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Global Vaccination Efforts to Battle AIDS
The HIV/AIDS epidemic will still be with us in 40 years. But we will know a lot more about the virus than we do today—and therapy will be much more effective. -
Why Some Things Taste Good and Some Things Taste Bad
“There are some things that simply disgust us in a very, very instinctive, deep kind of way. And there are other things that we clearly learn to find either good or bad,” says Firestein. -
Biometrics Goes Mainstream
The widespread use of biometrics will change how we see our health and fitness and open up new vistas for the health care industry.
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"Our Grandchildren Will Not Live as Long as We Do"
We must confront our national obesity crisis, warns NIH director Francis Collins, or face a decrease in life expectancy.
Topics
Health & Medicine
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IdeaFeed
Have Scientists Found HIV's Achilles' Heel?
1 day ago
What's the Latest Development? A team of Japanese scientists have discovered a way to circumvent one of HIV's most potent defense mechanisms. The discovery involves a family of chemical compounds known as pradimicin A1 which stick strongly to the exterior coating of the HIV virus, called mannose ... Read More
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IdeaFeed
Heart Disease Tied to Y Chromosome
1 day ago
What's the Latest Development? In a survey of 3,000 British men, scientists have found an important link between a particular version of the Y sex chromosome and heart disease, meaning the predisposition to illness is passed down from father to son. Researchers found that 90 percent of the men ... Read More
Latest Ideas
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Paul Ryan, Individual Liberty, and the Fate of Medicare
5 days ago
Just as Mitt Romney appears to be wrapping up the Republican nomination for the presidency, congressional Republicans are taking steps to set up their own political framework for the 2012 election. In short, the future of Medicare is on the line and a Romney vs. Obama match-up will surely address ... Read More
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This Is Your Brain On Sports
8 days ago
What's the Big Idea? On June 12, 1970, Pittsburgh Pirate Dock Ellis pitched a no-hitter while high on LSD: “The ball was small sometimes, the ball was large sometimes, sometimes I saw the catcher, sometimes I didn’t,” he noted. Five years later, he was traded to the Yankees. Fourteen years later ... Read More
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This Is Your Brain During Orgasm
22 days ago
Editor's Note: A writer by trade, Kayt Sukel volunteered to masturbate in an MRI scanner for science. The point of the study? Neuroscientist Barry Komisaruk and sex therapist Nan Wise wanted to know what exactly goes on in the brain when a woman orgasms. Could the sensory cortex be activated by ... Read More
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Technology for a Cause
28 days ago
The XO 3.0 tablet was one of the most talked about gadgets at this year’s Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. The tablet has a hand cranked accessory that powers the device which can run on Linux or Android. This is helpful for children living in rural areas of developing countries where there ... Read More
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How to Regrow a Limb
about 1 month ago
What's the Big Idea? The loss of a human limb is a tragedy. We know that once they’re gone, mammalian arms and legs can't ever be restored. But if you cut off a salamander's leg - or tail - it will reappear in just a few weeks. The enigma of amphibian organ regeneration has puzzled scientists since ... Read More
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The End of Free Will?
about 1 month ago
What's the Big Idea? The field of neuroscience evolved so rapidly in the past twenty years that it will pose unprecedented challenges to the legal system in the decades to come, changing the way we understand crime and punishment, says neuro-pioneer Joy Hirsch, director of the Functional Magnetic ... Read More
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How to Grow a Heart: Transforming Cells Into Human Organs
about 1 month ago
Editor's Note: Over the next 12 days, Big Think will be running excerpts from all the lessons that make up our first online course, Great Big Ideas. During this period, we are offering discounted subscriptions to Big Think readers. You can now subscribe and gift this course for $99. Please sign ... Read More
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Why Your Ability to Combine Sights & Sounds Matters
about 1 month ago
What's the Latest Development? Learning how the brain mingles its senses can do more than shed light on the latest glitch in streaming video. It may also be able to help some people rewire their sense of reality for their own good. When scientists compared children of the same age, they ... Read More
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Just Enough Adversity Breeds Resilience
about 1 month ago
What's the Latest Development? A meta-analysis of studies of how traumatic events affect mental health found that the number of adverse experiences may determine whether we become better able to handle what life throws at us. Those who underwent no or few hardships, or many adversities ... Read More
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