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The Tiny Creature That May Teach Us How to Survive Radiation

Microscopic tardigrades are also known as water bears, because of their penchant for living in damp environments and their bear-like physical attributes. A colored electron scanning micrograph of a tardigrade shown at about 250 times its size. (Steve Gschmeissner/Science Photo Library) Tardigrades may be microscopic, but they contain mammoth adaptability for surviving extremes, including deadly radiation. A tardigrade, a 1-millimeter micro-animal that mostly lives in mossy waters and...

Cold Wars: Why Women Feel The Chill More

Research explains why most women feel cold more intensely than men. With the winter chill setting in, households everywhere are beginning the annual thermostat wars. But does science support the popular belief that women feel colder more than men? Research points to yes.Cold Hands, Warm HeartMost healthy humans have an inner body temperature that hovers around 98.6 degrees F.  But a University of Utah study published in the journal Lancet  found that women’s core body temperatures can actually...

advancing-medical-research

Meet Your Body’s Energy Thermostat

AMPK controls hunger, helps burn calories and fat, and may help treat diabetes and cancer.  It’s almost lunchtime. Your stomach is growling and you can’t stop thinking about your next meal. We’ve all experienced the sensation of hunger, but ever wonder how your body turns on and off its hankering for food? Scientists from Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) in Korea have recently provided additional evidence to show how an enzyme produced in a part of our brain called...

The Hidden Powers of Blood, Sweat, And Tears

Science is uncovering how our bodily fluids may contain important cures for diseases like cancer and sepsis, and unlock clues to our bodies.  Bodily fluids have a PR problem. Mention blood, sweat or breast milk at a dinner party and you’re certain to make your dining companions squeamish. But, in fact, naturally occurring bodily liquids hold important clues to potential cures. In recent years, scientists have discovered several compounds that point to possible treatments for disease and help us...

Science & Innovation

One Family’s Hemophilia Journey

This microdocumentary shares the moving story of a family with two young sons who have severe hemophilia, giving us a glimpse into their history and treatment routine. Hemophilia is a rare bleeding disorder in which the body is unable to properly create a blood clot. Beyond external bleeding, like a cut, people with hemophilia also bleed internally and in their joints, which can lead to crippling arthritis later in life. The story highlights the significant progress made in this therapeutic...

Why Mitochondria Is The Organelle Of The Moment

Mitochondria, our cells’ energy converters, have become the focus of many areas of disease research. As the power plants in virtually every human cell (as well as animal, plant, and fungi cells), mitochondria play an essential role in creating energy to drive cellular function and basically all of our biological processes. Nearly all cells have these sausage-shaped structures, but muscle and nerve cells, which require more energy, have the highest concentrations of mitochondria, numbering in...

Germs 101 (infographic)

foundations-science

The Skinny on Body Fat

Our fat provides more than just insulation and energy storage. It’s actually an organ that plays an essential role in our body’s functioning.  Body fat, also known as adipose tissue, needn’t be seen as our number one enemy. While carrying too much fat is linked to a long list of serious health conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, and various cancers, fat is critical to our survival. Fat cushions vital organs, insulates our bodies from the cold, and serves as our fuel storage tank...

Good Guy/Bad Guy: Macrophages vs. Pinworms

In the battlefield that is our human bodies, pathogen-chomping macrophages face off against harmful intruders that include the likes of parasitic pinworms. Bad Guy: This foe seems like something out of a horror film, a parasitic worm named Enterobius vermicularis (above right), commonly called a pinworm. Pinworms hatch in the small intestine after its eggs are accidentally, and unknowingly, ingested after contact with fecal matter and improper hand-washing. The pinworm is particularly...

Helium As Medical Mission Critical

Without helium — the second lightest element on Earth, used at Thanksgiving to lift skyscraper-size parade balloons — medical science might come to a standstill. Ninety-two years ago, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was born. Today, the holiday spectacle uses about 400,000 cubic feet of helium annually to loft a couple dozen gigantic balloons and float them down the streets of New York City. That’s about 10 percent of a single day’s use of helium in the U.S.  The Federal Helium Reserve, a...

Flashback: Iron Lung

A medical miracle made of metal helped polio sufferers to breathe in the 1900s. The tank respirator, or iron lung, reads like a medical curiosity in modern times thanks to vaccines for the polio virus created by Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin in the 1950s and 1960s. But prior to that, for the nearly one in every 200 patients infected with the virus that suffered paralysis, including of the respiratory system, it was the surest way to survive until they could recover and breathe again on their own...

4 Surprising Things That Can Affect Your Medications

You won’t believe these everyday factors that can impact the effectiveness of common medications. You’ve consulted with your doctor, filled your prescription, and carefully read the instructions about taking the medication safely. Now all you need to do is remember to swallow that pill every day, and you’re set, right? Not so fast. Many things can affect the way your body responds to a certain drug from your age and body weight to what you ate for breakfast. Read on to learn some surprising...