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A Good Night's Sleep Shores Up Memory

8 hours of shut-eye helps brain function the next day, study suggests

(Newser) - Nothing improves memory like a little shut-eye, a new study suggests. Researchers taught new information and skills to two groups of patients, and allowed one to sleep normally while giving the other none or only a nap. The sleepers tested better the next day–and scans revealed enhanced brain activity...

Bourbon a Day Keeps the Arthritis Away

Regular drinkers are half as likely to develop joint disease

(Newser) - Swedish scientists have found another perk for regular drinkers, the BBC reports, with imbibers up to 50% less likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis. In two studies involving several thousand participants, those who downed 5 glasses of wine a week saw their risk cut in half. The study reiterated that smoking...

Phone Data Used to Map Human Activity

Study, outside US, finds ingrained habits, raises privacy issues

(Newser) - Researchers using mobile-phone data to study patterns of human movement find that we're quite creatures of habit, the BBC reports. The 100,000 randomly selected subjects—outside the US, where such tracking would be illegal, the AP notes—remained mostly in the same small area, traveling less than 6½ miles...

Why Organic Tomatoes Are Better for You

Researchers probe antioxidant-enhanced tomatoes

(Newser) - Some organically grown tomatoes appear to have higher levels of potent antioxidants, and the reason may be in the fertilizer, NPR reports. Researchers at UC Davis running tests on levels of the antioxidants, known as flavonoids, found 79%-97% higher flavonoid levels in the organic tomatoes.

Scientists Building Better Bug Spray

Pepper compounds keep mosquitoes away 3 times longer than top dog DEET

(Newser) - Researchers have found bug repellents that keep mosquitoes from biting for up to 73 days, WebMD reports. Compounds found in pepper kept bugs away nearly three times as long as industry leader DEET, which manages just 17.5 days under the same conditions—though a normal human would sweat or...

Climate Killing Medical Hopes
 Climate Killing Medical Hopes 
Apr 23, 2008 1:53 PM CDT

Climate Killing Medical Hopes

UN conference highlights the dangers of fading biodiversity

(Newser) - The loss of biodiversity on Earth will seriously hamper efforts to cure human disease, AFP reports. Researchers at the UN-backed Business for the Environment conference highlighted undiscovered cures for pain, infections and even cancer that risk being lost forever if humans fail to reverse the widespread extinction of thousands of...

Darwin's Papers Now Online
Darwin's Papers Now Online
Apr 17, 2008 4:48 PM CDT

Darwin's Papers Now Online

Once-private drafts, notes and even recipes of evolutionary scientist are free to public

(Newser) - A vast collection of the papers of Charles Darwin is now online, providing public access to volumes once restricted to Cambridge scholars, the BBC reports. 20,000 items are available, including the first draft of his seminal book on evolution, travel notes and personal pieces such as family recipes, Reuters...

Ex-Soviet Monkeys Survive 15-Year Limbo

Breakaway republic can barely support survivors from better times

(Newser) - Traumatized monkeys once the subjects of Soviet experiments are odd remnants of a more prosperous time in Abkhazia, an area of Georgia that calls itself independent, the Los Angeles Times reports. The area was crippled in its effort to break away from Georgia, but the 286 primates living in a...

Personalized Security Protects Laptops

New software adjusts to individuals' behavior

(Newser) - A new laptop security system in development at Intel learns to adjust to you—that is, the user—getting to know your pattern of Internet use in order to provide more personalized protection. The software, called Proteus, is meant for companies that provide laptops to many employees, normally equipping all...

Money Brings Happiness — if You Give it Away

Researchers discover giving makes people happier than receiving

(Newser) - Money can buy happiness after all, the Globe & Mail reports. A new study shows that people reported being happier if they spent money on others rather than themselves. "This work suggests that even making small alterations in how we spend money on a daily basis can make a...

Why Girls Are Better at Language
Why Girls Are Better at Language
Mar 6, 2008 11:12 AM CST

Why Girls Are Better at Language

Study finds brain wiring gives girls the edge

(Newser) - Study after study has found that girls have better language skills than boys, and scientists now think they've found a biological reason why, Scientific American reports. Researchers discovered that girls showed more activity in the language part of their brains, which deciphers abstract encoding, than boys. The boys had more...

Mind-Reading Edges Closer to Reality

New computer can determine what you're looking at

(Newser) - Mind-reading has taken a step toward possibility with a new computer that can decode brain activity to determine what a person is looking at with up to 90% accuracy, the Independent reports. With improvements, the technology could be able to reconstruct any image a person could conjure up—and someday,...

Hot Water Leaches Harmful Chemical From Plastic

Study finds plastic bottles leach chemical BPA in hot water

(Newser) - Hot liquid causes a potentially harmful chemical to leach out of certain plastics much faster than usual, researchers have found. The study, published in Toxicology Letters, discovered that  bisphenol A, or BPA, was released from some common plastic bottles 55 times faster when they were placed in boiling water. Concerns...

Second Life Offers Aid for Asperger's

Online virtual world helps socially awkward patients pick up, practice skills

(Newser) - Sufferers from Asperger’s syndrome, characterized by an inability to pick up social cues, are getting an unlikely assist from the virtual world Second Life, ABC News reports. Researchers have found that the site, in which users communicate through online avatars, is more effective than other therapies for guiding patients...

Probe Zips Over Mercury Today
Probe Zips Over Mercury Today
Jan 14, 2008 4:33 AM CST

Probe Zips Over Mercury Today

Messenger will take 1,200 pictures from 124 miles up

(Newser) - NASA's Messenger spacecraft this afternoon will whiz past Mercury at 141,000 mph and snap an estimated 1,200 detailed photos of the planet's surface from a mere 124 miles up. It will be the first of three passes before the craft starts orbiting the planet closest to the sun...

Naps Boost Long-term Memory
Naps Boost Long-term Memory
Jan 7, 2008 6:50 PM CST

Naps Boost Long-term Memory

90-minute snooze helps brain lock in events, skills

(Newser) - A daily siesta can boost long-term recall and help people learn instruments and remember decisive events, a new study says. A University of Haifa researcher taught people tapping: He showed participants a tricky rhythm, then let half sleep for an hour. Those who stayed up failed to tap better, while...

'Christmas Punch-up' Rocks South Pole

Two Antarctic workers engage in Yuletide combat

(Newser) - The North Pole is usually abuzz with activity this time of year, but the South Pole was rocked by a "drunken Christmas punch-up," between two men in a remote research station at the bottom of the world. The Guardian reports both men—one with a broken jaw—were...

7 Common Medical Myths
7 Common Medical Myths
Dec 23, 2007 10:49 AM CST

7 Common Medical Myths

Seven quack ideas doctors pass on to patients

(Newser) - Some medical misconceptions are so widespread that even doctors believe them. LiveScience rounds up the seven biggest myths, according to the British Medical Journal:
  1. We only use 10% of our brains
  2. You should drink at least eight glasses of water a day
  3. Fingernails and hair grow after death

Research Notes Make Internet History
Research Notes Make Internet History
Dec 14, 2007 12:07 AM CST

Research Notes Make Internet History

New project to archive academic raw materials online

(Newser) - The Center for New History and Media has received a big grant to help store the raw material of academic research as part of its Internet Archive project, Ars Technica reports. Director Dan Cohen wants to help the academic world by making it easy for scholars to make their research...

Smoking Linked to Diabetes Risk
Smoking Linked to Diabetes Risk
Dec 12, 2007 1:13 PM CST

Smoking Linked to Diabetes Risk

Heavy puffers saw 61% risk increase

(Newser) - The list of ways smoking can kill you got a bit longer today, reports the BBC. Smokers have a 44% higher chance of developing type 2 diabetes, a new study shows, and that risk rises yet higher for heavy smokers, up to 61%. “The relevant question should no longer...

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