Hypersex to Hoarding: 7 New Psychological Disorders

 Posted on April 4, 2023  |  7 minutes  |  1358 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

IntroThe fifth and newest revision of the psychology handbook the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5, is filled with conditions you've probably heard of before, such as anxiety and amnesia, but a few conditions that might be added in the new edition may be less commonly understood. Experts are now reviewing the new version of the book, due to be published in May 2013, and determining which new diagnoses to include. [Read More]

In Photos: North Korea's Cheerleading Squad — An Army of Beauties

 Posted on April 4, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  482 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Squad of smilesNorth Korea's cheerleading squad, called the "army of beauties" in South Korea where the team performed for the opening ceremonies at the 2018 Winter Olympics, remains tight-lipped and all smiles, according to news reports. The about 200-strong squad, as the New Yorker describes, presents "a doll-house version of military service: girls in their late teens and early twenties are plucked from the country's most prestigious universities and charged with making North Korea look good. [Read More]

Maori Artifacts Point to Early Polynesian Settlement in New Zealand

 Posted on April 4, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  945 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Archeologists in New Zealand are starting to unravel the mysteries of an early settlement near the northern tip of the islands that may have been founded by some of the first Polynesians to arrive in the region around 700 years ago. The artifacts from Moturua Island include a pendant made from shell that appears to have originated in tropical Pacific waters, which may have been brought by the earliest generations of Polynesian settlers, who developed New Zealand's indigenous Maori culture in the centuries that followed, say the researchers. [Read More]

Marijuana Mouth Spray: Will Cancer Pain Reliever Be Abused?

 Posted on April 4, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  807 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

The medical marijuana drug Sativex, which could be approved in the United States in the coming years as a treatment for pain relief, has little potential for abuse, experts say. The British pharmaceutical company GW Pharmaceuticals is currently testing the drug, which is delivered as a mouth spray and called Sativex, in clinical trials. The company plans to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the drug as a treatment for cancer pain when the trials are completed, likely sometime in 2014, a spokesperson for GW Pharmaceuticals told MyHealthNewsDaily. [Read More]

Pocket-Sized Device Charges Your Phone with Water

 Posted on April 4, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  441 words  |  Trudie Dory

LAS VEGAS ­– A sleek new device could help you charge your phone without an electric outlet. Swedish startup MyFC unveiled its cool technology, dubbed JAQ, here at CES on Jan. 6. The device, which is small enough to slip into your back pocket, is a fuel cell charger. It uses saltwater and oxygen to convert chemical energy into electricity. Then it uses that electricity to charge your phone's battery. [Read More]

Ripe Old Age: SeaWorld's Killer Whale Tilikum Near Death at 35

 Posted on April 4, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  610 words  |  Fernande Dalal

The killer whale named Tilikum, who made headlines after killing his trainer at SeaWorld in 2010, has a respiratory infection that may ultimately take the orca's life, at age 35. But compared with its counterparts in the wild, the aquarium showstopper has lived a long time, experts say. Tilikum's health has declined during the past few weeks, likely because of a drug-resistant bacterial infection in his lungs, officials said. "Tilikum's behavior has become increasingly lethargic, and the SeaWorld veterinary and animal care teams are concerned that his health is beginning to deteriorate," [Read More]

Studies Highlight Top Sources of Pollution

 Posted on April 4, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  451 words  |  Patria Henriques

From melting ice caps to acid rain, most environmental damage is caused by a very short list of consumer products. A new study finds that 70 to 80% of all environmental degradation comes from three major categories of goods: transportation, food and home energy use. The finding is based on eleven studies in a special edition of the  Yale Journal of Industrial Ecology, which looked at the environmental impact of major product groups. [Read More]

What Nerve: Different Nerve Cells Cause Hard Nipples, Goose Bumps

 Posted on April 4, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  432 words  |  Fernande Dalal

What causes your skin to get goose bumps in cold weather, or your palms to sweat when feeling anxious? Scientists have found the answer: specific nerve cells that are triggered in the body during times of emotional distress. The sympathetic nervous system — the biological processes that regulate locomotion, ingestion, body temperature and the fight-or-flight response — was previously thought to be nonspecific, meaning that it caused the body to produce the same response no matter what stimulated it. [Read More]

Why Some Animals Are Fatter Than Others

 Posted on April 4, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  353 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Humans are often obsessed with their weight, but nature seems to know exactly how fat each animal on the planet should be. The perfect weight depends on how each species solves the problem of avoiding both starving to death and being killed by predators, new research suggests. The study, published in The American Naturalist, explains how these causes of death often exert opposite pressures on animals. Storing a lot of fat, for example, helps animals survive periods without food but also slows their running speeds and so makes getting caught by a predator more likely. [Read More]

Why Some Chameleons Are Expert Tree Climbers

 Posted on April 4, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  497 words  |  Trudie Dory

Chameleons may be known for their impressive color-changing abilities, but these curious creatures are also expert tree climbers. Now, new research suggests that chameleons can scale trees because they have twice as many bones in their wrists and ankles when they are developing as scientists had previously thought. Many chameleon species are very well suited to climbing trees because of their unusual "two-toed" hands and feet, which are actually bundles of fingers and toes bound together, much like duck feet and bat wings. [Read More]