Health & Wellness
Fishing in the stream of consciousness, researchers now can detect our intentions and predict our choices before we are aware of them ourselves. The brain, they have found, appears to make up its mind 10 seconds before we become conscious of a decision -- an eternity at the speed of thought.
Their findings challenge conventional notions of choice.
"We think our decisions are conscious," said neuroscientist John-Dylan Haynes at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience in Berlin, who is pioneering this research. "But these data show that consciousness is just the tip of the iceberg. This doesn't rule out free will, but it does make it implausible."
Julie Steenhuysen
ReutersFri, 27 Jun 2008 14:46 UTC
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| ©Reuters/Sage Center for the Study of the Mind, University of California, Santa Barbara/Handout
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| An undated image of the human brain taken through scanning technology.
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Routine brain scans in a group of middle-aged people showed that 10 percent of them had suffered a stroke without knowing it, raising their risk for further strokes and memory loss, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.
More children suffer from an innate condition that renders them incapable of understanding arithmetic and numbers than those who suffer dyslexia or "word blindness", according to a study of 1,500 school pupils.
The research found that between 3 and 6 per cent of children suffer from dyscalculia - the mathematical equivalent of dyslexia - compared to between 2.5 and 4.3 per cent of children who suffer from its linguistic counterpart.
It may look like an ordinary cheese sandwich - but it could contain the vital ingredient that helps you successfully negotiate that pay rise.
Scientists have found that people with high levels of the brain chemical serotonin are more likely to succeed in delicate negotiations affecting their own interests. Serotonin is manufactured in the body from the amino acid, tryptophan, which is present in several foods - and cheese is a particularly good source.
AFPFri, 27 Jun 2008 12:56 UTC
An inter-ministerial panel in Romania ruled Friday that an 11-year-old girl who became pregnant after allegedly being raped by her uncle can have an abortion.
"The committee has decided that a voluntary termination of the pregnancy can be carried out," said health ministry official and panel member Vlad Iliescu.
An abortion was allowed under Romanian law because the girl was a victim of sexual abuse, Iliescu said, adding that she faced "major risks to her mental health" if the pregnancy continued.
NEW YORK - Health officials are trying to persuade doctors to offer HIV tests to nearly every patient in a New York City community hit harder than most by AIDS.
For a long time, I've put the blame for the mass hysteria of the anti-tobacco movement on misguided zealots - loony and uninformed health nuts, clean air Nazis, and various other "do what we say is good for you - or else" types. But now, I'm starting to believe that the anti-smoking movement is being bolstered by my old adversary, Big Pharma.
Many women are left unhappy in the aftermath of casual sexual encounters, a survey has revealed. Just under half of women who answered the internet poll, published in the journal Human Nature, said they felt it had been a bad idea.
Four out of five men, in contrast, said they were happy with a brief fling. The academic leading the research said it showed that there was no evolutionary advantage for women in one night stands.
CNNThu, 26 Jun 2008 14:15 UTC
Romanian authorities plan to decide Friday whether to allow an 11-year-old girl to have an abortion after she was raped by her teenage uncle, the Romanian Ministry of Health said Thursday.
The girl is now 20 weeks pregnant -- too far along to have an abortion in Romania -- and her parents have said they'll take her to Britain for an abortion if the Romanian authorities deny her one at home, a spokeswoman at the health ministry said.
It is illegal to have an abortion in Romania after 14 weeks unless the pregnancy poses problems for the mother's health, said the spokeswoman, who asked not to be named. Abortions are legal in Britain up to 24 weeks.
Some 25% of the total AIDS patients who were taking protection drugs in Ethiopia have pulled-out of the national antiretroviral treatment program (ART), the National HIV/AIDS prevention and control office said.
Office representative, Desalegn Tesfay in a round-table held in Addis Ababa said that among the total 156,360 adult Aids patients who were embraced under the ART program 40,282 of them have pulled out for various reasons.
