Cancer cells in neuroblastoma contain a molecule that breaks down a key energy source for the body’s immune cells, leaving them too physically drained to fight the disease, according to new research published in the journal Cancer Research today (Saturday). Cancer Research UK-funded scientists have discovered that the cells in neuroblastoma – a rare type…
Read MoreLatest Posts
Hepatitis: Time for action on one of the big four infectious diseases
Posted by admin on July 29, 2015According to Hepatitis Australia almost half a million Australians live with hepatitis B or hepatitis C and up to 1,000 Australians die each year as a result of these infections. Across the world, viral hepatitis causes 1·44 million deaths every year – a figure comparable to deaths from conditions such as HIV/AIDS (1·46 million), tuberculosis…
Read MoreBig Tobacco’s gift to the gun lobby
Posted by admin on July 29, 2015In the late 1970s, the US tobacco industry was faced with a problem: it was no longer able to convincingly propagate the idea that cigarettes were good for you. It rightly supposed that this might lead to calls for anti-smoking legislation and, in anticipation, created an explicit doctrine: where a debate is unwinnable, change it….
Read MoreFear-based health information causes new mothers anxiety
Posted by admin on July 25, 2015Doctors, nurses and public health practitioners give health advice with the best intentions. They want pregnant women and their babies to be physically and mentally healthy. They want to support women and protect families. They want new mothers to have the best available evidence at their fingertips, but also to “trust their intuition”. Problem is,…
Read MoreWhen people know it’s a placebo, they still work
Posted by admin on July 25, 2015The oft-studied placebo effect and the confounding powers of the human brain show why there is real medicine and the alternative kind or, even worse, homeopathy, that are not real. A sugar pill, or magic water, can sometimes make people feel better. What if you know it’s a placebo? CU-Boulder graduate student Scott Schafer has…
Read MoreIndependent researchers find no glyphosate in breast milk
Posted by admin on July 25, 2015An accredited, outside organization has verified a study which found that glyphosate, the main ingredient in the herbicide Roundup, does not accumulate in mother’s breast milk, disputing the claims of a ground funded by political activists called Moms Across America, which claimed they had found it to be both present and dangerous. Michelle McGuire, an associate…
Read MoreFractal globule: DNA pack themselves into the cell nucleus like spaghetti
Posted by admin on July 23, 2015A group of researchers from the Lomonosov Moscow State University tried to address one of the least understood issues in the modern molecular biology, namely, how do strands of DNA pack themselves into the cell nucleus. Scientists concluded that packing of the genome in a special state called “fractal globule”, apart from other known advantages…
Read MoreTeens with medical marijuana cards much likelier to claim addiction
Posted by admin on July 23, 2015A new University of Michigan study finds that teens using marijuana for medical reasons are 10 times more likely to say they are hooked on marijuana than youth who get marijuana illegally. The study is the first to report on a nationally representative sample of 4,394 high school seniors and their legal or illegal medical…
Read MoreAre invisibility cloaks possible?
Posted by admin on July 23, 2015Have you ever wished you could hide under an invisibility cloak like Harry Potter or conceal your car with a Klingon cloaking device like in Star Trek? In a special Thursday bonus episode of Reactions, we celebrate the International Year of Light by exploring the science behind light, sight and invisibility. Though we can’t make…
Read MoreBPA risk to infants smaller than claimed
Posted by admin on April 23, 2015Though a majority of newborns are exposed in their earliest days to bisphenol A (BPA), a much-studied chemical used in plastics and in food and soda can linings, they rid their bodies of it, according to a study in The Journal of Pediatrics which challenges claims on BPA toxicology promoted in corporate media and on…
Read More