Scientific American - Health
Science news and technology updates from Scientific American
Molecules to Medicine: Plan B: The Tradition of Politics at the FDA
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:39:00 EST
Morning After The Morning's Trash
In my last post , I focused on flaws in the medical device approval process. The Union of Concerned Scientists FDA at a Crossroads meeting also covered problems with drug approval. This is perhaps no better illustrated than by the disappointing decision by Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius to deny the emergency contraceptive, Plan B, over-the-counter status for women under the age of 17 . This was a particular disappointment to many because President Obama had promised that decisions at the FDA would be made based on science, rather than politics. Some of us, naively, hoped that change we can believe in was real, having forgotten that the Tooth Fairy wasn t.
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Concussion Is a Serious Problem for Child Athletes
Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST
The dangers of life in the National Football League made headlines in 2009, when a study commissioned by the NFL found that retired players were 19 times more likely than other men of similar ages to develop severe memory problems. The obvious culprit: continued play after repeated head injuries. Indeed, head injury can imitate many types of neurodegenerative disease, including Parkinson’s disease and, as journalist Jeffrey Bartholet reports in “The Collision Syndrome,” on page 66, perhaps even amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
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For Healthy Cities, Government and Business Need to Reverse Roles
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST
Okay, I have to be honest with you. I love a city, and a downtown with walkways and tunnels and bus stops that tell me where my buses are via GPS and everything else, but sometimes you can just have more connectivity than you need. Remember the internet-connected toaster, that singed the weather forecast into your morning toast?
Well, meet the Big Belly Solar Trash Compactor, a precocious trash can that lives in Raleigh, NC.
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Conflicts and Cooperation in Conservation: Adventures in Researching the Pygmy Hippopotamus on Tiwai Island, Sierra Leone
Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:53:00 EST
CamTrapTeam (Left to right): Bockary, Kenewa, April and Alusine at a camera trap on Tiwai Island
Our vehicle pulled into the village late one rainy night. Dozens of my new neighbors, Sierra Leone s Mende people, emerged from their thatch-roof houses, looking cross at being woken up and not exactly welcoming. We unloaded some of my gear underneath the dripping eaves, and as I tried to find something dry to wear, I realized that all my equipment: books, electronics, and gear, were soaking wet in the back of the truck. I had spent the entire day with a driver whose accent was so thick that several minutes into a conversation about cheese, I realized we were discussing chiefs, not cheddar. I had eaten entrails soup for lunch, been bounced over dirt roads for over 10 hours, and knew not a single person around me. I was suddenly glad it was dark so that nobody could see the silent tears streaming down my face.
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Legionnaire's Disease at the Luxor: What Causes It?
Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:22:00 EST
The slinky rods of Legionalla pneumophila. If you didn't know better, you might assume these were extruded by a Play-Doh Fun Factory. CDC Public Health Image Library Image #11151. CDC/ Margaret Williams, PhD; Claressa Lucas, PhD;Tatiana Travis, BS
In July 1976, a convention of members of the American Legion — a veterans’ group — was meeting in Philadelphia at the Belleville Stratford Hotel in honor of America’s bicentennial. Soon, 221 attendees would be sickened and 34 dead of an illness it was believed no one had ever seen before. Swine flu was suspected , as were toxic chemicals or terrorism of some sort. None of these proved to be the cause.
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Synchronized Eating: Social Influences on Eating Behavior
Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:01:00 EST
When I was a kid, I used to spend hours listening to Adam Carolla and Dr. Drew Pinsky on their Sunday night call-in radio show Loveline . I listened so often that I began to incorporate one of their catchphrases – “good times” – into my daily conversations. Scientists have a name for this phenomenon: behavioral mimicry .
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Fecal Transplants: The Straight Poop
Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:47:08 EST
Journalist and author Maryn McKenna talks about fecal transplants, which have proven to be exceptionally effective at remodeling the intestinal microbiome and curing C. diff infections, but which remain in regulatory limbo. Web sites related to this episode include www.marynmckenna.com , Swapping Germs: Should Fecal Transplants Become Routine for Debilitating Diarrhea? [More]
Virtual Reality Contact Lenses Could Be Available by 2014
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST
Contact lenses that help enhance normal vision with megapixel 3D panoramic images are being designed by scientists using military funding.
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ScienceOnline2012: The Music Video
Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:39:00 EST
Video of the Week #28 February 1st, 2012
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#SciAmBlogs - Science of Mysteries, Plan B, green cities, science-art, and more.
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:02:00 EST
- Jennifer Ouellette – The Science of Mysteries: Leave Us the Counterpoint
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#SciAmBlogs Tuesday - Cotard's syndrome, pigeon parasite, Haeckel, clumped bacteria, aurorae, `polite' sexism, and more.
Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:19:00 EST
You may have noticed a little improvement installed today – now you can see each blog post in a print-friendly form and then print it that way. Just click on the “Print” button, like this:
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#SciAmBlogs Thursday - tsunami debris, groundhogs, apes in suits, kakapos, butterfly drones and more
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:56:00 EST
- Harold Johnson – Tsunami Debris & North America: Is the Tail Wagging the Dog?
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Schism over H5N1 Avian Flu Research Leaks Out
Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:44:00 EST
Caption: Electron micrograph of H5N1 virus (gold) Image: CDC/Courtesy of Cynthia Goldsmith; Jacqueline Katz; Sherif R. Zaki
NEW YORK Sparks flew Thursday night at a New York Academy of Sciences panel discussion about whether or not certain recent research into the H5N1 avian flu virus has created a major biosecurity threat and what, if anything, to do about it.
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New Map Shows that Most Lyme-Infected Ticks Are in Northeast, Northern Midwest
Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST
Female blacklegged tick courtesy of Graham Hickling/University of Tennessee
Lyme disease is notoriously tough to diagnose. The symptoms often don’t appear for one or two weeks after a bite and can vary from feeling flu-ish to longer-term neurological damage. And ticks seem to lie in wait throughout much of the U.S., prepared to pounce and infect a passerby.
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#SciAmBlogs Wednesday - #scio12 art and video, pigmy hippos, spider webs, sunfish, synchronized eating and more.
Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:34:00 EST
Wednesday, the new Video of the Week day – have fun!
LOTS of good reading today:
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Controversy: Can Repeat Concussions Cause Lou Gehrig's Disease? (preview)
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:05:00 EST
Kevin Turner was a premier athlete in the National Football League, a fullback who could run, catch and block. At 6' 1" and roughly 230 pounds, he was slightly undersized for his position, but he had tremendous thrust in his legs and used all of it to launch himself into players who were bigger than he was. He played for the New England Patriots from 1992 to 1994, then joined the Philadelphia Eagles, with whom he stayed until his abrupt retirement in 1999. Some called him “the Collision Expert”--a nickname he got because of the gouges he collected on his helmet.
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Inside Story: What Happens When Brain Hits Skull
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:00:00 EST
Concussion, the most common among traumatic brain injuries, which occurs 1.7 million times a year in the U.S., represents a major public-health problem. It occurs when there is a sudden acceleration or deceleration of the head, a process depicted here in this animation.
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Could an Infection Cause Tourette's-Like Symptoms in Teenage Girls?
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:05:00 EST
Over the weekend Erin Brockovich made the news yet again as she and her nonprofit team descended on the village of Le Roy, N.Y., determined to test for environmental toxins that might be giving the town's teenagers symptoms of Tourette's syndrome. She has reportedly been stonewalled thus far by local officials, who have already ruled out toxins as the cause of last October's sudden outbreak of tics and involuntary movements in 12 girls who attend Le Roy Junior–Senior High School. An environmental testing company surveyed the air and water and found nothing amiss, and a local neurologist concluded upon examining the girls that they had "conversion disorder," a catchall moniker for physical symptoms that originate in the mind because of stress, trauma or even mass hysteria.
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More with Maryn: McKenna on Antibiotic Resistance
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:10:08 EST
Journalist and author Maryn McKenna talks about antibiotic resistance in agriculture and human health, MRSA, and a brief return to the subject of fecal transplants. [More]
Signs Boost Stair Climbing
Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:15:08 EST
There’s an easy way to encourage people to take the stairs instead of an elevator: put up a sign reminding them to.
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