Science & Society

Oregon Health & Science University researchers have figured out how to turn a mouse into a factory for human liver cells that can be used to test how pharmaceuticals are metabolized. The technique could soon become the gold standard not only for examining drug metabolism in the liver, which helps scientists determine a drug's toxicity. But it also can be used as a platform for testing new therapies against infectious diseases that attack the liver, such as hepatitis C and malaria. "This has the potential, if it becomes easy to use and widely available, to change the way drugs are tested…

While cardiovascular disease occurs in both men and women, it does not affect them in the same way. Risk factors and protective factors for heart diseases are likewise unequal. The molecular mechanisms responsible for these differences are so far unknown, but some believe it is due to chromosomal linked genes or sexual hormones such as estrogen and testosterone. While the mechanisms behind the differences are unknown, the physiological differences are clear. A new study examining chronic exercise in male and female mice finds that moderate long-term exercise provokes a sex-dependent cardiac…

A team of researchers contends that animals learn to connect the taste of food with the amount of caloric energy it provides, and children who consume low-calorie versions of foods that are normally high in calories may develop distorted connections between taste and calorie content, leading them to overeat as they grow up. So diet foods and drinks for children may inadvertently lead to overeating and obesity. "Based on what we've learned, it is better for children to eat healthy, well-balanced diets with sufficient calories for their daily activities rather than low-calorie snacks or meals…

Part of an ongoing study into the impact of drinking milk after heavy weightlifting has found that milk helps exercisers burn more fat. The study by researchers at McMaster University and published today in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, was conducted by the Department of Kinesiology’s Exercise Metabolism Research Group, lead by Stuart Phillips. The researchers took three groups of young men 18 to 30 years of age – 56 in total – and put them through a rigorous, five-day-per-week weightlifting program over a 12-week period. Following their workouts, study participants drank either…

In a new study appearing in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, researchers at the University of Illinois explore real-life relationship issues by looking at the choices people make in simulated online dating relationships. By standardizing the behavior of the romantic “partner,” the study clarifies how each participant’s outlook influences his or her choices and satisfaction with the romance. The online study took participants through a series of scenarios about a relationship with a fictional partner. Each scenario ended with two options, from which the participant chose his or her…

After complaining that there was not enough time to cover everything at the Science Foo Camp, and after getting some very positive feedback from our chemical reaction mechanism representation in Second Life, it occurred to me that it would make sense to attempt to continue the conversation in a virtual medium. I have previously presented a poster in Second Life and I was thoroughly impressed with how well it worked. People would walk around, look at my poster, ask me for more information and share their experience. And just like in real life, when there was a lull in the traffic, I would chat…

The past few days have been quite stimulating. The SciFoo conference started right after I got off the plane in San Francisco on Friday evening around 18:00 and lasted till midnight. With the jetlag from the east coast I was exhausted but the energy of the meeting definitely kept my interest. Friday night was the only part of the conference deliberately set up with the traditional format of speakers. The most impressive talk was on the big picture of planetary energy input and consumption. It was refreshing because the speakers seemed genuinely concerned with reporting on the actual state of…

Last week, it was announced that drug addicts in England are to be given shopping vouchers for complying with treatment programs. Rewarding patients to cooperate is not new, argues Tom Burns, a senior psychiatrist at Warneford Hospital in Oxford. Most mental health practitioners reward patients for “healthy” behavior and financial incentives are no different. People who criticize money for medicines emphasize the “exploitation of impoverished patients” and worries about how patients would spend the money. But whether a payment represents a just reward or immoral exploitation depends on the…

For years, scientists have searched in vain for slivers of the brain that might drive the dramatic differences between male and female behavior. Now biologists at Harvard University say these efforts may have fallen flat because such differences may not arise in the brain at all. Rather, they say, the epicenter of sex-specific behavior in many species may be a small sensory organ found in the noses of all terrestrial vertebrates except higher primates. Their work indicates that defects in this organ, known as the vomeronasal organ, lead female mice to adopt male behaviors such as mounting and…

“The monopolar radiofrequency (RF) technology, which was introduced five years ago and which is credited as the first non-surgical skin-tightening device, has been the catalyst for what is now an explosion in non-invasive skin tightening with different technologies and areas of the body that we can treat,” said David J. Goldberg, MD, JD, FAAD, clinical professor of dermatology and director of laser research at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. “Originally used to lift the eyebrows, monopolar RF was found to be effective in tightening the jowls and neck area with its unique…