Research News

A World Health Organization worker trains nurses how to use Ebola protective gear in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Dire Predictions On Ebola's Spread From Top Health Organizations

8:55pm September 23, 2014

by Michaeleen Doucleff

The World Health Organization warns of more than 20,000 cases by early November if help doesn't arrive quickly in West Africa. The CDC projects 1.4 million cases by late January.

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Coalitions of patient advocates now help steer research funding toward particular projects.

Breast Cancer Patients Seek More Control Over Research Agenda

11:23am September 23, 2014

by Richard Harris

Tired of waiting for a cure for breast cancer, a coalition of activists now leans hard on Congress to steer money to particular research projects. Critics say that approach may miss promising leads.

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Science

IG Nobels Honor Inane Yet Useful Scientific Discoveries

7:15am September 22, 2014

The Detroit Medical Center rediscovered a folk remedy from the 1800s — stop a nosebleed by shoving pork up your nostrils. Other winners: banana research and dogs sense the Earth's magnetic field.

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Science

The Poor Don't Always Benefit From Democracy, Mortality Rates Show

11:02pm September 21, 2014

by Shankar Vedantam

Is Democracy a key to better levels of health in a country? That's long been the belief, but we hear about some research that shows that isn't always the case.

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Half the land in the city of Satellite Beach is only 6 feet above the waterline.

A Coastal Paradise Confronts Its Watery Future

6:59pm September 18, 2014

by Jon Hamilton

With rising seas, cities like Satellite Beach, Fla., are debating options: defend the shoreline to avoid destruction, or retreat, withdrawing homes and businesses from the water's edge.

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Top Scientists Suggest A Few Fixes For Medical Funding Crisis

8:02am September 18, 2014

by Richard Harris

The answer, this time, isn't simply more cash, says Dr. Harold Varmus, director of the National Cancer Institute. Instead, changing the way research money is distributed might fix systemic problems.

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Should we drink diet soda or not? The latest study doesn't really clear things up.

Diet Soda May Alter Our Gut Microbes And Raise The Risk Of Diabetes

5:43am September 18, 2014

by Allison Aubrey

There's a new wrinkle to the old debate over diet soda: Artificial sweeteners may alter our microbiomes. And for some, this may raise blood sugar levels and set the stage for diabetes.

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This skull, from the Swedish archaeological site called Motala, is thought to have come from a hunter-gatherer who died there about 8,000 years ago.

Europe's Family Tree Gets A New Branch

5:26pm September 17, 2014

by Alison Bruzek

Genetic evidence from ancient humans and modern people suggests that travelers from northern Eurasia moved south several thousand years ago. They stuck around to have kids with early European farmers.

Maps of connections in the brain are helping researchers better understand attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Key Brain Connection Slow To Develop In Kids With ADHD

8:57am September 17, 2014

by Alison Bruzek

A network in the brain that helps control daydreaming seem to be slower to develop in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Tom Murphy, 56, in his home in Gainesville, Va., was diagnosed with ALS four years ago. An experimental drug seems to have slowed the progression of his disease, he says, though most ALS patients aren't as lucky.

Patients Vulnerable When Cash-Strapped Scientists Cut Corners

9:09am September 16, 2014

by Richard Harris

A shrinking pool of grant money for medical research has led competing applicants to oversell weak scientific findings, critics say. The result: Many experimental treatments are worthless.

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