Health, features and articles | Educational Science

Dec 31, 2009

Couch Potatoes May Have Shorter Lives

Lounging in front of the tube not only eats up hours in your day, it may also shorten your life, according to a new study. The study, which looked at the connection between watching TV and death for 8,800 Australian adults, found that each hour of TV-viewing was associated with...

Dec 31, 2009

Politicians Say Cell Phones Cause Cancer

Cell phones cause cancer, according to a breakthrough analysis by politicians from Maine who read some scary stuff on the Internet about it. If this small, enlightened group of representatives, led by State Representative Andrea Boland, is able to convince the rest of the state legislature later this month, then...

Dec 31, 2009

Embryos Like to Be Rocked Like Babies

Like babies that can be lulled to sleep with swaying, embryos also prefer to be rocked. By gently rocking embryos while they grew during in vitro fertilization, scientists increased pregnancy rates in mice by more than 20 percent. The same rock-a-bye procedure could lead to more success for in vitro...

Dec 31, 2009

U.S. Babies Are Getting Smaller

Babies born in the United States are getting smaller, according to a new study. The findings suggest that birth weights in this country have declined during the past 15 years, most dramatically among the least likely group of mothers. The researchers estimate that birth weights for full-term babies have decreased...

Dec 31, 2009

Magnesium May Boost Brainpower

Mice given extra doses of a new magnesium compound had better working memory, long-term memory and greater learning ability. Before you go popping heavy doses of magnesium, however, know that much more testing is needed. Though rodent brains work similarly to ours, animal studies do not always predict what will...

Nov 30, 2011

Secret Coca-Cola Recipe Displayed at Museum

The secret recipe for Coca-Cola, the world's best-selling soft drink, has stayed under lock and key in a bank vault in Atlanta since 1925. That is, until today (Dec. 8), when the priceless list of ingredients was carefully moved to a new vault that is now on display at the...

Nov 30, 2011

7 Things That Will Make You Happy

Finding Happiness (Image credit: Netfalls, Shutterstock)If you're happy and you know it, what's your secret? Researchers have uncovered plenty of factors, from genes to personal characteristics to life choices, that seem to coincide with happiness and its longer-lasting cousin, well-being. Here are a few you might have some control over....

Nov 30, 2011

Prozac Works Better When Given with Talk Therapy

Tens of millions of people in the United States have taken fluoxetine, sold under the brand name Prozac, since the Food and Drug Administration approved it 24 years ago. But while the antidepressant has helped many, questions have arisen about why people taking the drug see varying results. Now a...

Nov 30, 2011

11 Health Benefits of Christmas Dinner

Christmas Dinner Surprise (Image credit: Ingrid Balabanova | shutterstock)Besides providing you with quality family time and good cheer, Christmas dinner offers a bevy of surprisingly healthy dishes, as long as you don't overdo it. From the main course and yummy sides to desserts and holiday beverages, here are 11 healthy...

Nov 30, 2011

Doh! Top Science Journal Retractions of 2011

Bad science papers can have lasting effects. Consider the 1998 paper in the journal the Lancet that linked autism to the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella. That paper was fully retracted in 2010 upon evidence that senior author Andrew Wakefield had manipulated data and breached several proper ethical...

Nov 30, 2011

Aging Brains Match Youth in Some Mental Tasks

Since physical abilities decline as people age, many people think the elderly are also less able to perform mental jumping jacks as they age. New research indicates this might not be true with all brain-powered tasks: In some ways the elderly are fit to compete with their younger counterparts. Both...

Nov 30, 2011

Mosquitoes Pick Out Human Meals With Help from Microbes

Mosquitoes like some people better than others, and differences in the microbes living on our skin may help explain the bloodsuckers' dining preferences. It turns out men with a large variety of microbes living on their skin make for less attractive meals for the African malaria-carrying mosquito Anopheles gambiae sensu...

Nov 30, 2011

Top 10 Health & Happiness Lessons of 2011

A lengthy job search promotes worry, stress and anger, but a bad job is worse for happiness than no job at all. Those findings are on the Gallup polling agency's list of most compelling findings about health and happiness in 2011. The agency queries tens of thousands of Americans every...

Oct 31, 2011

Students Love Sweet Soda (Infographic)

7 Diet Tricks That Really Work10 Easy Paths to Self Destruction7 Foods Your Heart Will Hate ...

Oct 31, 2011

Sexual Seniors Are Happiest, Survey Finds

Older married couples who engage in sexual activity are more likely to be happy both with their relationship and their lives than those who have more infrequent sex, according to new research. The find reveals the importance of sexuality in adults ages 65 and older, said study researcher Adrienne Jackson,...