Kidney stones are increasing in the U.S., a striking change from the historic pattern in which middle-aged white men were at highest risk for the painful condition.

Researchers, clinicians and public health experts have been aware of the overall increase in kidney stones in children and adolescents, but the current study provided greater clarity on the specific groups of patients at greatest risk by analyzing age, race and sex characteristics among children and adults in South Carolina over a 16-year period, from 1997 to 2012.

The complex pattern of 'chatter' between different areas of an individual's brain while they are awake could help doctors better track and even predict their response to general anaesthesia - and better identify the amount of anaesthetic necessary - according to new research from the University of Cambridge.

What do snapping shrimp, naked mole rats, ants, honeybees, and humans all have in common? They all share a similar colony-like organizational system that biologists have termed eusociality. Eusocial species have been remarkably successful in both surviving and thriving through the use of colony-level cooperation. One cooperative behavior used by all eusocial species is the self-sacrifice of individuals to defend the colony. For example, a eusocial bee may sting a predator to stop an attack but die in the process. This same self-sacrificial tendency is seen among humans across cultures and time periods, including among military recruits, first responders, and parents.

Energy is the great equalizer. With cheap energy, the cost of all basic needs go down and citizens can have better culture and education.

For too many Western elites, especially in environmental activism, the goal of reducing energy flies in the face of developing nation empowerment. Solar panels are great, except people don't want agenda-based solutions, they want lights and air conditioners and running water when they need them.

In America it seems that Democrats are gaining ground and that therefore the culture is moving to the left. It's actually much different, Democrats have actually moved to the right. President Obama came into office campaigning against two wars but will leave office with three. He never closed Guantanamo Bay and even his lifting of "the ban" on human embryonic stem cell research was just a slight modification of the NIH funding policy under President George W. Bush.

In the last few days, there has been a spate of reports that the incandescent bulb is on its way back.  This relates to work by a group of authors at MIT plus one at Purdue University in Indiana, featured in a news report from MIT:

A nanophotonic comeback for incandescent bulbs?

Many of us might look forward to this, having found compact fluorescent lamps troublesome, and LED lights a bit weird.

It relates to this very recent publication,:

Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered a mechanism that may explain how the brain can recall nearly all of what happened on a recent afternoon -- or make a thorough plan for how to spend an upcoming afternoon -- in a fraction of the time it takes to live out the experience. The breakthrough in understanding a previously unknown function in the brain has implications for research into schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders, Alzheimer's disease and other disorders where real experiences and ones that exist only in the mind can become distorted.

Fragile bones are usually an old person's affliction, but sometimes children are born with them. Now, a team of researchers led by UConn professor Ernesto Canalis has shown in mice that a specific gene can cause the disease, called Hajdu-Cheney syndrome. Overabundant bone-absorbing cells may be causing the disorder's characteristic bone loss, and the researchers hope to find a potential treatment.

Fragile bones are usually an old person's affliction, but sometimes children are born with them. Now, a team of researchers led by UConn professor Ernesto Canalis has shown in mice that a specific gene can cause the disease, called Hajdu-Cheney syndrome. Overabundant bone-absorbing cells may be causing the disorder's characteristic bone loss, and the researchers hope to find a potential treatment.