News Articles

Daily consumption of caffeine in coffee, tea or soft drinks increases blood sugar levels for people with type 2 diabetes and may undermine efforts to control their disease, say scientists at Duke University Medical Center.
Researchers used new technology that measured participants’ glucose (sugar) levels on a constant basis throughout the day. Dr. James Lane, a psychologist at Duke and the lead author of the study, says it represents the first time researchers have been able to track the impact of caffeine consumption as patients go about their normal, everyday lives.

About nine percent of teenagers may have metabolic syndrome, a clustering of risk factors that put them on the path toward heart disease and diabetes in adulthood. This shocking statistic represents some of the first concentrated efforts to define and measure metabolic syndrome in children and adolescents – a necessary starting point for combating the problem, but one that has proven even trickier in youth than it has been in adults.
With the number of obese children in the United States rising at an alarming rate, pediatricians, family practitioners and researchers are concerned about what it means to for children’s future health.

Marine bacteria come almost a billion to a cup. Until recently, however, little has been known about how these minute creatures live or what they need to flourish.
New research led by a marine microbial ecologist at the University of Georgia is showing for the first time that the roles played by bacteria in coastal waters aren’t nearly as specific as some scientists suspected.

Once considered rare, mitochondrial diseases are now thought to affect as many as one person in 5,000. New research in this area hopes to open up more opportunities for predicting a child's risk of developing a mitochondrial disease which can cause muscle weakness, diabetes, strokes, heart failure and epilepsy.
All human and animal cells contain many mitochondria, which are involved in energy production within the body. Mitochondria have their own genetic information, known as mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, which is inherited.

The newly discovered asteroid 2007 TU24 is passing within 1.4 lunar distances, or 334,000 miles, of Earth today.
The asteroid, estimated at between 150 and 600 meters in diameter, was discovered by the University of Arizona’s Catalina Sky Survey in October 2007. It poses no threat to Earth, but its near approach gives astronomers a golden opportunity to learn more about potentially hazardous near-Earth objects. And conspiracy theorists a chance to speculate on NASA.
Some people are genuinely concerned about this asteroid causing an End of Life event on Earth. Not to worry.

A University of Rochester scientist discovered that the toxins in cigarette smoke wipe out a gene that plays a vital role in protecting the body from the effects of premature aging. Without this gene we not only lose a bit of youthfulness – but the lungs are left open to destructive inflammation and diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer.
By identifying the Sirtuin (SIRT1) gene’s role in pulmonary disease, scientists also hope to find ways to restore it and jump-start lung healing. They’ve begun testing the powerful antioxidant resveratrol, which is extracted from red grape skins, to develop a treatment to target SIRT1 and reverse lung damage, or at least enhance the way standard COPD therapies work.

Pioneering research at the University of Sunderland has shown that regular exposure to safe low level infra-red light can improve learning performance and kick-start the cognitive function of the brain.
The results are a scientific breakthrough as to date medical treatments for dementia can only slow down brain deterioration and now human trials are to start to see if the treatment could provide a cure to illnesses like Alzheimers.
Independent research carried out at Sunderland has demonstrated that low power infra-red (1072nm) can improve the learning performance. The low levels of infra-red light used are completely safe and occur naturally in sunlight.

In transportation, road traffic contributes the most to global warming, aviation is second, railways are negligible and shipping actually has a net cooling effect on the earth’s climate, according to a study published recently.
But we can't simply switch to shipping and cure global warming. Shipping emits large portions of SO2 and NOx, which both have cooling effects, but this effect will diminish as the gases don’t live long in the atmosphere. After a few decades, the long-lived CO2 will dominate, giving shipping a warming effect in the long run.

You’re more likely to give things a favorable evaluation when you’re happy and a negative evaluation when you’re sad. But how does mood influence your choices among items?
A new study in the February issue of the Journal of Consumer Research people finds that consumers in a good mood are more likely than unhappy consumers to choose the first item they see, especially if all the choices are more or less the same.
“It is surprising that little research has been done to examine how affect influences comparisons and choices,” say Cheng Qiu (University of Hong Kong) and Catherine W. M. Yeung (National University of Singapore).

We've been waiting for a good personal jet pack system since seeing Sean Connery strap on that Bell-Textron thing in the opening sequence of Thunderball.
Thunderbolt Aerosystems founder Carmelo "Nino" Amarena must have seen that movie too because when he decided to try and shorten the grueling commute to his Bay Area office, he came up with what he says is a practical and economical personal air vehicle - one that won't blow up on your back like those hydrogen peroxide-powered prototypes of the early 1960s.
Don't get too excited just yet if you're a big guy. While the new version can stay aloft for up to 75 seconds, a 300% increase over what other systems offer, and go 65 MPH, it's limited to a 160 lb. man and a laptop. See it in action here:

The new Center for Vaccine Awareness and Research at Texas Children’s Hospital announced that it will implement the nation’s first major “cocoon strategy” vaccination program to protect newborn infants from the life-threatening infection pertussis, more commonly known as whooping cough.

In the most recent edition of the Lancet, Cambridge scientists Drs. Oliver Jones and Julian Griffin highlight the need to research the possible link between persistent organic pollutants (POPs, a group which includes many pesticides) and insulin resistance, which can lead to adult onset diabetes.
In their commentary, Dr Jones and Dr. Griffin cite peer reviewed research, including that of Dr. D. Lee, et al, which demonstrated a very strong relationship between the levels of POPs in blood, particularly organochlorine compounds, and the risk of type 2 diabetes.