Booster shots: The accidental advantages of vaccines - health - 20 August 2013
Read full article Continue reading page |1|2|3 Some vaccines seem to provide us with a host of extra benefits. Is it time to see the cornerstone of modern medicine in a new light? Editorial: "Silence isn't golden when it comes to vaccines" HAVE a look at your left shoulder: if you are past your mid-twenties it almost certainly bears a circular scar. The Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccination was given to protect you from tuberculosis. There is growing evidence that vaccines have a wider-ranging influence on the immune system than we thought. Even in the West, where it is far less common for children to die from infectious illnesses, there are still surprising benefits: some vaccines seem to reduce our susceptibility to eczema and asthma. The World Health Organization, which is the main provider of vaccines in developing countries, has asked a group of vaccine experts to get to the bottom of it. What could the explanation be? But that may not be the whole story. More From New Scientist
10 Simple Things You Can Do Today That Will Make You Happier, Backed By Science
Happiness is so interesting, because we all have different ideas about what it is and how to get it. It’s also no surprise that it’s the Nr.1 value for Buffer’s culture, if you see our slidedeck about it. So naturally we are obsessed with it. I would love to be happier, as I’m sure most people would, so I thought it would be interesting to find some ways to become a happier person that are actually backed up by science. Here are ten of the best ones I found. 1. You might have seen some talk recently about the scientific 7 minute workout mentioned in The New York Times. Exercise has such a profound effect on our happiness and well-being that it’s actually been proven to be an effective strategy for overcoming depression. The groups were then tested six months later to assess their relapse rate. You don’t have to be depressed to gain benefit from exercise, though. 2. In NutureShock 3, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman explain how sleep affects our positivity: 3. Love this post? 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
First decrease in US childhood obesity - health - 09 August 2013
The great wave of obesity in US children may have crested. Children from low-income homes – who tend to be fatter than their counterparts from wealthier families – have become slightly, but significantly, leaner in recent years, a new government study reports. Epidemiologist Ashleigh May at the US Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, and her colleagues used data from the Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance System, in which medical workers recorded the height and weight of about 11.6 million preschool children from 43 US states and territories who were enrolled in government nutrition-assistance programmes between 2008 and 2011. The researchers then adjusted the data to account for differences due to race, age and sex. In 18 states and one territory, the proportion of children classified as obese declined significantly during the four years, they found. Tide turning The researchers cannot be certain about what is driving obesity rates downward. More From New Scientist
Food vs you: How your dinner controls you - health - 06 August 2013
FOR those of us who would like to shed a few pounds, dietary advice usually boils down to brute arithmetic. Reduce energy input by eating less, and increase energy output by exercising more. Simple. Except that as anyone who has tried it knows, it isn't. One reason is that our evolutionary history has given us a powerful drive to eat rich foods when they are available. But there's more to it than that.
Fixing broken brains: a new understanding of depression - health - 29 July 2013
Editorial: "New thinking means new hope on depression" ONE OF Vanessa Price's first chronic cases involved a woman we'll call Paula. Paula came to the London Psychiatry Centre, where Price is a registered nurse, after two years of unrelenting depression. The steady rise in this diagnosis over the past two decades reflects a little-known trend. The stubborn nature of these cases of depression has, however, spurred research into new and sometimes unorthodox treatments.
Play your way to evolutionary fitness - life - 09 September 2013
Book information Play, Playfulness, Creativity and Innovation by Patrick Bateson and Paul Martin Published by: Cambridge University Press Price: £21.99/$34.99 Fun stuff: children might need play so they can become creative as adults (Image: Aldo Sperber/Picturetank) No one is exactly sure why humans and animals play, but Patrick Bateson and Paul Martin propose an answer in Play, Playfulness, Creativity and Innovation BEFORE their first pregnancy, young female chimps often play with logs, cuddling them like babies, much as children play with dolls. Kittens tussle, rats tickle, and bottlenose dolphins play no fewer than 37 different aquatic games. Play has been observed in most mammals as well as birds, yet no scientific theory has provided a thorough explanation for this apparently aimless fun. There have been many theories. To do so takes creativity, which combines originality (conceiving novel ideas), fluency (generating many ideas) and flexibility (navigating between ideas).
The matrix: the secret to superhealing regeneration - health - 12 September 2013
"IT STARTED as a little sore near my knee, probably a mosquito bite," says Elizabeth Loboa. But the antibiotic ointment wasn't working, and within two weeks what was one wound had become three. From the looks of the wound, her doctor suspected the superbug MRSA and prescribed powerful last-line oral antibiotics. Loboa wasn't just any patient. At the heart of Loboa's superplaster is a material that degrades until nothing is left but your own, newly regenerated, healthy cells.
The matrix: the secret to superhealing regeneration - health - 12 September 2013
"IT STARTED as a little sore near my knee, probably a mosquito bite," says Elizabeth Loboa. But the antibiotic ointment wasn't working, and within two weeks what was one wound had become three. From the looks of the wound, her doctor suspected the superbug MRSA and prescribed powerful last-line oral antibiotics. It was at that point that the temptation just became too great. Loboa wasn't just any patient. At the heart of Loboa's superplaster is a material that degrades until nothing is left but your own, newly regenerated, healthy cells.
HIV infection figures tumbling around the world - health - 26 September 2013
HAPPY days! Although HIV is still at large, it's on the back foot. Figures released this week by the United Nations AIDS agency show that the annual number of new HIV infections in children has more than halved since 2001, from 550,000 to 260,000. New infections overall have tumbled by a third over the same period. "Many of the reductions are related to increases in the availability of antiretroviral therapy," says Peter Ghys, at UNAIDS. Ghys says other key factors include scaled-up programmes to prevent mothers with HIV passing the virus to their babies, and the increase of male circumcision programmes in Africa. Recent changes to eligibility rules mean an additional 10 million can now receive ART, raising hopes of further success. This article appeared in print under the headline "HIV running scared" Share on emailShare on gmailShare on stumbleupon More From New Scientist Permanent tattoos inked by hacked 3D printer (New Scientist) Why our brains work better with age (New Scientist)
