Karen Ventii
sciencetolife
Posts by this author
February 28, 2008
This fun article by Christina Laun at BootStrapper explains 100 weird, wacky, and interesting facts about the human body. Here are a few of my favorites:
1.The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest is the male sperm.
2. The brain is much more active at night than during…
February 21, 2008
After four years of deliberation, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today that meat from cloned animals and their offspring is safe to eat.
Read more in this Wired article.
Image: Matt Batchelder
February 15, 2008
What some are calling "Wiihab" is fast becoming a craze in rehabilitation centers across the country.
Wiihab is the use of Nintendo's Wii video game system as a physical therapy tool for patients recovering from strokes, broken bones, surgery and even combat injuries. The gaming system is said to…
February 12, 2008
ScienceDebate2008, an initiative calling for a presidential debate on science and technology policy, today announced that it has formally invited the presidential candidates to a debate on April 18 at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, four days before the Pennsylvania Primary.…
February 6, 2008
Scientists are using T-Ray technology in a new way-to help uncover murals that have been hidden under layers of plaster or paint in old buildings.
T-Rays (which are pulses of terahertz radiation that were previously used in space shuttle devices) have now been applied to this new technology by a…
February 3, 2008
NASA recently signed an agreement with the Indian Space Research Organization to continue collaborating with each other in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes.
"This agreement will allow us to cooperate effectively on a wide range of programs of mutual interest. India has…
January 30, 2008
Andrea Gawrylewski from "The Scientist" has written a nice blog post describing new research that addresses whether adult brains learn by neurogenesis (the birth of new neurons).
In the blog she writes:
While researchers agree that the birth of new neurons plays an important role in the adult…
January 28, 2008
This weekend I attended the NHL All-Star game in Atlanta and was impressed to learn about the Hockey Fights Cancer program.
Hockey Fights Cancer is a joint initiative founded in
December 1998 by the National Hockey League and the
National Hockey League Players' Association to raise
money and…
January 23, 2008
New research from the University of Bristol shows that by
suppressing one of the genes that normally switches on in wound
cells, wounds can heal faster and reduce scarring.
This has major implications not just for wound victims but also
for people who suffer organ tissue damage through illness…
January 16, 2008
Men develop liver cancer at twice the rate of women in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. Considering that the liver is a non-reproductive organ, this is quite a difference.
A research team led by Dr. Arlin Rogers, an experimental pathologist at MIT, looked at the gender…
January 14, 2008
Suzanne E. Franks of Thus Spake Zuska and I are hosting a panel this coming weekend at the NC Science Blogging Conference, and we'd like your input. The title of the panel is "Gender and Race in Science Blogging".
For now you can participate at the conference wiki by submitting your questions and…
January 4, 2008
A poll by BBC World and market research firm Synovate aimed at assessing global attitudes towards food found that the UK is ahead of the US as the world's leading fast food nation.
How will an increase in consumption of unhealthy fast food (along with other unhealthy lifestyle choices) affect…
December 11, 2007
A new video by evolution biologist Aaron Filler, MD, PhD, medical director at the Institute for Spinal Disorders at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, provides striking evidence that infant siamang apes walk like humans.
This evidence, along with new information from the fossil record and…
December 7, 2007
National Geographic's Dino Death Trap is premiering Sunday December 9th at 8:00 pm.
As part of generating publicity for the series they have set up this fun micro site where you can play the game "Dino Central Park"
Dino Death Trap chronicles paleontologists in China's western Gobi desert…
November 29, 2007
This Chicago Sun-Times article tells of how (expensive) scientific techniques are being used to change the quality of life for one man and his children.
Art Kessler carries a mutant copy of the DYT1 gene and, as a result, suffers from a sometimes painful movement disorder called dystonia that…
November 19, 2007
I recently attended the Emory University Climate Change Dinner series.
We were first treated to a delicious dinner of "sustainable food" followed by great speakers who touched on different aspects of the public's response, involvement and responsibility towards climate change.
One noted speaker…
November 6, 2007
A team of researchers from the St Vincent's Campus in Sydney have identified a protein called MIC-1 that appears to control the extreme weight loss common in late stage cancer (sometimes called cancer anorexia), which often speeds death.
MIC-1, which also goes by the name GDF-15, PLAB, PDF or NAG-1…
October 28, 2007
Last week the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (at the Woodrow Wilson Center) and Consumer's Union hosted a dialogue about nanotechnology consumer products.
The dialogue was a major effort to reach out to the American public and engage conversation about the potential benefits and risks of…
October 24, 2007
Here's an interesting article from Scientific American about the genetics of politics.
The article discusses a study headed by University of California, San Diego political scientist James Fowler suggesting that genetics can strongly influence whether or not a person will vote.
The authors are…
October 23, 2007
Here are some of the interesting things discussed on this week's episode.
1. New concerns about kids and cough medications
On Friday, an FDA advisory panel recommended parents and caregivers not give over-the- counter cough and cold medications to any children under the age of 6. This decision…
September 30, 2007
Dear Readers,
I will be on vacation in Ghana until October 20th 2007 so my blogging may be quite infrequent. I look forward to blogging more when I get back.
Karen
September 20, 2007
I am not a big video game fan but I can appreciate the technological expertise it takes to make a good, realistic-looking game. This article in Popular Science breaks down the top 10 challenges game-makers of today are facing to develop the next generation of cutting-edge video games. Here is the…
September 5, 2007
The 2008 North Carolina Science Blogging Conference (organized by ScienceBlog's very own Bora Zivkovic) is fast approaching.
Suzanne Franks and I will be co-chairing a 1 hour session tentatively called "Exploring Women in Science Blogging".
We are interested to get your feedback and comments on…
September 1, 2007
Sexuality in old age
Human beings are living longer, women more so than men. Among people 85 years of age and older, there are 4 men for every 10 women. What happens to sexuality in older age? Read more in this BBC News story or from the original NEJM paper.
Cut Calories and live longer-latest…
August 25, 2007
Is depression overdiagnosed in today's society?
Yes, says Professor Gordon Parker in the August 18 2007 issue of the British Medical Journal.
Rates of diagnosis of depression have risen steeply in recent years. Parker, a scientia professor from the School of Psychiatry, University of New South…
August 21, 2007
This CNN Health article provides some useful recommendations on how to lower one's risk of miscarriage. I have summarized them below.
1. Do a little detective work
When you're planning to get pregnant, your first move should be a careful pre-pregnancy checkup to reveal potential risk factors like…
August 9, 2007
The first report that gene therapy could enhance muscle in a mouse model was published in 2004.
Since then, it has become of increasing concern that some unscrupulous athletes may consider gene therapy as a viable alternative to steroid injection (a term called gene doping) in the quest to enhance…
August 6, 2007
I was recently sent this news and thought some readers may be interested.
MedHelp, an online health community that connects people with physicians and medical experts, has just added the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) to its repertoire.
The website has liaisons with over a dozen medical…
August 3, 2007
A large-scale genomics study has uncovered new genetic variations associated with multiple sclerosis (MS).
The findings confirm the link between MS and the autoimmune system and help researchers to better understand the mechanism of this complex disease.
Does this mean we are closer to a cure?…
July 30, 2007
I have the honor of answering the next installment of "Ask a ScienceBlogger". This time around the question is:
Can a forensic scientist tell the difference between DNA from blood samples of identical twins?
The short answer is "No."
Identical, or monozygotic, twins occur when a fertilized egg…