Science in Personal and Social Perspectives - Personal health

  • Light brown ceramic jar with large round bottom and spouting top, cracked and chipped with age
    Bottoms up!

    People have been controlling fermentation for at least 9,000 years. What were the ancients brewing, and how did alcohol change society?


    Thursday, December 24th, 2009
  • People lined up in mall, waiting to receive the vaccine.
    Fearing flu, finding vaccine

    How is flu vaccine is made in eggs and animal cells? What is being done to protect us against a fast-changing, deadly virus?


    Thursday, November 12th, 2009
  • Apnea treatment = Golfer’s glory?
    Apnea treatment = Golfer’s glory?

    Golfer-doctor finds that treating apnea cuts golf scores; sees new motivator for wearing nighttime masks.


    Thursday, November 5th, 2009
  • Untangling cancer’s genetic trajectory
    Untangling cancer’s genetic trajectory

    Until now, getting a picture of genetic change in a tumor over time has been next to impossible. A new study reveals that cancer’s genetic tangle gets more complicated with time.


    Thursday, October 8th, 2009
  • In 1918, a trolley conductor motions to a man not wearing a facemask
    Swine flu

    Virologists have been working late since swine flu appeared in April. With flu running amok in South America, what can we expect when the epidemic returns north this fall?


    Thursday, July 23rd, 2009
  • Senators, governors and other mammals…
    Senators, governors and other mammals…

    Can our evolutionary roots explain that self-destructive search for sex – and sexual companionship? Could Darwinian psychology constitute the cause home-wrecking, career-blitzing fatal attractions?


    Thursday, July 9th, 2009
  • Fabrication, falsification, ghostwriting, data mining, cherry picking, plagiarism, data massaging
    Phony science

    Fraud happens. In a 2009 survey, 2 percent of scientists admitted faking data; 14 percent said colleagues have done it. Problems worst in drug and other medical studies.


    Thursday, June 4th, 2009
  • A policeman watches over a sidewalk crowded with people wearing light-blue facemasks.
    Swine flu

    The epidemic fades, with 61 confirmed deaths and 5,251 cases so far. Were the public health warnings overdone? Or did they help stem the pandemic? Your guide to the time of finger-pointing, flu-style.


    Thursday, May 14th, 2009
  • Lactococcus lactis bacteria are ovoid
    Microbial bliss

    Scientists are proving that intestinal bacteria can help health — but for what conditions? Should you take probiotic supplements or eat foods with beneficial bugs? What does the science say — and not say?


    Thursday, April 30th, 2009
  • Brain battle
    Brain battle

    As the day wears on, both sleep pressure and the brain’s alerting signal rise, until sleep pressure triumphs. [Nod]. New brain study explains why night owls don’t get as sleepy during the day.


    Thursday, April 23rd, 2009


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