In Lean Times, Online Coupons Are Catching On
The effort to find a deal in brick-and-mortar stores has moved online, where a rising world of coupon-clipping has taken shape.

Beware of Toxic Toys This Holiday Season
Dangerous chemicals make some playthings unfit for kids, report claims.

Holiday Meals With a Calorie-Conscious Twist
Swapping out heavy ingredients can mean healthier eating without the guilt, experts say

Gartner: Economy Hits Cell-phone Sales
Economic woes slashed cell-phone sales growth in the third quarter of this year as consumers waited longer to replace their handsets, and the market is likely to contract next year, according to Gartner.

Spammers Regaining Control Over Srizbi Botnet
The zombie computers used to send spam are coming back to life.

How Spyware Nearly Sent a Teacher to Prison
If there’s a poster child for the dangers of spyware, it’s Julie Amero.

European agency rules against stem cell patents
LONDON (Reuters) – European regulators on Thursday ruled against allowing a patent on developing human embryonic stem cells, a decision that could stifle research by stem cell companies for commercial purposes.

Hairspray Exposure Ups Risk for Birth Defect in Sons
Stylists, beauticians may be affected by phthalates in these products, experts say

Surgeons Perform World’s First Pediatric Robotic Bladder Reconstruction
ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2008) — A 10-year-old Chicago girl born with an abnormally small bladder that made her incontinent has become the first patient to benefit from a new robotic-assisted bladder-reconstruction method developed by surgeons at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

School Soda Ban Has Limited Effect
Eliminating sugary beverages did not affect overall consumption, study finds

Selenium May Slow March Of AIDS
ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2008) — Increasing the production of naturally occurring proteins that contain selenium in human blood cells slows down multiplication of the AIDS virus, according to biochemists.

Genes May Predict Lymphoma Treatment Outcome
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 26 (HealthDay News) — Gene activity patterns can tell doctors whether people with a certain type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma have a better chance of survival with treatment, according to a new study.

CT Scans Can Spot Blocked Arteries
But debate continues as to whether they are worth the expense

Women Smokers Lose 14.5 Years Off Life Span
November is lung cancer awareness month, and doctors urge everyone to kick the habit.

Scientists find 4 genes that drive metabolism
LONDON (Reuters) – Four genetic variations appear to determine the speed at which people burn up food, researchers said on Thursday, a finding that could one day see doctors offer their patients more individual care.

Sealing Off Portion Of Intestinal Lining Treats Obesity, Resolves Diabetes In Animal Model
ScienceDaily (Nov. 27, 2008) — Lining the upper portion of the small intestine with an impermeable sleeve led to both weight loss and restoration of normal glucose metabolism in an animal model of obesity-induced diabetes. Investigators from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Weight Center and Gastrointestinal Unit report in the journal Obesity that the procedure reproducing several aspects of gastric bypass surgery led to a significant reduction in the animals’ food intake and a resolution of diabetes symptoms.

Fat-Sensing Hormones Might Fight Obesity
Study with rodents shows the molecules help regulate appetite

Over-the-Phone Weight Loss Counseling Works
For rural women, it’s cheaper and less time-consuming than in-person visits, study finds

Fast Food A Potential Risk Factor For Alzheimer’s
ScienceDaily (Nov. 27, 2008) — Jupiter has a rocky core that is more than twice as large as previously thought, according to computer calculations by a University of California, Berkeley, geophysicist who simulated conditions inside the planet on the scale of individual hydrogen and helium atoms.

Brain scans show root of memory glitch with aging
NEW YORK (AP) – Brain scans of older people in a noisy lab machine give biological backing to the idea that distraction hampers memory with aging, researchers reported Wednesday.

Adult Brain Neurons Can Remodel Connections
ScienceDaily (Nov. 27, 2008) — Overturning a century of prevailing thought, scientists are finding that neurons in the adult brain can remodel their connections. In work reported in the Nov. 24 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Elly Nedivi, associate professor of neurobiology at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, and colleagues found that a type of neuron implicated in autism spectrum disorders remodels itself in a strip of brain tissue only as thick as four sheets of tissue paper at the upper border of cortical layer 2.
Anyone who has attended a 12-step recovery program for any length of time knows that people can learn new behaviors at any age.

Religion May Help Extend Your Life
Regular attendance is key, researchers say, but they don’t know why.

What Happy People Don’t Do
Happy people spend a lot of time socializing, going to church and reading newspapers — but they don’t spend a lot of time watching television, a new study finds. That’s what unhappy people do. Although people who describe themselves as happy enjoy watching television, it turns out to be the single activity they engage in less often than unhappy people, said … the author of the study.

Want To Be Happier? Be More Grateful
Dr. Steven Toepfer enlisted students from six courses to explore the effects of writing letters of gratitude to people who had positively impacted the students’ lives. Over the course of a six-week period, students wrote one letter every two weeks with the simple ground rules that it had to be positively expressive, required some insight and reflection, were nontrivial and contained a high level of appreciation or gratitude. After each letter, students completed a survey to gauge their moods, satisfaction with life and feelings of gratitude and happiness. “I saw their happiness increase after each letter, meaning the more they wrote, the better they felt,” says Toepfer, who also witnessed improvement in participants’ life satisfaction and gratitude throughout the study.

Secret To Workplace Happiness? Remember What You Love About The Job, Study Urges
ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2008) — Urging employees to simply rethink their jobs was enough to drop absenteeism by 60 per cent and turnover by 75 per cent, a new University of Alberta study shows.

Is Optimism Good For You?
Several studies suggest optimists live longer and enjoy better health than pessimists. The real mystery is why. Among the findings of various studies: • Highly optimistic people have significantly lower death rates. • Optimistic coronary bypass patients are half as likely as pessimists to require re-hospitalization. • People with positive emotions have lower blood pressure. • The most pessimistic men are more than twice as likely to develop heart disease compared with the most optimistic… Perhaps optimists enjoy better health and longer lives because they lead healthier lifestyles, build stronger social support networks, and get better medical care, [a] Health Watch article suggests.

Zookeepers Solve Polar Bear Mating Mystery
Puzzled Japanese zookeepers have cleared up a mystery over a lack of chemistry between a couple of polar bears as both turn out to be female, a Japanese zoo said Wednesday.

Did vegetarian diet kill off giant cave bears?
Enormous cave bears that once inhabited Europe were the first of the mega-mammals to die out, going extinct around 13 millennia earlier than was previously thought, according to a new estimate.

First known turtle swam on the half shell
A half-shell turtle species that swam in China’s coastal waters 220 million years ago is the oldest turtle known to date, a new analysis of fossils reveals.  The turtle had a belly shell, but its back was basically bare of armor.

Expert: Small Ark. earthquakes could be warning
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A series of small earthquakes that rattled central Arkansas in recent weeks could be a sign of something much bigger to come. By this weekend, seismologists hope to install three measurement devices to gather data about future temblors in the area. That information could show whether the rumbles come from heat-related geological changes or from an undiscovered fault — which could mean a risk of substantial earthquakes in the future.

‘Space family’ says goodbye as mission nears end
HOUSTON (AP) – Seven astronauts piled into space shuttle Endeavour for the return trip to Earth after eating Thanksgiving dinner, leaving their counterparts at the international space station like relatives parting ways from a holiday visit.

Plumes spewing from Saturn moon may contain water
Astronomers looking at the spectacular supersonic plumes of gas and dust shooting off one of Saturn’s moons say there are strong hints of liquid water, a key building block of life.