More U.S. high-school students are taking physics than ever before, and the number of physics bachelor’s degree recipients in the nation has increased 31 percent since 2000, according to new data presented today by the American Institute of Physics (AIP). In addition, physics bachelor’s degree recipients are eight times more likely to go on to earn any kind of PhD than those with non-physics bachelor’s, the new data show.
Although it’s too soon to recommend dropping by Starbucks before hitting the gym, a new study suggests that caffeine can help reduce the post-workout soreness that discourages some people from exercising. In a study to be published in the February issue of The Journal of Pain, a team of University of Georgia researchers finds that moderate doses of caffeine, roughly equivalent to two cups of coffee, cut post-workout muscle pain by up to 48 percent in a small sample of volunteers.
Pancreatic cancer patients 65 or older who live five years after surgery have nearly as good a chance as anyone to live another five years. Researchers reviewed records of 890 pancreatic cancer patients who over a 30 year-period underwent surgery. They found 23 percent lived five years after surgery, half of whom were 65 or older. Some 65 percent lived another five years compared to 87 percent in the general population at age 70.
Combining synthetic chemistry techniques with a knowledge of the properties and actions of enzymes, scientists have been able to produce an exciting class of anti-cancer drugs originally isolated from blue-green algae.
Unexplained chest pain after a heart attack might be more dangerous than many physicians originally think. In a case study to be published in the January issue of the international journal Clinical Cardiology, physicians at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia report on a seemingly healthy 55-year-old man who had a silent heart attack and subsequent unexplained chest pain.
Adults with a genetic variation enabling them to express higher levels of fetal hemoglobin may have a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease, researchers say.
A UCL (University College London) study has found that you are more likely to perform well if you do not think too hard and instead trust your instincts. The research, published online today in the journal Current Biology, shows that, in some cases, instinctive snap decisions are more reliable than decisions taken using higher-level cognitive processes.
The phrase “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” has taken on new meaning for teenagers. A new study suggests that as teens enter adulthood, they are more likely to skip breakfast and increase their fast food consumption, and that both behaviors lead to an increased risk of weight gain. Researchers at the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center at the Miriam Hospital and Brown Medical School conducted the study.
Breast cancer patients who pray in online support groups can obtain mental health benefits, according to a new study conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center of Excellence in Cancer Communications Research that was funded by the National Cancer Institute.
Telephone outreach can dramatically increase the incidence of screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) in an urban minority population, according to a new study published in the December 2006 issue of American Journal of Public Health.