Extract of Chinese herb kudzu reduces alcohol consumption

(McLean Hospital) An extract of the Chinese herb kudzu dramatically reduces drinking and may be useful in the treatment of alcoholism and curbing binge drinking, according to a new study by McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School researchers. “Our study is further evidence that components found in kudzu root can reduce alcohol consumption and do [...]

California school food standards change teens eating habits for the better

By Sarah Kliff  (Washington Post) California’s strict school nutrition standards — soda bans, low calorie foods in cafeterias and limits on fat content — appear to have had a significant impact on what teens there eat. A study of about 700 teenagers, published this week in the Archives of Pediatric Medicine, found California teens to [...]

New male birth control procedure said to be 100% effective, completely reversible

By Dave Smith (International Business Times) A promising new birth control treatment — for men, not women — looks to be the future of contraception. It’s safe, relatively uninvasive, 100 percent effective, and completely reversible. Developed by Prof. Sujoy K. Guha of the Indian Institute of Technology, the procedure called “Reversible Inhibition of Sperm Under [...]

Plants use perfume to attract beneficial bacteria to their roots

(Sheffield University) Scientists have discovered maize crops emit chemical signals to attract growth promoting microbes to their roots, which boosts performance and could combat world food shortages. The groundbreaking research – the first chemical signal that has been shown to attract the beneficial bacteria – could reduce agricultural reliance on fertilisers and pesticides across the [...]

There is no invisible hand

By Jonathan Schlefer (Harvard Review) Adam Smith suggested the invisible hand in an otherwise obscure passage in his Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations in 1776. He mentioned it only once in the book, while he repeatedly noted situations where “natural liberty” does not work. Let banks charge much more [...]

MPAA’s former tech policy chief condemns Stop Online Piracy Act

By Declan McCullagh (CNET) Paul Brigner, until last month a senior vice president at the Motion Picture Association of America, now opposes SOPA and Protect IP. A senior executive that Hollywood hired last year to be its chief technology policy officer has undergone a remarkable about-face: he now opposes the Stop Online Piracy Act. Paul [...]

Antibody treatment that shrinks human tumors in mice could lead to cancer cure

By Krista Conger (Inside Standford Medicine) Human tumors transplanted into laboratory mice disappeared or shrank when scientists treated the animals with a single antibody, according to a new study from the Stanford University School of Medicine. The antibody works by masking a protein flag on cancer cells that protects them from macrophages and other cells in the immune [...]

Hiring more more sales workers and paying them well makes retailers thrive

By James Surowiecki A recent Harvard Business Review study by Zeynep Ton, an M.I.T. professor, looked at four low-price retailers: Costco, Trader Joe’s, the convenience-store chain QuikTrip, and a Spanish supermarket chain called Mercadona. These companies have much higher labor costs than their competitors. They pay their employees more; they have more full-time workers and more salespeople [...]

Study: Exercise can lead to female orgasm, sexual pleasure

(Medical Express) Findings from a first-of-its-kind study by Indiana University researchers confirm anecdotal evidence that exercise — absent sex or fantasies — can lead to female orgasm. Sex researcher Debby Herbenick. Credit: Indiana University While the findings are new, reports of this phenomenon, sometimes called “coregasm” because of its association with exercises for core abdominal [...]

Being bilingual makes you smarter, shields against old age dementia

By Yudhijit Bhattacharjee (NY Times) Speaking two languages rather than just one has obvious practical benefits in an increasingly globalized world. But in recent years, scientists have begun to show that the advantages of bilingualism are even more fundamental than being able to converse with a wider range of people. Being bilingual, it turns out, [...]