One of the popular myths that lazy journalists like to "debunk" this time of year is that early cancer detection saves lives. That's because there is no way to really prove someone didn't die, any more than it is possible for a politician to claim that a giant pork stimulus packing for government union employees saved jobs.

A lazy narrative like 'early detection doesn't save lives' means people will think that about all things, and they may not go to a doctor until they have a giant tumor growing out of them.

In the 1980s, the recycling debate was all the rage, with arguments for and against government doing it. The argument against government doing it was predictable; government is inefficient and expensive and the landfills waiting for a recycling list that would grow with every environmental lobbying effort would be the size of regular landfills.

Government recycling won and now there are giant landfills of recycling material that can never actually be recycled - all those glossy magazine pages with perfume on them, for example. Most of California recycling is actually done in China, after being shipped there in emissions-belching boats.

A commonly used skin care ingredient is one of several newly identified compounds that can mimic the life-extending effect of a starvation diet, finds a new lab study.

Calorie restriction, a dramatic reduction in calorie intake, has been found to slow down the aging process in several animal models. Mice weaned on it from birth live longer but to-date it has not been shown to work in humans, since such an experiment on babies would be a human rights violation. Efforts are on to try and create drugs that can reproduce this effect, without the side effects of starvation.

In 2014, the anti-vaccine beliefs of progressive elites reached an apex, both in raw numbers and in hypocrisy - and it was because of an Ebola epidemic thousands of miles away. While only one person was impacted in America, there were calls from across the ideological spectrum, including among rich elites of the American west coast, to develop a vaccine, yet they were simultaneously insisting vaccines cause autism.

Ever wonder how much the price you pay for an All-You-Can-Eat (AYCE) buffet influences how you feel at the end of the meal? To explore this idea and address the lack of studies that do, this study examines whether pricing affects key indicators such as overeating, physical discomfort, and guilt. Researchers discovered that lower paying diners feel more physically uncomfortable and guiltier compared to the higher paying diners, even when eating the same amount - a finding that has implications for consumers, restaurants, and public health officials. This study is unique in that it was conducted in the field, where subjects' natural behavior could be observed unobtrusively.

AMHERST, Mass - Using 20 years of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from tens of thousands of brain imaging experiments, computational neuroscientists Hava Siegelmann and a postdoctoral colleague at the University of Massachusetts have created a geometry-based method for massive data analysis to reach a new understanding of how thought arises from brain structure.

The authors say their work paves the way for advances in the identification and treatment of brain disease, as well as in deep learning artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Details appear in the current issue of Nature Scientific Reports.

DURHAM, N.C. -- For chronically lonely adolescents, even the rare invitation to a social event is likely to be met with suspicion: "It's not that I'm worthy, I just got lucky," they'll tell themselves.

And when not included in a gathering of peers, the chronically lonely teen will attribute it to some personal flaw.

New York, NY - Recent studies conclude that people with epilepsy have a 27-fold greater risk of sudden death than people without the disorder. However, many of these deaths could be prevented through greater identification of epilepsy as a cause of death, and in educating the public more effectively about the disease's life-threatening dangers.

These are the opinions shared by some of the country's leading epilepsy researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York, in an opinion article published online December 16 in the journal Neurology. The authors call for a broad public health campaign and improved cause-of-death reporting.

The 2015 Monitoring the Future survey (MTF) shows decreasing use of a number of substances, including cigarettes, alcohol, prescription opioid pain relievers, and synthetic cannabinoids ("synthetic marijuana"). Other drug use remains stable, including marijuana, with continued high rates of daily use reported among 12th graders, and ongoing declines in perception of its harms.

The MTF survey measures drug use and attitudes among eighth, 10th, and 12th graders, and is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health. The survey has been conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor since 1975.

Nearly 185 million adults and 24 million children in the United States are overweight or obese. In Philadelphia, an estimated 68 percent of adults are overweight or obese. Beyond impaired cognitive function, poor sleep is associated with a host of chronic health problems including depression, obesity, and hypertension. Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 50 to 70 million U.S. adults experience sleep or wakefulness disorders.

Weight loss due to dietary changes can improve sleepiness at any weight, says a study published in the journal Sleep, which the authors say reaffirms how weight fluctuations impact numerous aspects of sleep independent of body weight.