January 29, 2016 - For women undergoing breast cancer surgery, a technique called lipofilling--using the patient's own fat cells to optimize the results of breast reconstruction--does not increase the risk of recurrent breast cancer, reports a study in the February issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

An international team of biologists has discovered how specialized enzymes remodel the extremely condensed genetic material in the nucleus of cells in order to control which genes can be used. The discovery will be published in the print edition of the journal Nature on Feb. 4, 2016.

When the moon is high in the sky, it creates bulges in the planet's atmosphere that creates imperceptible changes in the amount of rain that falls below.

New University of Washington research to be published in Geophysical Research Letters shows that the lunar forces affect the amount of rain - though very slightly.

January 29, 2016 - Two things people always need in life: food and love. According to psychologists, understanding the forces that drive both our hunger and our desire could help us eat healthier and have more satisfying relationships.

Just as supermarkets offer plenty of choices, modern dating, from online sites to speed dating, greatly increases the ability to search for and meet potential mates. Lucy Hunt, Ph.D. candidate from the University of Texas - Austin, wanted to understand if the medium in which someone introduces their self affects another person's perception. She discovered when it comes to first impressions, a picture is not worth a thousand words.

January 29, 2016 - As New Year's resolutions come and go, one area many people focus on is their health and weight. With Americans tipping the scales more than ever, social and personality psychologists are at the forefront of understanding the psychological motivations for healthy food choices and consumption patterns.

Studying the psychology of food choice, Texas Christian University's Dr. Sarah Hill's research revealed that childhood socioeconomic status may influence people's food choices as adults. "Our research finds that growing up poor promotes eating in the absence of hunger in adulthood, regardless of one's adult socioeconomic status."

Midlife crisis in the insect world: In a new study, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich researchers have detected age-dependent alterations in metabolism and gene regulation in middle-aged fruitflies, and show that these effects are linked to a reduction in lifespan.

Everyone has started to call this new proposed planet X: "Planet nine" as in the original announcement. Even Wikipedia has titled its article on it "Planet Nine". But it's a poor name for a planet if you think about it. Why not just call it "Planet X"? Or find some new name, like Nemesis and Tyche as was done for previous planet X candidates.  None of the previous candidates for Planet X were called Planet + some number, and with good reason. There is no way that we can know it will be planet 9. 

Around 10% of UK primary care patients prescribed antidepressants for depression or anxiety have undiagnosed bipolar disorder, a study has found.

Researchers from Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds interviewed young adults from general practices in a study1 published in the British Journal of General Practice (BJGP).

Bipolar disorder often presents with depression and can be difficult to diagnose. People who have had periods of symptoms of high mood (such as increased energy and activity, increased confidence, over-talkativeness or being easily distracted) often don't recognise these as significant and don't tell their doctor about them.

The belief by Western elites that ancient people lived in some sort of harmony with the land, a belief popular for the last century, has been punctured again.

Hubble Space Telescope astronomers are finding that the old adage "what goes up must come down" even applies to an immense cloud of hydrogen gas outside our Milky Way galaxy. The invisible cloud is plummeting toward our galaxy at nearly 700,000 miles per hour.

Though hundreds of enormous, high-velocity gas clouds whiz around the outskirts of our galaxy, this so-called "Smith Cloud" is unique because its trajectory is well known. New Hubble observations suggest it was launched from the outer regions of the galactic disk, around 70 million years ago. The cloud was discovered in the early 1960s by doctoral astronomy student Gail Smith, who detected the radio waves emitted by its hydrogen.