema. It’s now gained popularity as a way to quickly become intoxicated. Proponents of this process-to-become-plastered, tout several benefits compared to drinking it. Many claim you…