HEALTH AND SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS

September 2, 2015 (San Diego's East County)-- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Blood test 'detects cancer relapse' (BBC)
• Turning cancer into healthy tissue (BBC)
• More than 1 in 6 children are obese: How parents and teachers can help (CS Monitor)
• Creative minds: New study challenges myth about people with autism (+video)
• Selecting Boys Over Girls Is A Trend In More And More Countries (NPR)
• Rethinking Breakfast: What We Eat May Trump When We Eat (NPR)
• After A Divorce, What Happens To A Couple's Frozen Embryos? (NPR)
• Scientists Discover New Disease Caused By Prion Protein (NPR)
• A metabolic master switch underlying human obesity (MIT news)
• Saudi records 15 MERS virus deaths in a week (AP)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• Deep beneath Antarctica's ice, signs of bizarre particles from space (CS Monitor)
• Ashley Madison founder emails leaked in new data dump (Reuters)
• Weather Complaints Affirmed: NOAA Says July Was Hottest Month Globally On Record
• SolarCity takes on California utilities (San Diego Union-Tribiune)
• A Lot Of Heat Is Wasted, So Why Not Convert It Into Power? (NPR)
• Why Phone Fraud Starts With A Silent Call (NPR_
• South African prototype may solve solar power problem (AP)
• Rising seas even more dangerous than thought, says NASA (CS Monitor)
• A year in a bubble: NASA begins most ambitious Mars-analog mission yet (CS Monitor)
• General Mills sets ambitious goal for greenhouse gas cuts (CS Monitor)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

HEALTH

Blood test 'detects cancer relapse' (BBC)

Searching blood for fragments of cancer can find tumours that have come back months before symptoms appear, a study shows.

Turning cancer into healthy tissue (BBC)

Scientists believe they may have found a way to turn cancerous cells back into healthy tissue.

More than 1 in 6 children are obese: How parents and teachers can help (CS Monitor)

Toddler obesity has declined, say CDC officials, but obesity rates for children and youth remain at 17.5 percent.

Creative minds: New study challenges myth about people with autism (+video)

New research shows that people with autistic traits generate more original, creative ideas, according to scientists at the University of East Anglia and the University of Stirling.

Selecting Boys Over Girls Is A Trend In More And More Countries (NPR)

With abortion, infanticide and neglect, parents are taking steps to ensure there are boys in the family. Only six countries had a skewed boy-girl ratio in 1995. Today the number is up to 21.

Rethinking Breakfast: What We Eat May Trump When We Eat (NPR)

A lot of American adults aren't sitting down to breakfast anymore — they're eating on the go. And what we eat in the morning is likely more important than when we eat it.

After A Divorce, What Happens To A Couple's Frozen Embryos? (NPR)

Former spouses who disagree over whether their embryos can be destroyed have taken their case to court. In the process, one thing has become clear: how far the law lags behind reproductive technology. Interesting

Scientists Discover New Disease Caused By Prion Protein (NPR)

Scientists have discovered the first new human disease caused by a "prion" in more than 50 years. Prions are strange, deformed proteins that can act like viruses and bacteria

A metabolic master switch underlying human obesity (MIT news)

…There may now be a new approach to prevent and even cure obesity, thanks to a study led by researchers at MIT and Harvard Medical School and published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Saudi records 15 MERS virus deaths in a week (AP)

Saudi Arabia's Health Ministry says 15 more people have died after contracting the Middle East respiratory syndrome, known as MERS, in the last seven days amid a surge in contractions in the capital, Riyadh.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Deep beneath Antarctica's ice, signs of bizarre particles from space (CS Monitor)

An observatory on the southern continent has detected high-energy neutrinos, some of which come from beyond our galaxy.

Ashley Madison founder emails leaked in new data dump (Reuters)

Emails sent by the founder of infidelity website AshleyMadison.com appear to have been exposed in a second, larger release of data stolen from its parent company, cyber security experts confirmed on Thursday.

Weather Complaints Affirmed: NOAA Says July Was Hottest Month Globally On Record

Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report that July had the highest average temperatures since records have been kept.

SolarCity takes on California utilities (San Diego Union-Tribiune)

SolarCity chief says California utilities want to avoid competition with rooftop solar.

A Lot Of Heat Is Wasted, So Why Not Convert It Into Power? (NPR)

What if there were a way to take the waste heat that spews from car tailpipes or power plant chimneys and turn it into electricity? An entrepreneur says something called thermoelectrics is the key.

Why Phone Fraud Starts With A Silent Call (NPR)

When you answer your phone and there's no one on the other end, it could in fact be a computer that's gathering information about you and your bank account. Here's how.

South African prototype may solve solar power problem (AP)

By thinking small, a group of South African scientists may have pioneered solar technology that has stumped Internet giant Google. 

Rising seas even more dangerous than thought, says NASA (CS Monitor)

Melting ice sheets are contributing to rising sea levels more than previously thought, suggests data from NASA satellites.

A year in a bubble: NASA begins most ambitious Mars-analog mission yet (CS Monitor)

The three men and three women, all scientists, are attempting to simulate what life would be like during a Mars mission. During the NASA-funded experiment, they will spend 365 days inside a 36-foot-wide, 20-foot tall-dome on the northern slope of Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano.

General Mills sets ambitious goal for greenhouse gas cuts (CS Monitor)

General Mills has set an ambitious goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions 28 percent by 2025 – not just within its own operations but from farm to fork to landfill.