Turmeric has been used in Indian culture for centuries not only as a dye and a spice, but also as an antiseptic and anti-inflammatory agent. It is the most common home remedy for colds and influenza symptoms. Mixed in warm milk or with honey, it’s supposed to bolster the immune system, aid liver function, combat hair loss and many other things.

Now research by scientists at Emory University, peer reviewed and published in the journal of the European Institute of Oncology and the Organization for European Cancer Institutes ecancer medical science says that one of the spice’s key active ingredients…

We’ve all known this was coming, but now we have an end date. If greenhouse-gas emissions continue to rise, glaciers in the Everest region of the Himalayas could experience dramatic change in the decades to come. So dramatic, that they could lose a minimum of 70 percent of their volume by the year 2100. The worst case scenario is just that — we could have no glaciers left at all.

A team of researchers from Nepal, France and the Netherlands have determined that Everest glaciers could be very sensitive to future warming. They’ve also found that sustained ice loss through…

We’ve all seen flocks of migratory birds winging it across the skies. Now, a new mathematical model explains how turbulence can alter the shape and course of a swarm or flock in water or in the air, to help us better predict the impact on the environment.

Clusters of animals, birds and insects in nature frequently exhibit complex, coordinated behaviour that comes from social interactions among individuals. This collective motion offers some of the most spectacular displays in the natural world.

Mathematicians at Newcastle University have investigated for the first time how the surrounding fluid environment — such as air…

A larger brain is linked to better cognitive performance. Logic, therefore, dictates that a larger brain would offer higher potential for survival. Over generations, large brains should win out over smaller ones. Previous tests of this hypothesis had compared the intelligence and survival potential of species with large brains versus species with smaller brains. They’ve found that species with larger brains appear to have an advantage, but the studies show a correlational not a causal relationship.

Scientists from the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology at the Vetmeduni, Vienna studied fish to answer why investing in a larger brain might provide…

Anxiety and your amygdala

The amygdala is an almond-shaped set of neurons located deep in the brain’s medial temporal lobe somewhere behind our eyes. It plays a key role in responses associated with fear, anxiety, and processing emotions. It stands to reason that alterations in amygdala may reflect a higher anxiety.

Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have published a report in the journal Biological Psychiatry that has found a link between the development of the amygdala during childhood and the development of anxiety problems.

“We know that early childhood anxiety has been linked to an increased risk for developing mood and…

Lipids lure T-Cells to lynch leukemia

Current therapies to treat Leukemia, a group of cancers that affects blood cells, involve chemotherapy to eradicate tumors, followed by bone-marrow stem cell transplants to help the patient regenerate healthy blood cells. But it’s not always effective. In some acute cases, leukemia cells survive this treatment and start to re-grow. New research published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine by scientists at the University of Basel has come up with a new way to detect and eradicate leukemia cells before a second outbreak of the disease.

In the body, T lymphocytes, or T cells…

Puppies chase their tails and chew inappropriate things, and all dog owners take this in stride. But what of dogs who never grow out of these behaviours? In fact, some get more and more obsessive and compulsive about certain actions.

Only recently have clinicians acknowledged that a small population of dogs can actually have an obsessive compulsive disorder. Owners of these dogs say they can’t distract or stop their pets from actions — such as scratching themselves or chewing a paw — even when the dog is hurting itself.
The silver lining? …

Stuck on you

If you’ve ever superglued your fingers together and struggled to break the bond, you are forgiven for thinking that the acrylic resin is the strongest glue known to man. In fact, the most super glue on earth was first described 150 years ago by Darwin and is none other than the adhesive cement secreted by barnacles that attach themselves to the bottoms of boats and ships.

Barnacles are tiny crustaceans that cling to rocks and ships permanently, and feed by filtering particles from the water by waving their microscopic feathery legs. Barnacle glue sticks to any surface…