Junk Diet Rewires Rat Brains

The common food additives altered mice microbiomes to encourage gut inflammation and overeating. Dina Fine Maron reports

Although clinical guidelines assume just two years for hot flashes and night sweats, a large study finds a median symptom duration of more than three times that length. Dina Fine Maron reports

Choosing a user name starting with a letter appearing earlier in the alphabet is just one scientifically vetted way to increase the odds of turning an online encounter into a first date. Christopher Intagliata reports

High-tech pedometers do a decent job of counting steps accurately. Dina Fine Maron reports.

High-calorie and exceedingly pleasurable foods appear to change rat brain rewards circuitry, causing the rodents to continue to seek such fare. Erika Beras reports

Parkinson’s patients derived more benefits from a salt solution they were told was an expensive drug than from the same solution when it was described as being cheap medication. Karen Hopkin reports

Some 42 percent of U.S. adults who drink have been prescribed a drug that may interact negatively with alcohol. Dina Fine Maron reports

Strains of the lab workhorse roundworm C. elegans that lived longer added more time being frail and had the same portion of their lives being healthy as normal worms. The work has implications for life-extension ideas such as caloric restriction. Dina Fine Maron reports

Researchers tracked 70,000 for decades to find lifestyle clues for better cardiovascular condition. Dina Fine Maron reports

Of studies presented at conferences, those that found a cognitive benefit to bilingualism were almost twice as likely to get published in journals as were studies finding no benefit. Karen Hopkin reports