Mosquitoes Prefer Water Containing Decaying Leaves for Reproduction
	It is generally believed that mosquitoes basically lay their eggs in just about any body of water that they can find. A team of researchers from Tulane University in collaboration with colleagues from several North Carolina State universities however, revealed that yellow fever mosquitoes require precise concentrations of certain chemicals in order to breed in open water containers. This is the first study ever to identify the chemical com ... [read more >>]
	09 July 2008, 05:34GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

What Our Nails Have to Say
	Just like the eyes, a closer look at our nails can easily tell us a lot about our overall state of health. If we know how to read them, our nails can easily resemble an open book of minute details: a bluish tint, minuscule white spots, some ripples and bumps or a more pronounced rosy tinge can point to anything from heart disease to the fact that our bodies are not getting enough oxygen. "Changes in the nails can be a sign o ... [read more >>]
	11 June 2008, 10:35GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Higher Risk of Advanced Osteoporosis for Young Women
	In this modern age of speed and constant change, our increasingly hectic lifestyles are beginning to take their toll on us in ways we would never have expected 20, even 10 years ago. The diseases we once attributed to old age – osteoporosis among them – are now starting to affect younger men and especially women around the world and scientists are investigating this worrisome phenomenon with a view of letting us know what to do to prevent ... [read more >>]
	13 May 2008, 09:33GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

A Pharaoh with Female Body
	The pharaoh Amenophis IV (1372-1354 BC) is most known amongst Egyptologists as the pharaoh who intended to introduce a monotheist religion in ancient Egypt. The cult of Aton (the solar disk) officially replaced Amon-Ra's cult. This was clearly an act of authority of the pharaoh, as priests considered the new orientation a heresy. Amenophis IV, or Amenothes ("Amon is pleased") in Egyptian, adopted a royal name - ... [read more >>]
	06 May 2008, 03:09GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

New Mysterious Nerve Disease Caused by Pigs
	We know that pork is not very healthy, but pig brain proves harmful in a very unexpected way. 18 pork plant workers in Minnesota, 5 in Indiana and 1 in Nebraska have been detected so far with a mysterious neurological disease got while removing brains from slaughtered pigs, as signaled at the American Academy of Neurology meeting in Chicago. The condition appears to be totally new, provoking from inflammation of the spinal cord t ... [read more >>]
	18 April 2008, 14:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

World's Most Powerful Organism: A Sex Bug
	Gonorrhea, together with syphilis and HIV, make a "love triangle" of the most famous sexually transmitted diseases. Indeed, gonorrhea, caused by the Neisseria gonorhoeae bacterium, affects 62 million people, aged mainly 15 to 29, are represents world's second most widespread STDs after the infection with Chlamydia trachomatis (930,000 cases of Chlamydial infection and 360,000 of gonorrhea were assessed in the Unite ... [read more >>]
	15 April 2008, 14:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Top 10 Bacterial Infections
	There are bacteria everywhere around us, and in infinite quantities. Some are good, some are neutral, but most people have in mind only the bad ones. 1. Tetanus is caused by the bacterium Clostridium tetani. It enters the body via an open wound and releases a powerful toxin, tetanospasmin. The incubation period lasts from 2 days to several weeks. This infection causes fever, pain, spasms of the neck and jaws. The treatment includes sed ... [read more >>]
	14 April 2008, 09:09GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Top 10 Viral Infections
	Scientists still debate if they are alive or not, but look what they can inflict in us (and this is just a selection of the most common ones): 1. Flue is caused by a virus transmitted through air. The incubation lasts 1-2 days. The symptoms include fever, cough, loss of appetite, headaches. Ordinary flue can be treated by resting and liquid warm food. The problem that preoccupies the mankind is the possible cross between the virus of or ... [read more >>]
	11 April 2008, 10:13GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Premature Births Mean Less Fertile Individuals
	Premature babies are considered those born before 37 weeks. Even if there are a lot of studies showing the short term effect on the health of the babies of the premature births, a new research investigating about 1.2 million births in Norway pointed the effect of a premature birth in the health of the adults. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that premature babies have an increased ris ... [read more >>]
	26 March 2008, 14:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Weak Sex: Newborn Boys Are More Likely to Die Than Newborn Girls
	This is real. Girls learn to read before boys, get better marks in college, and even their brain contains more gray matter. Moreover, boys are medically clearly weaker than girls, as showed by a new research carried out by a team at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Southern California, and published in PNAS: newborn males in developed nations are more likely to die than their female counterparts. The team analyzed the ... [read more >>]
	25 March 2008, 14:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Circumcision Does Not Protect Men Against Sexually Transmitted Diseases
	Besides the issues concerning penis sensitivity loss (or not), circumcision is regarded by many as being a hygienic operation. Some like to see in it as an anti-HIV weapon. But despite the myth surrounding circumcision, it appears that the procedure does not protect men against common sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the developed world, as revealed by a new study published in the "Journal of Pediatrics." "While ... [read more >>]
	21 March 2008, 14:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Over 20% of the Women and 13% of the Men Will Get Demented
	They call you "old man" 'cause you cannot even remember where you left your keys or what you ate in the morning. The others may be right. The leading cause of senile dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. A new research published in "2008 Alzheimer’s Disease: Facts and Figures," and carried out by a team from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), has found that 16% of the women are at risk for developing ... [read more >>]
	19 March 2008, 04:26GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Garos Sexual Behavior Inventory: Your Sex Issues
	You can be a sexual maniac, a hidden pervert, a sado-masochist or a serial sex killer and not even know it! Now, that's solved: here comes the Garos Sexual Behavior Inventory. It is the result of over a decade of research and observations made by a Texas Tech psychologist. Sheila Garos has gathered 70 sex questions in order to make a test that can enable more precisely the diagnosis of sexual issues, and even addictive a ... [read more >>]
	13 March 2008, 14:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

One Quarter of the American Girls Have Sexually Transmitted Diseases!
	Just talk to the teens about abstinence. And add to the formula teens' sense of invulnerability. Here is the conclusion: at least one quarter of the American teen girls have a sexually transmitted disease. This is the result of a study led by Dr. Sara Forhan with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and presented at an STD prevention conference in Chicago. STDs can provoke infertility and cancer, that's why this is a ... [read more >>]
	12 March 2008, 14:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Scorpion Venom Against Diarrhea
	It may be deadly, but a peptide in the scorpion venom could be the solution against cystic fibrosis and other secretory diseases, as described by a new research published in the "Journal of Biological Chemistry." The new peptide, GaTx1, controls the ions and water flow out of cells via an essential chloride channel. "Peptide toxins from scorpions, snakes, snails and spiders paralyze prey by blocking nerve or muscle ion c ... [read more >>]
	15 February 2008, 03:42GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Lotus: Cultural and Medicinal Importance
	An ancient Egyptian belief said the lotus flower gave life to the Pharaonic Egypt. At the beginning of the world, on the dark waters, a lotus flower floated with closed petals. The petals opened and out of the flower the Sun God Ra raised, creating the world. In the evening, the Sun went to sleep in the lotus flower, just to rise again next day. Many Mediterranean and Asian civilizations took the symbol of the lotus to India, ... [read more >>]
	13 February 2008, 14:11GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Lice from Mummies Track Down Human Migration
	They may be nasty, but these parasites are intimately bound to humans and may tell a lot of our past. They can only live on humans and die rapidly out of their human hosts, unable to parasitize any other animal. Head lice collected from 1,000-year-old Peruvian mummies clearly point that they accompanied humans during their first migration out of Africa, 100,000 years ago. A DNA analysis published in the "Journal of Infec ... [read more >>]
	07 February 2008, 02:48GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Black Rats Bring Evidence of Our Ancient Voyages and Disease Spread
	We abhor them and only their sight can make us sick. But they represent one of the oldest human companions, that's why the DNA of the Black Rat (Rattus rattus) has proved to be useful in explaining how ancient people and diseases spread together with the ancient black rats. Today, this rat is spread all around the world; it was brought involuntarily by humans, but the species appeared in Eastern/Southern Asia. The new study presen ... [read more >>]
	04 February 2008, 03:48GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

How Safe Is the Condom Use?
	This is the main weapon we've got against HIV by the moment, but how effective is it in stopping other STDs too? This is the topic of a recent debate in the British Medical Journal. "For people who are sexually active, condoms remain our best solution to reducing risks of acquiring sexually transmitted infections (if uninfected) or transmitting these infections (if infected). Despite some inconsistencies in the evide ... [read more >>]
	26 January 2008, 06:19GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Top 8 Heart Diseases
	Hypertension, high cholesterol, diet, lack of exercising and smoking are factors favoring heart disease. 1. The coronary disease is the most common heart disease. It is caused by the obstruction of the coronary arteries carrying oxygenated blood to the heart's muscle. It can be caused by fat (especially cholesterol) deposits on the coronary arteries walls or by the thickening and hardening of their walls. Angina pectoris is a ... [read more >>]
	18 January 2008, 17:31GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Syphilis Was Brought to Europe by Columbus, But Not Via Sex!
	This was the disease of the unhealthy morality, the AIDS of the past centuries. Syphilis killed millions of people in Europe, and didn't stop when the antibiotics were discovered. A new DNA investigation on Treponema, the bacterium causing the disease, published in the Public Library of Science Neglected Tropical Diseases, strengthens the idea that the disease was brought to the Old World by Christopher Columbus during his v ... [read more >>]
	15 January 2008, 14:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

7 Environmental Factors Killing People
	Diseases can be genetic or (most often) determined by the environmental factors. World Health Organization says that annually 25 million adults and children die of causes that could be prevented. 1.Clime. Too hot or too cold is bad. In warm climes, hot weather makes people experience "tiredness", fainting, lack of energy and sometimes weight loss. In cold areas, body functions are stimulated and accelerated by the low temper ... [read more >>]
	11 January 2008, 14:31GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

What Was the Black Death?
	In a few years, it wiped out a quarter of Europe's population. It looked like the end of the world. The Black Death or Plague caused tremendous headaches, great fever, sweating and shivering. But unlike in other cases of fever, the victims had swellings filled with pus on the axillary areas, neck or even inguinal area, that's why the disease was also called Bubonic Plague. The bumps were first pink, then reddish and in ... [read more >>]
	04 January 2008, 10:26GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Internet Dating: A Syphilis Boom in the Western World!
	Syphilis is a gift bacterium from the American Natives: we gave them smallpox (which almost exterminated them), they gave us syphilis bacterium. Syphilis was the sexual scourge of the 19th century. Many famous people died of it, from poet Charles Baudelaire to composer Robert Schumann, or painter Paul Gauguin (in the end, those French amoreaux...). But, the general use of antibiotics in the 1950s seemed to had cleared the Western world of ... [read more >>]
	21 December 2007, 05:11GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Your Brain Degenerating by Itself
	It starts with slight changes of personality and behavior but they gradually begin to be more and more severe. The symptoms include mood swings, irritability, depression and violent rage seizures. The patients can experience involuntary body spasms, hands and feet instability. The coordination ability decreases and the patient turns increasingly clumsy. The speech turns inarticulate. Swallowing becomes difficult and memory and focusing cap ... [read more >>]
	19 December 2007, 07:21GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Death Speed: Cancer Kills 20,000 People Daily
	It has just entered in the top of human slayers: over 12 million cases of cancer have been diagnosed in the world in 2007, and 7,6 million persons will die because of this: 20.000 daily, according to a recently published report of the American Cancer Society. The most common cancers are that of lung and breast, no matter if the patients come from developing or developed countries. The reports shows that 5,4 million new cases and 2,9 mil ... [read more >>]
	18 December 2007, 03:45GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Top 7 Alternative Therapies
	Tired of taking piles of drugs? Here are the alternative (complementary) therapies. They are not largely taught in the colleges and many doctors are still skeptical. Still, over 32 % of the patients appeal to them (up to 33 % in Finland, and 49 % in Australia), in conditions in which they are rarely covered by medical assurances. Some methods, such as applying a cold object over a burning zone, have been known for long, but they have l ... [read more >>]
	14 December 2007, 09:49GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Early or Late Sex Leads to Impotence and Other Sexual Issues!
	Did your father take you to prostitutes when your first pubic hairs appeared? Or, did the dumb shy in and impede you to approach even an ugly duck to the age of 25? Well, in both cases, this is a high risk factor for your sexual performances and sexual health later in life, as found by a new research, published in the "American Journal of Public Health" and led by Dr Theo G.M. Sandfort, of Columbia University, in New York City. ... [read more >>]
	08 December 2007, 04:27GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Nine Facts About Food and Water Originated Infections
	1.If you're a veggie, perhaps you enjoy uncooked sprouts of bean, soy, trifle or alfalfa. But research shows they can transmit bacterial infections. The most exposed are small children, elderly and those with a weak immune system. Even washing the sprouts with chlorine or alcohol solutions does not remove germs. The humidity and raised temperature necessary for making the seeds germinate are ideal conditions for the bacteria. 2.Do ... [read more >>]
	05 December 2007, 14:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Four Facts About Fungi
	1. In Eastern Europe and Italy, mushroom harvesting is a tradition, and the annual number of intoxication cases and deaths is high. Dishes based on wild mushrooms are something common, but there are about 250 species of toxic mushrooms growing in Europe. The most dangerous are death cap (Amanita phalloides) and destroying angel (Amanita virosa), which can cause death if ingested. 2. Which is the world's largest living organism? Yo ... [read more >>]
	03 December 2007, 14:16GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Lincoln Could Have Suffered From a Rare Deadly Mutation
	Man, this wasn't the most handsome American president... This year a research was made on laser scans of a bronze and a plaster copy of two masks of Lincoln's face, belonging to the Chicago History Museum. This revealed a high degree of facial asymmetry: Lincoln's face was much smaller than the right one, a developmental condition named hemifacial microsomia, caused by many factors, from smallpox and heart illness to trau ... [read more >>]
	27 November 2007, 06:34GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The First Biological Warfare: 3,300 Years Old
	Probably the Americans were looking for these biological weapons in Iraq: 3,300 years old tularemia. A new research suggests that ancient texts coming from the Middle East could describe a biological warfare which happened more than three millennia ago. The Hittites, whose empire dominated Asia Minor (current Turkey) and northern Syria, used diseased rams to spread tularemia amongst their enemies. Tularemia is caused by the b ... [read more >>]
	27 November 2007, 05:51GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Where Does the Terrible Lyme Disease Come from?
	AIDS sounds familiar to you, while Lyme may not, but after AIDS, it is the disease with the most rapid development, spreading rapidly in US, Asia, Europe and South America. A new research published online this week in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows that mice may not be the main source of Lyme disease in US. Two shrew species and chipmunks, too, seem to be involved and should be taken into account for controlling Lyme disease. ... [read more >>]
	23 November 2007, 05:05GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

What's the Sleeping Disease?
	We proud ourselves with the latest technological achievements, the performances of the latest computers, or newly discovered galaxies and black holes, but in the XXIst century, there are still infections against which we are defenseless and which, with all the medical advances, keep on killing millions of people every year. Poverty, war, lack of health infrastructure, immigration, trade, globalization contribute to their spread. One of ... [read more >>]
	12 November 2007, 14:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

What Causes The Stinky Breath?
	Sooner or later, this problem affects about 80 % of the population, putting people in embarrassing situations, and creating frustration and sufferance. Medically, it is called halitosis, but people just call it offensive-smelling breath or bad breath. It is easy to detect the bad breath of the others, but most likely impossible the feel yours. Our smell sensors get so used to our own breath that even the persons with the most offensive ... [read more >>]
	09 November 2007, 14:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

How Do Ticks Finish You Off?
	You hear about AIDS everyday, while the Lyme disease may sound unknown to you. Still, after AIDS, it is the disease with the most rapid development, spreading rapidly in US, Asia, Europe and South America. The disease was discovered three decades ago near the city of Lyme (Connecticut). There was a mysterious outbreak of arthritis cases. Most of the victims were children. The arthritis started with eruptions, head and joint aches, but ... [read more >>]
	30 October 2007, 15:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

13 Reasons Why Chocolate Is Good for Your Health and Sexuality
	Since you were a child you’ve been told that chocolate destroys your teeth and makes you fat; well, now, scientists in fact recommend chocolate as being even more efficient than many drugs in preventing and treating various conditions. On one condition, though: it must have as much cocoa as possible, even 60-75%. A chocolate's quality is determined by the properties of the cocoa seeds it’s made of, especially the amount of flavono ... [read more >>]
	17 October 2007, 14:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

How Does Garlic Protect Your Heart?
	It may not be recommended to eat garlic before going on a date, but a new research from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has found it to be one of the best methods to decrease high blood pressure and defend yourself against cardiovascular disease. This protective effect could be due to the interaction between garlic chemicals and red blood cells. This makes red blood cells release hydrogen sulfide (H2S), which de ... [read more >>]
	17 October 2007, 05:55GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Why Does Loneliness Induce Cancer, Dementia, Infection and Heart Disease?
	People are said to be ‘social monkeys’ and loneliness inflicts severe effects on them. Far beyond what we’ve imagined, a new research shows that loneliness changes the expression of certain genes, so that chronically lonely people have less effective immune systems and are more exposed to infections. The results show that lonely people are at greater risk of developing heart diseases, infections, age-related dementia, and some cancers. ... [read more >>]
	08 October 2007, 08:38GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Our Life, in Greater Danger without Lead
	Lead is quite a dangerous material, but it’s worse without it. Its absence in electronic devices has ruined missiles and stopped from gadgets to communications satellites and forced nuclear power plants. The cause is to be found in the tiny splinters, called whiskers, that develop by themselves from tin solder penetrating deep inside electronics. The subsequent short-circuits have induced damages of over $10 billion since they were fir ... [read more >>]
	08 October 2007, 07:05GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

One Eye Is Blue, the Other One Is Brown: a Mysterious Disease
	Heterochromia is a condition best recognized by the different coloring of one’s eyes, hair or skin. The most common type is heterochromia iridis or heterochromia iridium, where the irises can either have an entirely different hue from one another (complete heterochromia) or only differently discolored spots (partial heterochromia or sectoral heterochromia). These differences in color are determined by variations of the melani ... [read more >>]
	04 October 2007, 14:51GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Too Much or Too Little Sleep Kills You Earlier
	Bad sleep is worse than low cognitive abilities, weight gain, bad sex and car crashes. A team from the University of Warwick, and University College London, has discovered that less sleep doubles your chances of dying from cardiovascular disease. But too much sleep also doubles the risk of death. The research was made on 10,308 civil servants in the "Whitehall II study" and employed data on the mortality rates and sleep patte ... [read more >>]
	25 September 2007, 05:36GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

No More Elephant-People?
	There are freaks paying big sums of money for silicon injections that allegedly help them develop huge genitalia. Some got it naturally, cost-free and really unwittingly. It's about elephant people, patients with elephantiasis, a parasite disease induced by worms called filariasis, that block the lymphatic vessels. This determines the accumulation of liquid that causes changes into the surrounding tissues translated into grossly e ... [read more >>]
	24 September 2007, 06:07GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Top 14 Strangest Diseases
	1. Elephant people. Elephantiasis is a parasite disease caused by worms called filariasis, that block the lymphatic vessels. When the lymph vessels cannot be drained, the accumulated liquid induces changes into the surrounding tissues translated into grossly enlarged or swollen arms, legs, breasts and genitalia. There are three related nematode parasitic worms causing the disease: Wuchereria bancrofti (Africa and South America), Brugia mal ... [read more >>]
	15 September 2007, 13:16GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Soon, A Vaccine Against the Most Common Sexually Transmitted Disease!
	HIV, syphilis or gonorrhea may sound more familiar for you, because these STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) are severe, but chlamydia, also called the "Silent Epidemic" (as in women, it may not induce any symptoms and will linger for months or years before being detected), is the most widespread STD. Now a team at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC has found a potential target for developing a vaccine against C ... [read more >>]
	13 September 2007, 14:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

56 % of Men Complain about the Condom's Size
	There isn't any other way which is more efficient in impeding sexually transmissible diseases (STDs) like chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and HIV. And it is the best solution for casual sex for impeding unwanted pregnancies. Still, convincing men and women to use condoms consistently and correctly is still a tricky issue. Men often complain that condoms do not fit, or they are uncomfortable. A new Indiana University ... [read more >>]
	11 September 2007, 15:26GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

World of Warcraft's Corrupted Blood Plague, Useful for Scientists
	We all know why gamers play World of Warcraft... It's because the game features a virtual world that allows you to be whoever you want to be and really live a character's virtual life. While many see WoW as a method of social isolation, it turns out that the game can ... [read more >>]
	21 August 2007, 06:16GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Pollution Kills 40% of the World's Population
	If you are afraid of HIV, malaria, cancer or obesity induced diseases, you’d better find out what's the direct or indirect human killer worldwide: water, air and soil pollution. 40% of humans are exterminated by it. "Such environmental degradation, coupled with the growth in world population, are major causes behind the rapid increase in human diseases, which the World Health Organization has recently reported. Both factors co ... [read more >>]
	15 August 2007, 06:57GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Laughing Gas Makes You Sick
	Surprisingly enough, there’s no reason for laughing at all. The laughing gas or nitrous oxide, employed as an anesthetic for over 200 years in childbirth and emergency medicine can enhance pneumonia, fever and wound infections, as found by an Australian survey. The chemical's name comes from the euphoric sensation felt when inhaling it. Even if this gas is regarded as relatively safe by doctors, a spokesman for the Royal College o ... [read more >>]
	10 August 2007, 04:59GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

A 15 Kg (33.3 Pounds) Face Tumor!
	We know the case of that Romanian woman, Lucica Bunghez, with a tumor of 80 kg (176 pounds), heavier than her own body, but when the tumor actually hangs on the face, it does not need to grow that big to induce more severe effects. Huang Chuncai, 31, a Chinese man from the southern province of Hunan, has a crippling 15 kg (33.3 pounds) tumor drooping from his head and face. It is the biggest facial tumor ever. The man can hardly [ADMAR ... [read more >>]
	31 July 2007, 14:41GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia