Research News

For many people, checking their smartphone can be addicting.

Smartphone Detox: How To Power Down In A Wired World

2:36pm February 12, 2018

In an era when many kids get a first smartphone at age 10, psychologists say the devices have turned us into Pavlov's dogs — drooling for the next notification, buzz or text. Ready to dial back?

Queue Listen Now

Warmer temperatures are making canola and possibly other brassica seedpods open too early, reducing crop yields.

What Canola Can Tell Us About Crops And Climate Change

12:01pm February 12, 2018

by Angus Chen

When canola seedpods shatter prematurely, farmers can lose a lot of their crop. Scientists have now figured out how this happens, and it has implications for similar crops facing global warming.

The scientists tested tissue samples from the brains of deceased patients who suffered from autism, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Major Psychiatric Disorders Have More In Common Than We Thought, Study Finds

5:34pm February 08, 2018

by Merrit Kennedy

Understanding the molecular basis of major disorders such as autism, schizophrenia and bipolar is hopeful, because it could help in developing better treatments for them.

Scientists say low chlorine levels in Flint's water system during the city's water crisis in 2014 and 2015 led the bacterium Legionella pneumophila to proliferate, causing a deadly outbreak of Legionnaire's disease.

Lethal Pneumonia Outbreak Caused By Low Chlorine In Flint Water

11:26pm February 05, 2018

by Rebecca Hersher

Two new studies confirm that an outbreak of deadly Legionnaires' disease in Flint, Mich., was caused by the city's water crisis in 2014 and 2015.

Queue Listen Now

Antipsychotic drugs, such as haloperidol and risperidone are FDA-approved for treating schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but can increase the risk of death in older people who have dementia.

Risky Antipsychotic Drugs Still Overprescribed In Nursing Homes

8:51pm February 05, 2018

by Ina Jaffe

Too many people with dementia are being given sedating drugs to make them easier to handle in understaffed facilities, a new study finds, despite federal warnings to stop the practice.

Science

Fossils In Amber May Provide Link Between Ancient Arachnids And Modern Spiders

6:46pm February 05, 2018

by Vanessa Romo

Two teams of researchers are studying tailed spiders captured and preserved about 100 million years ago, which could provide evidence of the species' evolution.

Bradley Martin is seen here in 1993 inspecting confiscated rhino horns, elephant tusks and ivory objects at the Taipei Zoo, in his role as a United Nations special envoy on rhino conservation.

Prominent Ivory Trade Investigator Found Stabbed To Death In Kenya

2:51pm February 05, 2018

by Laurel Wamsley

Esmond Bradley Martin's innovative work as a conservationist and investigator made him one of the global authorities on elephant and rhino poaching. He was found at home with stab wounds to his neck.

Scientists are keen to figure out how diet influences aging, including brain health. A five-year study of healthy seniors found those who ate a serving or two of daily greens had less cognitive decline.

Eating Leafy Greens Each Day Tied to Sharper Memory, Slower Decline

12:07pm February 05, 2018

by Allison Aubrey

Scientists are keen to figure out how diet influences aging, including brain health. A 5-year study of healthy seniors found those who ate a serving or two of daily greens had less cognitive decline.

Queue Listen Now

A "space toilet" on display at Miraikan, The Emerging Museum of Science and Innovation in Tokyo, Japan in 2008.

Science

Making Space Food With Space Poop

8:39am February 03, 2018

by James Doubek

One of the difficult aspects of getting humans to Mars is the need to bring food. Researchers are experimenting with a way to make edible "microbial goo" with help from human waste.

New treatments for migraines could change how physicians treat patients with the debilitating headaches.

Gone With A Shot? Hopeful New Signs Of Relief For Migraine Sufferers

8:00am February 03, 2018

by Lauren Gravitz

Novel migraine therapies could change how physicians treat these debilitating headaches. But they are likely to be expensive and the long-term side effects will not be known for some time.