SCIENCE AND HEALTH HIGHLIGHTS

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

October 10, 2015 (San Diego's East County)-- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

·         DNA segments predict sex orientation, study says (U-T)

·         Why It Was Easier to Be Skinny in the 1980s (The Atlantic)

·         First patient receives stem cell treatment for blindness (CBS)

·         Wherever You Go, Your Personal Cloud Of Microbes Follows NPR

·         Taking blood pressure drugs at bedtime lowers diabetes risk (SD Union-Tribune)

·         Turing Pharmaceuticals Retreats From Plan To Raise Price Of Daraprim (NPR)

·         Sad To Say, Most Remedies For Hot Flashes Fizzle (NPR)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

·         Volcanoes cooled earth in the past, constrain warming from excess CO2 (Climate Wire)

·         Germany now faced with thousands of aging wind farms (YahooNews)

·         Volkswagen rigged tests on 2.8 million cars in Germany, Berlin says (Reuters)

·         Not just an electric car, but one that runs on salt water (CS Monitor)

·         Mercedes-Benz’s self-driving truck hits the open road (CS Monitor)

·         Spotted Jellyfish Sighting In Chula Vista Another Sign Of El Niño  (KPBS)

·         Wild horse genome reveals hidden costs of domestication( CS Monitor)

·         Could 'rewilding' allow crops to fight pests without chemicals? (CS Monitor)

·         EU Safe Harbor ruling sends shock waves across tech industry (CS Monitor)

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

 

HEALTH

DNA segments predict sex orientation, study says (U-T)

Nearly 70 percent accuracy found in UCLA study of identical twins, confirmation needed.

Why It Was Easier to Be Skinny in the 1980s (The Atlantic)

A study published recently in the journal Obesity Research & Clinical Practice found that it’s harder for adults today to maintain the same weight as those 20 to 30 years ago did, even at the same levels of food intake and exercise.

First patient receives stem cell treatment for blindness (CBS)

The first patient has received a pioneering human embryonic stem cell operation in the U.K. that doctors hope will be effective against a common cause of blindness…The procedure was performed on a 60-year-old woman with a condition called age-related macular degeneration at London's Moorfields Eye Hospital last month. The procedure was deemed successful and there have been no complications to date, the statement said.

Wherever You Go, Your Personal Cloud Of Microbes Follows NPR

You're not just shedding microbes on every surface you touch. Research suggests you're actually walking around in an airborne plume of bacteria and other microscopic organisms that's unique to you..

Taking blood pressure drugs at bedtime lowers diabetes risk (SD Union-Tribune)

Taking blood pressure meds at night halves type 2 diabetes risk, in Spanish study.

Turing Pharmaceuticals Retreats From Plan To Raise Price Of Daraprim (NPR)

Turing Pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli has backed down on his plan for an astronomical price increase on a drug used to treat a deadly parasitic infection. The company did not say what the new price would be, but presumably less than the $750 a pill it had planned to charge. The move illustrates how Shkreli is more Wall Street speculator than pharmaceutical entrepreneur.

Sad To Say, Most Remedies For Hot Flashes Fizzle (NPR)

Women have precious few choices when it comes to treating menopause symptoms, an expert panel says. Cognitive behavioral therapy and hypnosis top the list.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Volcanoes cooled earth in the past, constrain warming from excess CO2 (Climate Wire)

Almost every major volcanic eruption in the past 2,500 years has rapidly cooled the planet.

Germany now faced with thousands of aging wind farms (YahooNews)

Germany has long been a pioneer in the field of renewable energy, generating a record 78 percent of its power consumption from renewables in July of this year. In fact, Germany is one of the very few countries in the world that is actually struggling with too much renewable energy. The latest testimony to this fact is the new issue of decommissioning its old wind farms.

Volkswagen rigged tests on 2.8 million cars in Germany, Berlin says (Reuters)

Volkswagen rigged emission tests on about 2.8 million diesel vehicles in Germany, the country's transport minister said on Friday, nearly six times as many as it has admitted to falsifying in the United States. His comments, pointing to cheating on a bigger scale than previously thought, deepened the crisis at the world's largest automaker as its supervisory board held a crucial meeting.

Not just an electric car, but one that runs on salt water (CS Monitor)

Battery technology has been developed by a German company that allows electric car batteries to be charged via salt water. 

Mercedes-Benz’s self-driving truck hits the open road (CS Monitor)

The Mercedes-Benz Actros, a self-driving big rig, began driving on public roads in Germany last week. Once it's on the highway, the Actros automatically stays in its lane and adjusts its speed to the flow of traffic.

Spotted Jellyfish Sighting In Chula Vista Another Sign Of El Niño  (KPBS)

A sighting of Australian spotted jellyfish in the South Bay may provide another sign of the coming El Niño weather pattern expected to hit San Diego this winter.1800580

Wild horse genome reveals hidden costs of domestication( CS Monitor)

Captive breeding has helped preserve the last breed of wild horse on Earth, but it has also altered the Przewalksi horse's gene pool.

Could 'rewilding' allow crops to fight pests without chemicals? (CS Monitor)

Wild plants can protect themselves from pests, but scientists think this immune system has been bred out of domesticated crop plants. Now, they're trying to figure out how to bring it back. 

EU Safe Harbor ruling sends shock waves across tech industry (CS Monitor)

The Court of Justice of the European Union on Tuesday invalidated a data transfer deal between the US and the EU affecting some 4,500 companies, ruling that the Snowden leaks revealed that American companies couldn't safeguard Europeans' personal data.

 


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.