Nicotine's Appetite-Suppressing Power Could Be Used for Weight Loss

 Posted on October 6, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  563 words  |  Patria Henriques

Smokers tend to be thinner than nonsmokers, and new research reveals the exact spot in the brain where nicotine's appetite-suppressing effects take hold. The findings could be harnessed and used as a weight-loss treatment, researchers say. The researchers found a receptor on the surface of some brain cells that nicotine binds to, the study said. When they activated this receptor in mice, the mice ate less. The researchers hope the findings will carry over to humans. [Read More]

Painted 'Comics' with 'Speech Bubbles' Found in Ancient Roman Tomb

 Posted on October 6, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  438 words  |  Patria Henriques

In an ancient Roman tomb that was recently discovered in Jordan, a colorful mural offers a comics-like glimpse of what life may have been like in the bustling city of Capitolias thousands of years ago. Hundreds of illustrated figures — humans, animals and gods — appear in the paintings. Their poses demonstrate routine activities, such as harvesting crops and building a defensive wall, in a city that was a thriving center of commerce and culture during the second century A. [Read More]

Rare 14th-century gold 'leopard' coin could sell for 140,000 British pounds

 Posted on October 6, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  492 words  |  Patria Henriques

An exceptionally rare gold coin stamped with a leopard sitting upright and wrapped in a banner was unearthed by a metal detectorist in England and is heading to the auction block.  The coin was minted in the Tower of London from 23-karat gold during the 14th century. It looks nearly brand-new and is one of just a handful of surviving leopard coins from a failed currency experiment by King Edward III. [Read More]

Roman Gladiator's Gravestone Describes Fatal Foul

 Posted on October 6, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  691 words  |  Fernande Dalal

An enigmatic message on a Roman gladiator's 1,800-year-old tombstone has finally been decoded, telling a treacherous tale. The epitaph and art on the tombstone suggest the gladiator, named Diodorus, lost the battle (and his life) due to a referee's error, according to Michael Carter, a professor at Brock University in St. Catharines, Canada. Carter studies gladiator contests and other spectacles in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. He examined the stone, which was discovered a century ago in Turkey, trying to determine what the drawing and inscription meant. [Read More]

Strange, repeating radio signal near the center of the Milky Way has scientists stumped

 Posted on October 6, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  488 words  |  Patria Henriques

Astronomers have detected a strange, repeating radio signal near the center of the Milky Way, and it's unlike any other energy signature ever studied. According to a new paper accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal and posted on the preprint server arXiv, the energy source is extremely finicky, appearing bright in the radio spectrum for weeks at a time and then completely vanishing within a day. This behavior doesn't quite fit the profile of any known type of celestial body, the researchers wrote in their study, and thus may represent " [Read More]

These star-shaped brain cells may help us understand depression's biological roots

 Posted on October 6, 2022  |  5 minutes  |  1060 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

People with depression have a distinguishing feature in their brains: They have fewer astrocytes, a type of star-shaped brain cell, compared with the brains of people without mental health disorders, according to a new study.  "Astrocytes are hugely affected in depression" in terms of their cell numbers, study co-author Liam O'Leary, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University in Montreal, told Live Science. "It has been known before now that this happens, but we show here that it happens throughout the brain" [Read More]

This Man's Bladder Stone Was Almost As Big As an Ostrich Egg

 Posted on October 6, 2022  |  2 minutes  |  395 words  |  Patria Henriques

When a man in California went to the hospital because of bladder problems, doctors found a large reason for his pain: a mineral stone nearly the size of an ostrich egg, according to a new report of the case. The 64-year-old man went to the emergency room because he had pain in his left side and trouble urinating. His doctors found an egg-shaped bladder stone that weighed a whopping 1.7 lbs. [Read More]

Why Are So Many People Dying on Mount Everest?

 Posted on October 6, 2022  |  4 minutes  |  743 words  |  Patria Henriques

Massively long lines at Mount Everest's frigid summit — partly due to a few days of good weather — may have contributed to the deaths of seven climbers this week, news sources report. These crowds led to a deadly traffic jam. One of the mountaineers who died, 27-year-old Nihal Bagwan, of India, was "stuck in the traffic for more than 12 hours and was exhausted," Keshav Paudel, of Peak Promotion, a company that organizes tours on Everest, told Agence France-Presse. [Read More]

Why Is Too Much Sugar Bad for You?

 Posted on October 6, 2022  |  5 minutes  |  1023 words  |  Patria Henriques

Each week, MyHealthNewsDaily asks the experts to answer questions about your health. This week, we asked nutritionists and diabetes specialists: Why is excess sugar bad for you? Here's what they said. Dr. Zachary Bloomgarden, professor at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City: Sugar is bad for you a because it has calories, and because if you have diabetes or a diabetes-related condition — lets say high blood fat levels — then having sugar will increase your blood sugar and your triglycerides, which is a risk factor for heart disease. [Read More]

'Alien' Shark with Goblin-Like Jaws Hauled Up from the Deep Sea

 Posted on October 5, 2022  |  3 minutes  |  556 words  |  Trudie Dory

Imagine this fearsome sight: an ink-black shark with gnarly, needle-like teeth; creepy, glass-like eyes; a glowing belly and a potentially extendable jaw. That's what scientists saw when they pulled up this rare creature, along with four of its pals, from the deep sea — so, naturally, it gave them quite a jolt. Indeed, they were not expecting to meet these alien-like creatures during a routine fish survey off the Taiwanese coast, according to news reports. [Read More]