Friday, 25 May, 2012

Got flu? Then virus particles can enter the air aboard aerosols released by a sneeze, cough or even a breath. Smaller droplets can stay aloft for hours — so size matters. According to a new study, many droplets can float for an hour — plenty long enough to infect another victim.

Are extreme heat, wicked cyclones and record rainfalls signs of climate change, or just more changes in the weather? Will warming eliminate record cold days? Will hurricanes get bigger?

The BP spill released about 160,000 tons of methane into the Gulf of Mexico, but a new study shows that it was eaten by friendly bacteria. The seabed contains an astonishing amount of methane, a strong greenhouse gas. So can bacteria reduce the global warming hazard of massive methane releases?

It’s as sure as sunrise. Drink too much, and you’ll pay next morning: lassitude, nausea, headache, dizziness, and more specialized agonies will be cause for regret. Hangovers: If you can’t avoid them, will they cause you to drink less? Do fruitflies get hung over?

Three gross “biotherapies” are gaining medical attention, and two already have FDA approval as “medical devices” (?) ! Leeches can suck excess blood after surgery, and maggots remove dead tissue and kill bacteria in hard-to-heal wounds. Parasitic worms might fight ulcerative colitis — a widespread bowel disease. Maybe.

How do victims of domestic violence benefit from prayer? A series of interviews shows a range of mechanisms: from zoning out to offering psychic protection to allowing forgiveness. A new study shows how real benefits could emerge from an appeal to an “imaginary other.”

Marketers may try, but can they really coerce you to buy stuff you don’t need? To find out, join us for a meander through modern marketing. How do sound, scent and touch affect buying behavior? How are brands used and misused? And what can brand do for you as a consumer?

Cholera can kill with record speed. The bacterium is easy to control — if wastewater and drinking water are treated. Haiti — chronically corrupt, painfully poor, and wasted by the January quake, is paradise for the cholera bug. How is cholera prevented, and what are the enduring gifts of this deadly bug?

To stay young, science says you drastically cut calories. It works for fruitflies, rodents, monkeys, and every mammal that has been tested. A new study proves that the benefit requires the Sirt-3 gene. Could Sirt-3 be the key to an anti-aging drug treatment?

Most of our planet is ocean, and now we have a better idea of what lives there. Marine creatures are much weirder than those on land. The Census of Marine Life looked at salmon migration, Arctic animals, and the uncountable variety of bacteria in the sea. Want to take a look?