New Solution For Tooth Decay: Just Grow A New Tooth Cavity seen on an x-ray.: image via webMD.com The main treatment for cavities - drill and fill - has given the dental profession a bad rep. Ask people what they hate to do most, and I bet half of them will say "Going to the dentist." But now, French researchers at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research in Paris have developed a painless and simple method that could very soon put an end to fillings. You know - Novocaine, water, air, drilling, sore mouth, and chemical taste? Fillings are used to fill holes left by tooth decay. They made a gel substance from MSH (melanocyte-stimulating hormone) with poly-L-glutamic acid, a strong survivor often used to transport drugs through our bodies because it can fight off stomach acids that might destroy the medication. MSH is a substance that is naturally produced by the pituitary gland and it is active in determining the lightness or darkness of our skin color. Isn't science great?
JohnnyThan : Meine Frau und ich bei... Praising slowness - Carl Honore Brainstorm examples of what Honoré calls “bad slow” and “good slow.” Create an entertaining way to share your examples with others, and work with classmates to launch a “Slow Living” exhibit or fair in your community—perhaps in conjunction with the Global Day of Slow Living (exact dates vary year to year, but it usually falls during spring). Honoré says, “Some of the most heartrending emails that I get on my website are actually from adolescents hovering on the edge of burnout, pleading with me to write to their parents, to help them slow down, to help them get off this full-throttle treadmill.” Inspired by these pleas and growing out of his own experiences as a parent, three years after his TED talk Honoré authored "Under Pressure: Rescuing Our Children From The Culture Of Hyper-Parenting." Work with classmates to survey or interview parents and children in your community. Slow Food International
Cancer vaccine success | Harvard Gazette Online A cancer vaccine carried into the body on a carefully engineered, fingernail-sized implant is the first to successfully eliminate tumors in mammals, scientists report this week (Nov. 25) in the journal Science Translational Medicine. The new approach, pioneered by bioengineers and immunologists at Harvard University, uses plastic disks impregnated with tumor-specific antigens and implanted under the skin to reprogram the mammalian immune system to attack tumors. The journal article describes the use of such implants to eradicate melanoma tumors in mice. “This work shows the power of applying engineering approaches to immunology,” said David J. Most cancer cells easily skirt the immune system, which operates by recognizing and attacking invaders from outside the body. Conventional cancer vaccinations remove immune cells from the body, reprogram them to attack malignant tissues, and return them to the body. Mooney’s co-authors are Omar A.
Wanting Meaningful Work Is Not a First World Problem - Umair Haque “I read your latest essay.” Arms crossed, eyes ablaze. “I don’t think you get it. I’d met Sophie, one of my mentees, for what I’d thought was going to be a pleasant chat over good coffee on a perfect autumn day. “Meaning,” she muttered, staring darkly into her cup. “Meaning,” she said again. Many of us, I’d bet, feel like this: in a hardscrabble age of austerity, the search for meaning is an unaffordable self-indulgence, the torrid affair that painfully breaks up the quietly satisfying marriage, an idly romantic daydream, the jackpot whose price is misfortune; that if one is to survive another lost decade, searching for meaning is something like mining the fools’ gold of life. But she wasn’t done with me yet. Man, let me tell you. Most of us, I’d bet, are something like naive Maslovians — we subscribe to a theory of human motivation, and human values, that line up altogether too neatly with Maslow’s famous pyramid, without considering the deeper nuances of his insights.
MIT Student Develops $3 Cutting-Edge Healing Device, Field Tested in Haiti No one really knows why, but for an open wound, simply applying suction dramatically speeds healing times. (The theory is that the negative pressure draws bacteria out, and encourages circulation.) But for almost everyone, that treatment is out of reach--simply because the systems are expensive--rentals cost at least $100 a day and need to be recharged every six hours. No more. Danielle Zurovcik, a doctoral student at MIT, has created a hand-powered suction-healing system that costs about $3. The device is composed of an airtight wound dressing, connected by a plastic tube to a cylinder with accordion-like folds. Zurovcik originally intended to field-test the device in Rwanda, but then the Haiti Earthquake struck. Currently, Zurovcik is verifying the healing benefits of the device, and developing a new model that can be readily carried and concealed. [Top image: Melanie Gonick/MIT; Bottom image: Patrick Gillooly/MIT]
3 Tips for Conquering Job Burnout | Michael S. Broder, Ph.D. Can you relate to the following scenario? You once approached your work in a dedicated, passionate and enthusiastic way. You were eager and excited about your responsibilities. While you were aware that there are built-in frustrations in your work with coworkers, clientele, or the system itself, you felt that you were making an important contribution to your organization and/or field. But gradually, you've begun to feel a sense of stagnation. It's important to realize that not just anyone experiences burnout. Here are three tips to get your job burnout under control, to reconnect with your passion and restore your positive attitude about work: Stop devaluing yourself -- Burnout can occur when you're not feeling valued by others but even more often occurs when as a result you devalue yourself. Take back control -- Almost every job has a variety of characteristics that are not your choice. For more by Michael S. For more on stress, click here.