To the surprise of doctors, new research on acupuncture has found that the ancient Chinese healing technique provides real pain relief. Acupuncture involves sticking needles into specific points in the body that Chinese healers believe contain unseen energy pathways; the needles supposedly stimulate the flow of “qi,” or energy. Western medicine has viewed these claims with deep skepticism, contending that […]
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Every week, more than 50 million Americans take acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol and many other popular painkillers, to ease their aches and pains. But a new study has revealed that the drug also dulls emotions—including happiness. Prior research showed that acetaminophen can help take the sting out of negative feelings like dread, but the new findings from Ohio […]
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THE UNIVERSE IS A LOT OF THINGS, BUT EASY TO understand isn’t one of them. Take the fact that more than 80% of its mass is missing. Galaxies spin so fast, they would fly apart if the gravity of some unseen mass weren’t keeping them intact, sur rounding them like a glass paperweight encasing a butterfly. Cosmologists have been trying […]
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Some of us like to rock & roll, and some of us like to gyrate & gestate. Gynecology clinic Institut Marquès has discovered a way to bring that front row concert experience right to your fetus. What they’ve designed is called Babypod, a speaker that expecting mothers insert into their vaginas (in tampon fashion) to play songs for their developing […]
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A homeless panhandler, Billy Ray Harris who returned a diamond engagement ring accidentally thrown into his change cup has had his generosity repaid many times over. Sarah Darling of Kansas City, Mo., mistakenly gave her ring to Billy Ray Harris last week, and he happily returned it the next day when she retraced her steps. Since Harris’s good deed hit the […]
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When Chinese fisherman CaiTu hauled in a 200-pound, 100-year-old sea turtle, he knew he had to do the right thing and release the endangered animal. The decision wasn’t easy: Cai could have earned two months’ wages by selling the delicacy to a restaurant, where it would have been made into soup. “I looked into that turtle’s eyes and saw something […]
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Awe-inspiring experiences, such as viewing works of art or overlooking a scenic vista, may have physical as well as mental health benefits, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, found that the positive emotions triggered by these encounters can have an immune-boosting, anti-inflammatory effect that helps protect the body from heart disease, depression, autoimmune conditions, […]
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Drone warfare is now coming to your own backyard, said Glenn Greenwald. Local police have begun using unmanned Predator drones like those used in Afghanistan and Pakistan to conduct surveillance of criminal suspects right here in the U.S. This chilling step toward “a Surveillance State”—without the public’s knowledge or consent— was revealed last week by the Los Angeles Times, which […]
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Scientists have long laughed at astrology’s underlying premise—that celestial events can influence human emotions and behavior. But a series of new studies has produced evidence that at least one kind of astronomical event—solar flares—may, in fact, affect human beings. Periodically, the sun erupts with large storms that hurl waves of electromagnetically charged particles into space, altering Earth’s own magnetic field. […]
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Mike Carmichael simply wanted to do something weird when he and his 3-year-old son slapped a coat of blue paint on a baseball in 1977. The central Indiana resident stuck with painting the ball, which grew large enough to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records in 2004. At that time, it was 9 feet (2.7 meters) across, […]
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