Immune System, features and articles | Educational Science

Jul 31, 2016

Why Amish Kids Get Less Asthma: It's the Cows

One way to reduce children's rates of asthma may come from dairy farms, a new study finds. And not just any dairy farms — Amish dairy farms, to be exact. Kids who grow up in Amish communities have much lower rates of asthma than the general population, potentially thanks to...

Nov 4, 2004

The Sexy, Healthy Scent of a Man

The scent of a man, at least among mice, can reveal the state of his health and determine whether a female gets pregnant, a new study shows. The research suggests that other animals, perhaps even you, choose mates in part based on the strength of their immune systems. Previous research...

Feb 7, 2006

Scientists Evolve Virus to Slip Past Human Immune System

In a project that could benefit human health, scientists forced the evolution of a common virus so that it can avoid the human immune system, making it potentially useful as a delivery vehicle for gene therapy. The adeno-associated virus, or AAV, infects about 90 percent of humans. Our immune system...

Jun 18, 2006

Natural Body Guards: How Your Killer Cells Get Motivated

Natural killer cells form the body's front line of defense. When viruses and cancers attack, the cells keep the invaders at bay while the rest of the immune system prepares. Unlike our other immune cells, natural killer cells are always at the ready. They have an innate ability to recognize...

Sep 2, 2008

Diary of a Dying Mom

I will nurture them for as long as I can, and then trust that the world will take over from there. — Michelle Mayer The hundreds of herbal and vitamin concoctions promising to boost immunity and fight disease may leave you thinking that there's no limit to how strong the...

Oct 1, 2008

Deadly Bacteria Sacrifice and Cooperate

Cooperation is so pervasively human that expressions of it can be seen in all groups of people, regardless of culture or age. From children to corporations to entire nations, some play nicer than others. But cooperative and non-cooperative behavior is not uniquely human. The survival of many other organisms, including...

Jul 31, 2009

Caught on Video: Immune Cell Destroys Bacteria

In a starring role for E. coli, researchers have developed a new technique to make movies of bacteria as they infect their victims and are consumed by the host's immune cells. The movies mark the first time that scientists have been able to look at bacteria infecting living organisms in...

Dec 8, 2009

Germs May Be Good For You

Exposing kids to nasty germs might actually toughen them up to diseases as grown-ups, mounting research suggests. A new study suggests that higher levels of exposure to common everyday bacteria and microbes may play a helpful role in the development of the body's inflammatory systems, which plays a crucial role...

Mar 12, 2010

What Causes a Fever?

Fever occurs typically when a virus or bacteria invades the body. The immune system produces chemicals called pyrogens, which trick the brain's hypothalamus (where the body's thermostat resides) into sensing an artificially cool body temperature. The brain responds like any good warm-blooded animal's would, by knocking the thermostat up a...

Mar 25, 2010

Optimism Boosts Immune System

Optimism doesn't just boost your mood. According to new research, a glass-half-full attitude also strengthens the immune system. The study, which tracked changes in optimism and immune response among first-year law students, found that as students became more optimistic, they showed stronger cell-mediated immunity, the flood of immune cells that...

Apr 22, 2010

Losing Weight Helps Immune System

Excess fat around the abs can turn the body's defense system against you, leading to heart and other diseases. Australian researchers found that for obese individuals, shedding just 10 pounds could straighten out an off-balance immune system. The immune system is made up of many different kinds of cells that...

May 13, 2010

Cheese Boosts Immune System in Elderly

Cheese can help preserve and enhance the immune system of the elderly by acting as a carrier for probiotic, or good, bacteria, a new study finds. The research, published in FEMS Immunology & Medical Microbiology, reveals that daily consumption of probiotic cheese helps to tackle age-related changes in the immune...

Jun 14, 2010

Plastic Designer Molecules May Boost Immune System

Plastic molecules made to mimic the body’s natural disease-fighters and injected into living animals behaved like antibodies, latching onto foreign molecules and launching an attack against them in the bloodstream. The breakthrough is a step toward the medical use of these custom-fabricated particles for targeted attacks on viruses and other...

Dec 16, 2010

Primate Immune Systems Offer Clues to Combating Disease

Humans may be smarter than our primate cousins, but research has shown their immune systems may trump ours, in some ways. We tend to be more susceptible to HIV, cancer, hepatitis and other infectious diseases than some of our closest relatives. Because humans share the majority of our genetic makeup...

Apr 20, 2011

What's in Your Gut? 3 Bacterial Profiles Defined

Similar to the classification of blood types, the bacteria in our guts appear to fit into one of three categories that have no relation to our nationality, age, sex and other characteristics, new research indicates.The study combined genetic information from about three dozen people in six countries, revealing that everyone...