http://discovermagazine.com/rss/topic-feeds/health-medicineAging, Cancer, Nutrition, Obesity, Pharmaceuticals, Stem Cells, Vaccines, and more.http://backend.userland.com/rssTue, 14 May 2013 23:30:00 GMThttp://discovermagazine.com/2013/june/06-medical-research-needs-a-collaborative-funding-modelThe current system of competitive grants isn't the best way to finance medical research.Tue, 14 May 2013 23:30:00 GMThttp://discovermagazine.com/2013/june/06-medical-research-needs-a-collaborative-funding-modelhttp://discovermagazine.com/~/media/FF7F2FDD37834291A9CCCB27E48E416D.jpg?mw=500http://discovermagazine.com/~/media/FF7F2FDD37834291A9CCCB27E48E416D.jpg?mw=500http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=1148When, in a moment of weakness, you reach for that chocolate donut or bag of jelly beans, to all appearances your tastebuds are running the show. You imagine the snack's sweet taste; you might even salivate a little. If, on the other hand, these foods tasted like cardboard, you wouldn't be so tempted, right? Wrong. New research has found that it's not the taste of calorific foodstuffs that makes them enticing but rather their effects on our blood sugar. Our brain learns which foods are calorieWed, 08 May 2013 17:08:18 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=1148http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/05/girl-eating-donuts-200x300.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/05/girl-eating-donuts-200x300.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=1119Relapse can be a particularly sinister aspect of drug addiction. Now scientists are getting closer to a vaccine that can bind heroin in the bloodstream and therefore prevent it from acting on the brain. A heroin vaccine has been sought after for some time to treat those with serious addictions. Like a vaccine for the flu or measles, a heroin vaccine would contain inactive pieces of the drug; this would train the immune system in the future to attack heroin in the bloodstream. The challenge haMon, 06 May 2013 19:04:37 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=1119http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/05/heroin-vaccine2.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/05/heroin-vaccine2.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=929 The ruse is common in spy movies---an attractive female saunters in at a critical moment and seduces the otherwise infallible protagonist, duping him into giving up the goods. It works in Hollywood and it works in real life, too. Men tend to say yes to attractive women without really scrutinizing whether or not they are trustworthy. But scientists have shown, for the first time, that a drug may be able to overcome this "honey trap," and help men make more rational decisions. Nearly 100Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:44:02 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=929http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/04/business-woman-shaking-hands-300x300.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/04/business-woman-shaking-hands-300x300.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=916Researchers have discovered a hormone that triggers the production of insulin-producing cells in mice, a development that could lead to better diabetes treatments in the future. Diabetics are short on insulin---in the case of type 1 diabetes, because their immune system attacks their beta cells (the body's insulin factories); in type 2 diabetes, because their body stops responding to insulin's signals. The latter condition is called insulin resistance. All told, diabetes affects an estimated Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:00:27 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=916http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/04/Mouse-eating-corn-286x300.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/04/Mouse-eating-corn-286x300.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=843 When you've got a clogged artery, your options are usually few and risky: anti-clotting drugs or surgery to unblock the clot or reroute blood flow past the blockage. But researchers in China have figured out how to use a laser to clog and then clear a blocked blood vessel in a live mouse, without surgery. This is the first time scientists have been able to externally manipulate cells inside a living animal, and it could lead to a safer way to unclog arteries in the future. The techniquTue, 23 Apr 2013 17:02:47 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=843http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/04/blood-clot.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/04/blood-clot.jpghttp://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/13-grandmas-experiences-leave-epigenetic-mark-on-your-genesYour ancestors' lousy childhoods or excellent adventures might change your personality, bequeathing anxiety or resilience by altering the epigenetic expressions of genes in the brain.Tue, 23 Apr 2013 01:00:00 GMThttp://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/13-grandmas-experiences-leave-epigenetic-mark-on-your-geneshttp://discovermagazine.com/~/media/2339129F4C444DF78D4B5C27E4B6E22E.jpg?mw=500http://discovermagazine.com/~/media/2339129F4C444DF78D4B5C27E4B6E22E.jpg?mw=500http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=777If you've ever seen the way dog people interact with their pets, it comes as no surprise that there's some germ-swapping going on there. A new study indicates that dog ownership specifically may be one of the biggest single contributors to what kinds of microbes live on your skin. A team of researchers led by Se Jin Song at the University of Colorado, Boulder, took swabs of the tongues, palms, forehead and feces of members of 60 family households. Some of the families had children or householFri, 19 Apr 2013 14:35:38 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=777http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/04/dog-licking-woman.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/04/dog-licking-woman.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=719 Mothers with HIV risk passing the virus to their babies through breast milk, but now a study shows that the greatest risk of passing on the virus isn't correlated with the length of time a mother breastfeeds, but with the weaning period itself. When a mother has HIV, the chance of spreading that virus to her baby through breast milk is usually about 10 to 15 percent. If breastfeeding puts the baby at risk, one might assume that not breastfeeding would be the best solution. But breast milk aWed, 17 Apr 2013 20:01:38 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=719http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/04/baby-and-milk.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/04/baby-and-milk.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=660 When a patient's kidney stops functioning, the existing options are limited to transplant or continual dialysis. Now scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston are a little closer to having a third option: transplanting kidneys that have been "upcycled" from previously unusable tissue. To make these functioning and transplantable organs, the researchers begin with unusable donor organs. We'll use the rat kidney in the film below as an example. Flushing the kidney of its naturaMon, 15 Apr 2013 20:58:06 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=660http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/04/kidney-transplant-1024x300.pnghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/04/kidney-transplant-1024x300.pnghttp://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/04-finger-length-ratio-can-predict-aggressive-behavior-and-risk-of-diseaseLike science-backed palm reading, new studies use digit ratio to predict aggressive behavior and risk of disease.Tue, 09 Apr 2013 10:00:00 GMThttp://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/04-finger-length-ratio-can-predict-aggressive-behavior-and-risk-of-diseasehttp://discovermagazine.com/~/media/D1DD486A63BC4995B93281B8E0851163.jpg?mw=500http://discovermagazine.com/~/media/D1DD486A63BC4995B93281B8E0851163.jpg?mw=500http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=555 Sorry, fellas: Size does matter, according to science. The size of a human penis is more closely correlated to sexual attractiveness than previous studies indicated, according to findings published online today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The new research, which took into account other traits associated with attractiveness, also suggests that female preferences about penis size may have influenced how human male genitalia evolved. The subjects of the study were Mon, 08 Apr 2013 19:02:34 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=555http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/04/Extremes-in-variation.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/04/Extremes-in-variation.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=537The nose is made for whiffing odors, but apparently it is not the only organ in the human body with a sense of smell. Researchers in Germany have found that heart, lung and blood cells, among others, also have olfactory receptors. When you walk by a pizza joint, chemical odors waft through the air and latch onto olfactory receptors in your nose. These receptors trigger a series of reactions in your brain, ultimately resulting in your identifying the particular combination of scents associatedMon, 08 Apr 2013 17:50:44 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=537http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/04/nose-300x274.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/04/nose-300x274.jpghttp://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/16-can-oxytocin-treat-autismThe hormone may help some people with autism make social connections.Fri, 05 Apr 2013 10:00:00 GMThttp://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/16-can-oxytocin-treat-autismhttp://discovermagazine.com/~/media/001B5C29755A4DAF850B79C1EE0E718F.jpg?mw=500http://discovermagazine.com/~/media/001B5C29755A4DAF850B79C1EE0E718F.jpg?mw=500http://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/01-are-b-cells-to-blame-for-chronic-fatigue-syndromeThe ravages of chronic fatigue syndrome may be the result of an overlooked but essential part of the body's own immune system.Wed, 03 Apr 2013 10:00:00 GMThttp://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/01-are-b-cells-to-blame-for-chronic-fatigue-syndromehttp://discovermagazine.com/~/media/402279F4397E4032B5F64E83F7F69435.jpg?mw=500http://discovermagazine.com/~/media/402279F4397E4032B5F64E83F7F69435.jpg?mw=500http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=412 What will the organ transplants of the future look like? Researchers in Tokyo suggest something that resembles injectable strings able to integrate themselves organically into the human system. Scientists' initial tests of this cell-laden fiber produced working heart, vein and nerve tissues, and even regulated diabetes in living mice. The production process begins with a straw-like tube of modified gelatin called a hydrogel. This is filled with fibers made of natural proteins like collageTue, 02 Apr 2013 17:25:14 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=412http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/04/Fibers.pnghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/04/Fibers.pnghttp://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/10-a-neurosurgeons-high-stakes-game-of-hide-and-seekA delicate surgery could stop a woman's crippling pain from trigeminal neuralgia — or threaten her life.Mon, 01 Apr 2013 10:00:00 GMThttp://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/10-a-neurosurgeons-high-stakes-game-of-hide-and-seekhttp://discovermagazine.com/~/media/EA9F44F5BA814AAF88AC77D4CCFCDD01.jpg?mw=500http://discovermagazine.com/~/media/EA9F44F5BA814AAF88AC77D4CCFCDD01.jpg?mw=500http://discovermagazine.com/2013/april/22-20-things-you-didnt-know-about-coffeeJoe. Java. Go juice. Whatever you call it, you're probably drinking it. Now find out how coffee is connected to a Bach cantata, enemas, and elephant dung.Thu, 28 Mar 2013 10:00:00 GMThttp://discovermagazine.com/2013/april/22-20-things-you-didnt-know-about-coffeehttp://discovermagazine.com/~/media/DC21320B187B4D448164DC8100B6E193.jpg?mw=500http://discovermagazine.com/~/media/DC21320B187B4D448164DC8100B6E193.jpg?mw=500http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=335 Researchers collaborating on a global hunt for genetic components in some of the world’s most common cancers have identified 74 new susceptibility loci, or chromosomal mutations that predispose an individual to disease. Working under the umbrella of the Collaborative Oncological Gene-environment Study (COGS), scientists from 34 countries concentrated on three hormone-related cancers — breast, ovarian and prostate — which each year are diagnosed in about 2.5 million people worldwide. One Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:35:29 GMThttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/?p=335http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/03/cancer-patient.jpghttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/files/2013/03/cancer-patient.jpghttp://discovermagazine.com/2013/april/19-double-edged-genesIn a remote corner of Ecuador, doctors researching a rare form of dwarfism make a startling discovery: People who inherit the genetic defect may be immune to cancer and other diseases.Wed, 27 Mar 2013 10:00:00 GMThttp://discovermagazine.com/2013/april/19-double-edged-geneshttp://discovermagazine.com/~/media/8384905EC8124077BF5CD1224DD9B555.jpg?mw=500http://discovermagazine.com/~/media/8384905EC8124077BF5CD1224DD9B555.jpg?mw=500