Author: healthadmin

Contrary to popular belief, playing organized youth sports alone does not reduce, and may even increase, a person’s chance of committing violence over their lifetime, according to a new study. The study was recently published online. Sports Sociology Journalfound that while most survey respondents, including youth athletes, had never engaged in violence, 17% reported having committed an act of violence. Playing a high-contact sport regularly or dropping out of an organized youth sport after first playing were particularly associated with committing violent acts over the life course. Our findings challenge the common notion that sports are inherently good -…

As populations decline and age across developed countries, compact city strategies, which oversee the consolidation of urban facilities and direct residents to well-connected hubs, have become mainstream policies. But most evidence about its benefits already comes from compact cities. Little is known about the social costs that may be incurred during the compaction transition of small and medium-sized cities (SMCs), which are the most exposed to downsizing. Associate Professor Haruka Kato of the Graduate School of Human Life Ecology at Osaka Metropolitan University examined the short-term effects of Japan’s Location Optimization Plan (LOP), a compact city policy promoted by local…

Brain signals can reveal when a person is preparing to lie before they say a word. Recent research published in journals neuroimage Explore how the brain primes us to communicate falsehoods. This finding suggests that just predicting a lie requires a distinct mental effort that the sensor can detect. The science of lie detection has a long and difficult history. Traditional methods of measuring physical signs of stress, such as polygraphs, have been widely criticized for being unreliable. In recent years, researchers have increasingly turned to brain imaging techniques in search of more objective indicators of deception. Most of this…

On Tuesday, STAT reported on a mysterious patient with obesity, sleep apnea and pulmonary hypertension who was given an obesity drug that has not yet been approved by federal drug regulators. The identity of the 79-year-old man who became eligible for Eli Lilly’s investigational drug retatortide under the Compassionate Use Program (usually offered only to terminally ill patients) in April remains unknown. However, this report increased interest in pulmonary hypertension. Given the unusual circumstances of the application, STAT asked the White House whether the patient was President Trump. Spokespeople were initially reluctant, but after the announcement, they said the drug…

When Lillian was incarcerated in a rural prison in Pennsylvania, she couldn’t stop vomiting. The “brain zap” continued to destabilize her as she showered and changed into her prison uniform. “The prison guard who was watching me had to keep a firm grip on me, otherwise I would have fallen and hit the floor,” Lilian recalled. She had stopped taking fentanyl mixed with medetomidine, a powerful tranquilizer that began becoming a common adulterant in illegal opioid supplies two years ago. Medetomidine often causes excruciating and complex withdrawal symptoms within hours of the last dose, and many medical institutions are unprepared…

A chance encounter with a young great white shark prompted scientists to revisit more than a century and a half of records to better understand one of the Mediterranean’s most elusive predators. On April 20, 2023, a local fisherman accidentally caught a juvenile great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) off the eastern coast of the peninsula. The shark was about 210 centimeters (about 7 feet) long and weighed 80 to 90 kilograms (176 to 198 pounds). Great white sharks are one of the world’s most famous marine animals, but sightings in this part of the Mediterranean are extremely rare. This unusual…

Local residents who live next to Europe’s largest data center park say the scorching summer heat is becoming unbearable.Nabeel Nawaz, manager of the Chaiwala franchise in central Slough, said days like Wednesday’s can be so hot that it “wraps you up and makes your skin burn”.Even more difficult to establish is whether the heat is solely a result of the climate emergency and the growing industrial sprawl across London, or whether the creation of dozens of energy-hungry data centers is also contributing to the problem.Nabeel Nawaz: The heat is like something “squeezing” your body. Photo: Martin Godwin/The GuardianSlough, 10 miles…

A newly discovered spider in the rainforests of northern Queensland has evolved an amazing hunting technique. Researchers say the species has the “ultimate special ability” to use powerful spring-loaded silk traps to capture a single type of prey, capturing ants one at a time. These small nocturnal arachnids are called ballista spiders, after ancient Roman siege engines that used built-up tension to fire bolts and stones. Scientists say the spider appears to have developed a unique web system designed specifically to trap aggressive green ants. Oecophila smaragdina. The discovery and detailed analysis of spider hunting behavior was published in the…

Panspermia theory proposes that life, or the ingredients necessary for life, could spread throughout the universe on asteroids, comets, and other rocks. When life develops on a planet, powerful impacts can blow material off the surface and into space, transporting microorganisms and organic compounds to other worlds. Scientists have long debated whether this type of migration could have occurred between Earth and Mars (in both directions). Recently, there has been renewed interest in the possibility that microorganisms exist in Venus’ thick cloud layers, and the discussion has extended to Earth, Venus, and Mars. A recent study presented at the 2026…

aA heatwave is intensifying across Europe, forcing most cities to install more air conditioning. But in Paris in the 1990s, plans began for a different kind of solution: one of the world’s largest district cooling networks.The system includes 120 kilometers (75 miles) of underground pipes that provide chilled water to museums, offices, hospitals, schools, and other public buildings, including the Louvre, the Grand Palais, and some luxury hotels and business districts. Instead of thousands of individual air conditioning units, cooling is generated centrally and shared throughout the city, like a public utility.This system circulates cold water through a network of…