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The first ever 3D study identifies 'masculinity' traits associated with the attractiveness and symmetry of male and female bodies. High masculinity correlated with fewer departures from perfect bodily symmetry in males but with more asymmetry in females, suggesting that those with good development and health may have bodies that exaggerate sex-typical bodily features.
Researchers have developed a new gene silencing technology that could be used to target genes that can lead to the development of certain diseases. This technology could pave the way for preventing diseases where gene dysfunction plays a role.
Spray yourself with a DEET-based insect repellent and the mosquitoes will leave you alone. But why? They flee because of their intense dislike for the smell of the chemical repellent and not because DEET jams their sense of smell, report researchers at the University of California, Davis.
Urologic surgeon have reported success using robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery to repair abnormal openings between the bladder and vagina known as fistulas. This type of fistula can result in frequent urinary tract infections and the leakage of urine from the vagina and can be mistaken for continence.
Millions of computer users collectively transcribe the equivalent of 160 books each day with better than 99 percent accuracy, despite the fact that few spend more than a few seconds on the task and that most do not realize they are doing valuable work, Carnegie Mellon University researchers report.
Scientific American
A few years ago I bought a latte at Starbucks on the way to the airport, parked my car and got on a flight for the U.K. Eight hours later I got off at Heathrow, bought a prepay chip for my cell phone and went to buy a ticket for the train into London, when my credit card gave up the ghost and refused to work anymore. Not until I got back to the U.S. did I find out what had happened. Apparently, the small purchase at Starbucks, followed by the overseas purchase of the cell phone card, had tripped some kind of antifraud data-mining algorithm in my credit-card company’s computer. It tried to call me, got my voice mail and proceeded to blacklist my credit card.
What I found so exasperating about the entire experience was that the computer should have known that the person using my card in England was me. After all, I had bought my plane ticket with that same card and had flown with a major U.S. carrier. Aren’t all those databases supposed to be tied together?
[More]A tangle of tubes and polyurethane pouches binds a naked man and woman--he, paunchy and unperturbed, she, slim and similarly unself-conscious. This setup is not some esoteric sex game; it’s “Smell Blind Date,” an installation created by artist James Auger on display this past spring in New York City as part of the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition Design and the Elastic Mind. The PVC tubes--which run between the subjects’ chests, with outlets extending to pouches attached to their noses, armpits and genitals--allow the man and woman to inhale each other’s body odor through a wall that divides them. In theory, they are on a truly blind date, each undistracted by the other’s looks, assessing the other’s potential as a mating partner by his or her smell alone.
The human sense of smell is often seen as insignificant, dismissed as a distant also-ran to our keen eyesight or sensitive hearing. But this sense is keener and more influential on our species than many people realize. In particular, as Auger’s fanciful art project illustrates, smell facilitates a variety of human social interactions, both casual and intimate. Indeed, people who lose their sense of smell often gain a new appreciation for its importance [see “When the Nose Doesn’t Know,” by Eleonore von Bothmer; Scientific American Mind, October/November 2006].
[More]Zack has decided to try out the online dating service Chix-n-Studz.com. He signs up for an account at the Web site and fills in several screens of forms detailing his personal profile and what he is looking for in a potential partner. In no time at all, the service offers him a number of possible soul mates, among them the very exciting-sounding Wendy. He sends her his e-mail address and what he hopes is an engaging opening message. She replies directly to him, and a whirlwind e-romance begins.
Poor Zack. Soon he is also getting numerous unsolicited phone calls from political action groups and salespeople who seem to know things about him, and his health insurance company is questioning him about his extreme-adventure vacations; the unscrupulous owners of Chix-n-Studz have been selling client information. Then there is Ivan, a mischievous co-worker to whom Zack foolishly showed one of Wendy’s e-mails. Zack does not know that several subsequent recent messages supposedly from Wendy are fakes from Ivan.
[More]Scientists have created red blood cells from human embryonic stem cells, in a step that they say could mean an infinite source of blood for transfusions. [More]
Unlike most electronics, laptop computers enjoy two big retail seasons: the usual winter holidays and a bigger bump during the back-to-school weeks. PCs are a crucial tool for many college kids. And the ability to throw a cheap but powerful laptop into a book bag and head to the library (or at least escape a [...]
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A common complaint about the Internet is that the typical user has to maintain multiple personal profiles on multiple sites, ranging from Facebook to Last FM. Enter mEgo, a personalized portable profile that travels online with you across social networks. The mEgo.com body-shaped widget, which resembles a high-tech baseball card on your screen, stores all [...]
Our regular roundup of sci-tech stories from across the web includes: massive solar energy plants, using Facebook to get a job, and one mans attack on Georgias cyber infrastructure. Lets kick it off: Jobs The social network as a career safety net If you have avoided social-networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook with the excuse that [...]
How do you study some of the oceans most inaccessible regions? Hitch your instruments to elephant seals. Thats an approach a team of scientists has used to gather basic physical data on the Southern Ocean beneath the ice-clad reaches near Antarctica. Information on how temperature and salinity change with depth is critical to understanding ocean circulation [...]
USATODAY.com Health - Top Stories
The number of women ages 40 to 44 who remain childless has doubled in a generation, the U.S. Census reported Monday.
David Zinczenko, best-selling author of a new book, Eat This, Not That! For Kids! , was not surprised by the report this month ...
Federal inspectors at U.S. border crossings repeatedly turned back filthy, disease-ridden shipments of peppers from Mexico in ...
Federal regulators are working on a stronger label for a widely used diabetes drug marketed by Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. and ...
Flu vaccine makers have begun shipping their products already, earlier than usual, and for the first time every strain included ...
NPR Topics: Health & Science
Bacterial pneumonia attacked virus-weakened lungs and killed most of the 50 million victims of the 1918 flu pandemic. This finding may be good news should another flu pandemic strike, because doctors are now armed with effective treatments for bacterial infections.
Doctors encourage women to examine their own breasts for lumps. New research shows that this practice doesn't help prevent deaths from breast cancer.
Europe's space agency reached two milestones earlier this year. A European-built lab was installed at the International Space Station, and Europe launched a robotic cargo vehicle that successfully docked with the station. The European Space Agency is thinking about converting the vehicle so it could take astronauts into orbit.
The FBI has revealed new details about the scientific findings that led them to suspect Army scientist Bruce Ivins was responsible for the 2001 anthrax mailings that killed five people. Ivins committed suicide last month. The case against Ivins rests in part on a complex genetic technique.
The newest craze in consumer health is adhesive pads filled with "detox" herbs that supposedly suck toxins out of the bottom of our feet while we sleep. An analysis at a California laboratory shows no significant difference between used and unused pads.
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