Why so quiet lately? . . . . . Well, nowforthesciencebit.com may have been quiet, but our offices certainly haven’t. We created a life, a miniature male human*. The experiment ended 64 days ago, and we’re happy to say it was successful. However, additional work is underway (every 2-3 hours, day and night), and followup analyses are being performed. Results [...]

  Reference: New Scientist, Vol 2607 p93 (June 2007)  

Anna Bågenholm froze to death under an icy lake in Norway, but she is now working as a radiologist: a competitive medical speciality. Why is she alive, and how is her brain still in such good condition? Your brain is about 5% of your weight, but needs 20% of your blood supply to get enough oxygen to keep those neurons [...]

There’s never a good time for a cardiac arrest, but they always seem to happen at bad times. The TV resuscitation is far from the real thing. Have you ever seen a TV a cardiac arrest on a ward during which two surgeons open up the abdomen while the patient is getting chest compressions? This was the scene unfolding when [...]

Faith Hill’s take on a kiss: It’s centrifugal motion It’s perpetual bliss It’s that pivotal moment It’s unthinkable This kiss, this kiss  Personally I wouldn’t like to feel centrifuged when I’m kissing someone, but that’s poetry (kind of). Let’s answer the question: why do we close our eyes when kissing? Scientists have been trying to figure this out. Yau Che [...]

1. Placenta to the rescue; Nature News “New research in mice shows that when calories are restricted, the placenta steps up to the plate – actively sacrificing itself to protect the fetal brain from damage.” When mice were starved over 24 hours, the placenta ‘fed’ the babies itself.   2. Ancient Moves for Orthopedic Problems; NY Times While I’m not [...]

Your writer was less than happy to wake up and see the headlines this morning: “Tall people ‘more likely to develop cancer’” said the BBC. “Cancer risk may grow with height” said the CBC.  Being a 6 foot tall woman may have its advantages, like pretty much always being able to see the stage at music concerts, being easy to spot [...]

Our resident artist captures myths prevalent in the media and gives us a reality check.     Reference: “Do People Only Use 10 Percent Of Their Brains?” Scientific American. 7 February 2008.