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A large study published in Human Reproduction (1) looked at the effect of induced abortions on a subsequent first birth and found that women who have had three or more abortions have a higher risk of adverse birth outcomes, such as delivering premature and low birth weight babies.

Analysis of the abdominal contents of two dinosaur fossil specimens reveals new information about their hunting and eating behavior, according to a new report.  They may have been stealth hunters.

Danish veterinarians are a little squeamish about working on dead animals - instead of encouraging them to find other careers, the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Copenhagen is encouraging them to work on stuffed animals to lessen their anxiety.The stuffed animal operating room laboratory allows students to train basic surgical skills on toys which resemble animals, featuring organs, veins and arteries. Measurements of students' heart rate, questionnaires and interviews show that after attending the 'teddy laboratory', students are less fearful about the possibility of surgery on living animals.

Whey protein has been primarily used by weightlifters but more recently gotten popular with other groups who need food supplements because of their diets. Whey protein is the protein contained in whey, the watery portion of milk that separates from  curds when making cheese. The other protein from milk is casein protein.So it sounds a little strange that True Nutrition is recalling its Whey Protein because its label does not disclose that milk is the source of the whey, when it is by definition derived from milk. The concern is people who are allergic to milk might have a reaction and the recall is voluntary. Obviously, people will not have to return it if they are not allergic to milk.

Modern culture is always trying to find new ways to catch bad guys more scientifically but as psychology has fallen in credibility, so has one of its more successful methods; profiling.It isn't a new trend; after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, there was outcry because the terrorists had not been arrested in advance. One bureaucrat came forward and was identified as a whistleblower because she had tried to raise alarm but that renewed the debate - she used 'racial' profiling about people from the Mid-East and had narrowed in on the right people.

Helpful bacteria that processors add to acidify the sausage and make it safe for consumption are weakened by antibiotic residues in uncured pepperoni or salami meat, according to a new small-scale lab study in mBio. Researchers studying the effects antibiotic residues in fermented sausages found that antibiotic concentrations within limits set by US and European Union (EU) regulators are high enough to slow fermentation, a process that acidifies the sausages and should destroy foodborne pathogens like Salmonella or E. coli.

For more than 180 years, the origin of Cerataspis monstrosa - monster larva - has been a mystery as deep as the ocean waters it comes from.Researchers have been trying track down the larva that has shown up in the guts of other fish over time but found no adult counterpart. Until now.George Washington University Biology Professor Keith Crandall cracked the code to the elusive crustacean's DNA this summer.   It turns out this monster larva and the deep-water aristeid shrimp known as Plesiopenaeus armatus are one and the same: larvae and adult forms of the same species.

A project that investigated the planetary radio-frequency emissions of the Earth and Saturn also discovered a strange radio emission from the planet Jupiter.The Earth is loud. As in"radio-loud", which is how objects causing measurable radio emissions are described in astronomy. The Earth's magnet field influences charged particles (electrons, protons, and ions) in a way that causes radio emissions. Other planets such as Saturn or Jupiter cause these emissions as well and measuring them allows us to draw conclusions about planetary magnetic fields.The new analysis discovered a new modulation in terrestrial radio emissions along with analysis of particular components of Saturn´s radio emissions.

Distrust and paranoia did not start with claims about genetically modified foods or vaccines. Concern about the motivations of government, secret societies and corporations has a long history. The belief in a conspiracy of elites fuels suspicion about all authorities and the claims they make. What is more of a puzzle is that the attraction of conspiracy theories is so strong that it leads people to endorse entirely contradictory beliefs, like how the government should make special regulations for genetically modified foods, though the government is supposedly dependent on lobbyist money and can't be trusted.

Humans inherit more than three times as many mutations from their fathers as from their mothers, and mutation rates increase with the father's age but not the mother's, researchers have found in the largest study of human genetic mutations to date.A study based on the DNA of around 85,000 Icelanders, the largest study of human genetic mutations to date, has found that humans inherit more than three times as many mutations from their fathers as from their mothers and mutation rates increase with the father's age but not the mother's.

Reading media accounts, it seems the past decade has witnessed what seems to be a cluster of large earthquakes, with massive events in Sumatra, Chile, Haiti and Japan since 2004. Some hypothesize that this cluster has occurred because the earthquakes may be "communicating" across large distances, possibly triggering each other. 

The anti-vaccination culture is making headway. CDC has reported 17 outbreaks and 222 measles cases from 211, mostly in unvaccinated people - the highest since 1996. To identify areas of under-vaccination for measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases, state and local health departments monitor compliance with school immunization requirements using annual school vaccination assessment reports, supported as a CDC immunization funding objective for the 64 grantees, including the 50 states, the District of Columbia (DC), five cities, and eight other reporting areas. CDC also monitors progress toward meeting Healthy People 2020 objectives  for the vaccination of children entering kindergarten.