Results tagged “cancer” from 60 Second Science

Ah, the never-ending dance revolving around the questionable link between mobile phones and cancer. It's like Ross and Rachel, Sam and Diane, Cigarettes and Cancer--mostly like the last one. However, a new study from Tokyo Women's Medical University has reported that after looking at phone use by 322 brain cancer patients and 683 healthy people, regular phone use (at least once a week for 6 months) does not increase your likelihood of getting cancer.

Of course, if you live in the country and gab more over your phone than your fence, you'll probably still get a tumor in your salivary glands--but that's for quibbling. You'll also stop sleeping. And age like a zombie--but no cancer!

Continue reading 'Cell phones won't give you brain cancer' >

Twins can team up for all kinds of things: When I was in elementary, the too-cool-for-school twins Aaron and Brian kicked ass at every sport, said the funniest tag-team lines and got all the attention from the girls in Mrs. Durham's class. But you know what they didn't do? Cure cancer.

A UK woman pregnant with twins was subsequently diagnosed with cervical cancer; when she reported to the hospital with a suspected miscarriage, doctors found her unborn twin girls had kicked loose the tumor and saved her life.

"I couldn't believe it when the doctors told me that the babies had dislodged the tumour," she said. "I'd felt them kicking but I didn't realise just how important their kicking would turn out to be."

Continue reading 'Unborn Wonder twins 'kick out' mother's cancer, kick their way into our hearts' >

The pill has done great things for both men and women's sex lives. Now the 300 million women who have popped the pill can thank it for keeping cancer at bay, too.

The method of contraception hasn't always received great press. Studies have found it increases the risk for breast and cervical cancers.

But other research has found merits to the pill. According to a new study, the pill has prevented 200,000 deaths due to ovarian cancer.

Continue reading 'The Pill cuts cancer risk in half' >

It is no secret that the city of Naples and its surrounding Campania region have long chafed under the coercive rule of a continually warring organized crime syndicate known as Camorra—referred to by some as Italy’s “other mafia.” Not only has the city been the backdrop to decades-long internal drug wars, weapons dealing and violent gang recruitment, but entrenched political corruption and racketeering have resulted in two significant public health concerns, both of which have re-emerged in the press over the past two days.

The first issue concerns Naples’ best-known export, buffalo mozzarella. Brucellosis, a highly contagious bacterial disease, has been present in area water buffalo for over a decade, though local veterinarians are barred from treating and putting down infected animals by the Camorra, who controls many local farms and isn’t keen on losing millions over some piddly health snafu. Consequently 30% of Campania’s herds are infected by the ailment, which causes infertility and prevents milk production among livestock, and can be transmitted to humans through non-pasteurized food, resulting in potentially fatal fever. Over the next few weeks, police will provide armed escort for government vets, who will put down an estimated 32,000 buffalo.

Continue reading 'Naples' largest health hazard: organized crime' >

Today's 60 Second Science Podcast is brought to you by Joseph Smith:

Founder Mutations Stay In The Family

Full transcript after the jump...

Continue reading 'Founder Mutations Stay In The Family [podcast]' >

New research published today suggests heavy phone usage in rural areas can increase a caller's risk of developing tumors. The risk increased when users kept the phone close to one ear and did not use hands free devices.

Of the 1,266 people studied, those who talked on their cell phones for more than 22 hours a month were at 50 percent higher risk of developing tumors in their salivary glands, also called parotid gland tumors.

This may be cause for ringing an alarm considering worldwide mobile subscriptions have reached 3.3 billion.

Continue reading 'Unlimited cell phone minutes in rural areas cause tumors' >

MIT researcher Sangeeta N. Bhatia has enlisted a powerful new ally in the fight against cancer: superparamagnetic nanoparticles! They’re tiny, they’re tough, and they target tumors.

“Superparamagnetic” particles release heat in the presence of a magnetic field, and in the Nov. 15 issue of Advanced Materials, Bhatia and her colleagues report success in using the tiny particles to deliver cancer-fighting drugs.

Here’s how they work. The nanoparticles, injected into the bloodstream of the patient, zero in on tumors and clump together. (This innovative and still-experimental searching mechanism was also devised by Bhatia’s team.) Doctors can find the particles—and the tumors—with an MRI.

Continue reading 'Superparamagnetic nanoparticles to the rescue!' >

Today the L.A. Times publishes a fascinating article on John Kanzius, a leukemia sufferer and radio man who, after spending years both experiencing grueling chemotherapy treatments and watching it in others, applied his talent for building radios to create a possible alternate treatment method. Kanzius had worked as a radio and television engineer and co-owned stations in the Erie, Pa. area, but he had no medical background — he didn't even have a bachelor's degree.

Kanzius knew how to send radio wave signals around the world. If he could transmit them into cancer cells, he wondered, could he then direct the radio waves to destroy tumors, while leaving healthy cells intact? For months, Kanzius tinkered, using the pie pans to create an electronic circuit, often waking Marianne with his clanging. By day, he sent her out with supply lists: mineral mixtures, metals, wires. His early-morning experiments would lead him to one of the nation's top cancer researcher centers, and earn the support of a Nobel Prize winner.

Continue reading 'Fighting cancer with radio waves, DIY-style' >

In a few decades, the dating scene in Canada could get tricky and air pollution may be to blame. More girls are being born in some towns in the country than boys.

Researchers have linked the rise in baby girl numbers to dioxins, airborne pollutants from oil refineries, paper mills, and other sources as far as 15 miles away. The health risks of these pollutants spread farther distances than scientists previously estimated.

Continue reading 'Dioxin making more baby girls in Canada' >