• Science

    Discovery of a "Transsexual Gene" Raises More Questions Than Answers

    By Abby Seiff Posted on 11.18.2008 4 Comments

    A few weeks ago, Hanna Rosin's wrenching and well-researched article about young transsexuals—including a girl named Bridget (née Brandon), whose first words were "I like your high heels"—zipped around the blogosphere. In it, Rosin discusses the unsettling work of a psychiatrist who questions the scientific basis for allowing children to "transition" to the gender of their choice, citing several kids who emerged from their gender dysphoria after a rigorous course of therapy. "If a 5-year-old black kid came into the clinic and said he wanted to be white, would we endorse that?" he asks. The prospect of letting pre-pubescent pipsqueaks take hormone-blockers that might have far-reaching effects on their health and future fertility is indeed a little nerve-wracking. But just on the heels of Rosin's piece, researchers based at Australia's Prince Henry's Institute this month released the results of the largest ever study of transsexual genetics, which compared the length of the androgen receptor (AR) gene in 112 male-to-female transsexuals and a control group of 250 "normal" men.

  • Science

    Shock Your Way to Happiness

    By Abby Seiff Posted on 12.8.2008 9 Comments

    I was feeling sick I was losing my mind I heard about these treatments From a good friend of mine he was always happy smile on his face He said he had a great time at the place... Gimme gimme shock treatment Gimme gimme shock treatment Gimme gimme shock treatment I wanna, wanna shock treatment.... Peace and love is here to stay and now I can wake up and face the day Happy happy happy all the time shock treatment, I'm doing fine - The Ramones Don't stick you finger in the electrical socket! That's one of the first things you learn as a kid, right? Otherwise, as all proper cartoons show, you'll end up with singed eyebrows and a wild poufy Einstein-style 'do. But all joking aside, electrocution is a serious business. People die from electrical burns, whether they have been hit by lightening or deliberately executed in the electric chair. (If you're worried about the former, and you find yourself the tallest object in an open field during an electrical storm, LIE DOWN. If you are worried about the latter...stay out of trouble. Or write to your congress person.) Bottom line, most people prefer not to be zapped with electricity...except when it can cure disease. Psychiatrists currently use electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for a variety of psychiatric disorders, but most commonly ECT is used for severe, treatment-resistant major depression, usually for inpatients who are too depressed to function outside the hospital.

  • Science

    You Want to Put What Where?

    By Abby Seiff Posted on 2.18.2009 4 Comments

    When most people hear the phrase "organ transplantation," they generally think of allotransplantation, that is, the transplantation of organs from one person (allo=other) to a second person. Transplanted organs may come from a cadaver, as in heart transplants, or from a living donor, as with some kidney and liver transplants. Allotransplantation requires the use of immunosuppressive drugs. Patients who receive donor organs must take a special medication regimen for the rest of their lives to prevent their bodies from rejecting the "foreign" donor organs.

  • Science

    Self-Control is Good, But Only up to a Point

    By Paul Adams Posted on 4.24.2009 6 Comments

    A strange new study found that people who rated high in self-control made good choices among an array of relatively healthy foods -- until a much healthier option was thrown into the mix, at which point self-control seemed to go out the window. Also in today's links: the most delightful creature in the world, the worldwide spread of technology, and more.

  • The Environment

    Diminishing Days for Emperor Penguins

    By Abby Seiff Posted on 1.27.2009 5 Comments

    No more happy feet for emperor penguins. According to a new study, if Antarctic ice continues to shrink at its current pace, emperor penguins will face extinction within the next 100 years. Emperor penguins are one of only two open-sea Antarctic penguin species and depend on the sea ice for survival. After breeding, emperor penguins feed among the coastal pack ice where stretches of water are exposed. As a result of disappearing ice, the emperor penguins are being forced to retreat inward and could easily become displaced by other animals, losing out on nesting space.

  • The Environment

    Parasitic Pollution

    By Matt Ransford Posted on 6.5.2008 3 Comments

    Toxoplasma gondii is one of the fascinating little parasitic creatures capable of changing the natural behavoir of its infected host. It needs to live in a cat in order to reproduce, but the rest of its life cycle can be spent in just about any warm-blooded animal. When it makes its way into a rat or mouse, for example, it has the peculiar ability to render the rodent unafraid of cats and even drawn to their scent. This powerful evolutionary trait increases the T. gondii's chances of reproduction—a mouse hanging around with cats is obviously likely to be eaten.

  • Science

    HIV Resistance Through Oral Sex?

    By Abby Seiff Posted on 2.18.2009 11 Comments

    It has long been known that contracting HIV through oral sex is rare. Klara Hasselrot of Stockholm's Karolinska Institutet recently wrapped up a study--detailed in a forthcoming paper in the international AIDS journal AIDS--that might shed some light on why this is. It provides the first-ever evidence that humans can develop resistance to HIV in their saliva.

  • Science

    A Lousy Reason for Asthma and Allergies

    By Paul Adams Posted on 4.22.2009 4 Comments

    The incidence of asthma and allergies are on the rise. In the United States alone, asthma rates have doubled since the 1980s. And, according to a recent article by the BBC, doctors once estimated 15 percent of the population had some type of allergy, but now believe the figure is closer to 40. More patients are also suffering from multiple allergies than ever before. The reason for this trend has been widely disputed, but a new study points the finger at a surprising culprit: lice.



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December 2009: Best of What's New

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