ScienceDaily: Living Well News

Drug-resistant bacteria lurk in subway stations, high school students discover Posted: 05 Feb 2015 02:49 PM PST Forget commuters and rats, New York City's subway system is crowded with microbes. After spending her vacation swabbing benches and turn styles beneath the city, high school students found bacteria impervious to two major antibiotics.

Organic food reduces pesticide exposure Posted: 05 Feb 2015 02:48 PM PST A new study is among the first to predict a person’s pesticide exposure based on information about their usual diet.

Another breastfeeding benefit: Preparing baby's belly for solid food Posted: 05 Feb 2015 02:46 PM PST Researchers found that a baby’s diet during the first few months of life has a profound influence on the composition, diversity, and stability of the gut microbiome. These factors influence the baby’s ability to transition from milk to solid foods and may have long-term health effects.

Forever young: Meditation might slow the age-related loss of gray matter in the brain Posted: 05 Feb 2015 11:29 AM PST Building on their earlier work that suggested people who meditate have less age-related atrophy in the brain's white matter, a new study found that meditation appeared to help preserve the brain's gray matter, the tissue that contains neurons.

In a crisis, the bigger your social network, the better Posted: 05 Feb 2015 09:31 AM PST Researchers examined social networks in the late pre-Hispanic Southwest and found that communities that were more connected with their neighbors had a better chance of being able to successfully manage a crisis than did communities with fewer outside connections.

Learning with all the senses: Movement, images facilitate vocabulary learning Posted: 05 Feb 2015 09:31 AM PST "Atesi" - what sounds like a word from the Elven language of Lord of the Rings is actually a Vimmish word meaning "thought". Scientists have used Vimmish, an artificial language specifically developed for scientific research, to study how people can best memorize foreign-language terms. According to the researchers, it is easier to learn vocabulary if the brain can link a given word with different sensory perceptions. The motor system in the brain appears to be especially important: When someone not only hears vocabulary in a foreign language, but expresses it using gestures, they will be more likely to remember it. Also helpful, although to a slightly lesser extent, is learning with images that correspond to the word. Learning methods that involve several senses, and in particular those that use gestures, are therefore superior to those based only on listening or reading.

Opinions on vaccinations heavily influenced by online comments Posted: 05 Feb 2015 06:52 AM PST With measles and other diseases once thought eradicated making a comeback in the United States, healthcare websites are on the spot to educate consumers about important health risks. Researchers say that people may be influenced more by online comments than by credible public service announcements.

Parenting and depression study: Fathers are at risk, too Posted: 05 Feb 2015 06:52 AM PST A national study of parents found that parents with multiple parenting roles -- such as those in blended families -- are at higher risk of depression. Specifically, parents with three roles were 57 percent more likely to be depressed than those with just a single parenting role.

Pay-to-play sports: Parents with traditional beliefs about gender may shortchange daughters Posted: 04 Feb 2015 07:25 AM PST Parents with the most traditional beliefs about masculinity and femininity are likelier to view pay-to-play sports fees as too high for daughters compared with sons, a new study suggests.

Choosing a cell phone, prescription drug plan or new car? Read this first Posted: 03 Feb 2015 11:19 AM PST To help people make better choices when confronted by a large number of options, researchers have studied two decision-making strategies that break down the options into smaller groups that can be evaluated more effectively.