Yahoo! News: Health News, NPR Topics: Science

Obamas take on problem of obese children (Reuters)

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:57:36 +0000

Reuters - Alarmed that nearly a third of U.S. children are obese or overweight -- and likely to stay that way all their lives -- President Barack Obama launched an initiative on Tuesday to roll back the numbers and put his wife in charge of promoting it.

Michelle Obama kicks off drive against childhood obesity (AFP)

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:15:49 +0000

AFP - First Lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday launched a major push against childhood obesity, which she has targeted as one of the greatest threats to America's health and economy.

Health Tip: Protect Your Child at Day Care (HealthDay)

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:03:46 +0000

HealthDay - (HealthDay News) -- Children who attend day care are at increased risk of getting sick or acquiring an infection.

Medicare Cost-Saving Moves Can Backfire (HealthDay)

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:03:43 +0000

HealthDay - TUESDAY, Feb. 9 (HealthDay News) -- After Medicare sweetened payments for simple office-based endoscopic procedures, doctors in one New York City practice performed many more in-office bladder biopsies, but the volume of hospital procedures stayed roughly the same, a new study finds.

Want Passionate Kids? Leave 'em Alone (LiveScience.com)

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:50:12 +0000

LiveScience.com - Parents who want their children to discover a passion for music, sports, or other hobbies should follow a simple plan: Don't pressure them.

Soft Drinks Could Boost Pancreatic Cancer Risk (HealthDay)

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:49:41 +0000

HealthDay - MONDAY, Feb. 8 (HealthDay News) -- People who down two or more soft drinks a week may have double the risk of developing deadly pancreatic cancer, compared to non-soda drinkers, new research suggests.

Clinical Trials Update: Feb. 8, 2010 (HealthDay)

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:49:39 +0000

HealthDay - (HealthDay News) -- Here are the latest clinical trials, courtesy of ClinicalConnection.com:

Sugary soft drinks linked to pancreatic cancer: study (AFP)

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:33:23 +0000

AFP - People who drink at least two sugary sodas a week have an increased risk of developing cancer of the pancreas, and researchers suspect the culprit is sugar, a new study shows.

Autism risks detailed in children of older mothers (AP)

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:30:30 +0000

AP - A woman's chance of having a child with autism increase substantially as she ages, but the risk may be less for older dads than previously suggested, a new study analyzing more than 5 million births found.

Math Professor Helps Uncover Art Fakes

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Professor Daniel Rockmore is an art lover — and the chairman of the math department at Dartmouth College. He has united his two interests, art and math, to develop a program that analyzes pen strokes. The program gives art historians a new tool for detecting art forgeries, which are estimated to make up 20 percent of the worldwide art market.

China finds 170 more tons of tainted milk powder (AP)

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:25:43 +0000

AP - The discovery has punched a 170-ton hole in China's promises to overhaul its food safety system. Officials say they've found yet another case where large amounts of tainted milk powder from the country's 2008 scandal that should have been destroyed were instead repackaged.

Bad malaria pills in Africa raise resistance fears (AP)

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:43:31 +0000

AP - High rates of the most effective type of malaria-fighting drugs sold in three African countries are poor quality — including nearly half the pills sampled in Senegal — raising fears of increased drug resistance that could wipe out the last weapon left to battle a disease that kills 1 million people each year, according to a U.S. report released Monday.

New Data Point To Huntington's Disease Hope

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:00:00 +0000

A study being published Monday offers hope for those with Huntington's disease. The Archives of Neurology has a report about a drug aimed at the serious cognitive deficits that people with Huntington's also suffer.

Shuttle Heads To Space Station As Weather Clears

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:09:00 +0000

Space shuttle Endeavour is now orbiting Earth after blasting off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center in Monday's early morning darkness. Weather problems had delayed what might be the last pre-dawn launch for the shuttle program, which is heading toward retirement.

Even if you're careful, drugs can end up in water (AP)

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:24:24 +0000

AP - The federal government advises throwing most unused or expired medications into the trash instead of down the drain, but they can end up in the water anyway, a study from Maine suggests.

Scientist: Autism Paper Had Catastrophic Effects

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 10:00:00 +0000

The prestigious British medical journal Lancet took a rare step this week: It retracted a 1998 paper that sparked a firestorm about potential links between vaccines and autism. That paper has been a bane to Dr. Paul Offit, co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine and chief of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia. Offit tells host Guy Raz why he thinks the paper was a disaster for parents seeking answers about autism.

Is It Time To Throw Out 'Primordial Soup' Theory?

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:00:00 +0000

A group of scientists says the idea that life emerged from a prebiotic broth is past its expiration date.

What Rotting Fish Reveal About The Fossil Record

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Anyone with a working nose wants to stay far away from rotting fish. But researchers at the University of Leicester discovered that foul fish have a lot to tell us about how fossils form.

Artificial Pancreas Helps Type 1 Diabetics During Sleep (HealthDay)

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 04:49:29 +0000

HealthDay - THURSDAY, Feb. 4 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that young children and teenagers with type 1 diabetes could benefit by using an artificial pancreas device to lower the risk of dangerously low blood sugar levels during sleep and help them control their disease.

Is the US swine flu epidemic over? (AP)

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:55:36 +0000

AP - If the U.S. swine flu epidemic isn't over, it certainly looks as if it's on its last legs. While federal health officials are not ready to declare the threat has passed and the outbreak has run its course, they did report Friday that for the fourth week in a row, no states had widespread flu activity. U.S. cases have been declining since late October.

Men have key role in ending female circumcision: experts (AFP)

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:17:22 +0000

AFP - Experts and workers on the ground said Friday that men had a key role to play in the fight against female circumcision in Africa, a day before the International Day against Female Genital Mutilation.

Forget Portholes, Space Station Gets 360-Degree View

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:48:00 +0000

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station will soon get to enjoy "a room with a view." Space shuttle Endeavour is bringing up a dome-shaped observation module with a total of seven windows, giving astronauts unprecedented views of Earth and space.

Tail Switch Gets Sperm Swimming

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:35:07 +0000

Researchers say a valve in the tails of human sperm controls when they start moving. When the acid level drops inside the sperm, they start to wiggle.

Is Depression Overdiagnosed In America?

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Roughly 27 million Americans took prescription antidepressants in 2005, making them the most commonly prescribed class of medications in America. Ira Flatow and guests discuss depression, from how it's diagnosed and treated to how antidepressants stack up against psychotherapy and placebos.

Experts: 'Gene Doping' To Be Next Sports Scandal

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Cheating athletes used to rely on steroids to pump up performance. Then they discovered erythropoietin and human growth hormone. What's next? Gene doping, or genetic manipulation, according to Dr Theodore Friedmann, chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency's Gene Doping Expert Group.

Fossilized Feathers Hint At Dinosaur Color

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Dinosaurs are often portrayed as a drab green or grey, but some may have been much brighter. Reporting in Science, Jakob Vinther and colleagues analyzed the fossilized feathers of 150-million-year-old dinosaur Anchiornis huxleyi and found its plumage was surprisingly flashy.

President Obama's Science Spending

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:00:00 +0000

The president's proposed budget was unveiled this week. How did science make out? This hour Ira Flatow and guests look at the budgets of the major U.S. scientific institutions. How are research, alternative energy development and space travel affected? And will Congress sign on?

Temple Grandin: The Woman Who Talks to Animals

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:42:00 +0000

Temple Grandin is one of the world's greatest animal behaviorists. She is also autistic — and has put that to work for her. Grandin has written several books on animals, including Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior. This weekend, HBO will premiere a made-for-TV movie based on her life.

Black and Hispanic Infants Much More Likely to Have HIV (HealthDay)

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 04:49:40 +0000

HealthDay - THURSDAY, Feb. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Rates of HIV infection in infants are significantly higher among blacks and Hispanics than whites, and preventive measures are needed to reduce the disparity, a new government report says.

FDA concerned dissolvable tobacco appeals to kids (AP)

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:30:04 +0000

AP - The Food and Drug Administration is saying in letters to two tobacco companies that flavored, dissolvable tobacco products — that the agency compares with candy and says contain a lot of nicotine — could be particularly appealing to kids and young adults.

Scientists Keep Water Liquid Far Below Zero Degrees

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:10:00 +0000

If there's one fact that everyone knows about the physical world, it's that water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, or zero degrees Celsius. But wait — scientists in Israel have shown that you can keep water liquid all the way to minus 40 degrees by pouring it on the right surface.

Blue Whales Croon A New Tune

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Blue whales are updating their playlist, according to new research on the huge mammals. One scientist says it's because they've got more reason to sing.

Study links infections in womb to asthma (Reuters)

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 01:50:20 +0000

Reuters - U.S. researchers have linked mothers' infection during pregnancy to asthma, the most common chronic disease among American children, in their offspring.