Was Spanish hurdler María José Martínez-Patiño a male or female athlete? If science can't answer such a basic biological question as that, how can it determine if Lance Armstrong took performance-enhancing drugs? Yet the answer is sometimes cloudy. 

Males and females compete in different categories because men are biologically different. If men competed against women in many events, the participation of women would be scant because men would hold win all of the events and hold most of the records.  Martínez-Patiño
was a successful hurdler in the Spanish nationals but a persistent rumor - invoked again and again by female competitors - turned out to be true; Martínez-Patiño

There's a mythology about the native Americans, that they were all peaceful and in harmony with nature - it's easy to create narratives when there is no written record.

But archeology keeps its own history and a new paper finds that the 20th century, with its hundreds of millions dead in wars and, in the case of Germany, China, Russia and other dictatorships, genocide, was not the most violent - on a per-capita basis that honor may belong to the central Mesa Verde of southwest Colorado and the Pueblo Indians.

Writing in the journal American Antiquity, Washington State University archaeologist Tim Kohler and colleagues document how nearly 90 percent of human remains from that period had trauma from blows to either their heads or parts of their arms.

Issues of crime and punishment and vengeance and justice date back to time when people first gathered and in the last few years why people decide just punishment has captured the attention of psychologists and certainly defende attorneys. 

A brain imaging study in Nature Neuroscience says it can identify the brain mechanisms that underlie our judgment of how severely a person who has harmed another should be punished. Specifically, the study looked at how the area of the brain changes when an act was believed to be intentional or unintentional. They found that the imaging is different and unintentional acts  trump the emotional urge to punish the person, however gruesome the harm may be.

Climate models predicted that the equatorial Pacific trade winds should weaken with increasing greenhouse gases, yet satellites and climate stations have instead revealed a rapid and unprecedented strengthening of the Pacific trade winds since the 1990s. 

Last week's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hearings in Atlanta on rules intended to "dramatically cut emissions" from coal-fired electricity generating stations were as contentious as expected. 

A new study commissioned by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) estimates that the Obama Administration's new ozone restrictions could reduce GDP by $270 billion per year and carry a compliance price tag of $2.2 trillion from 2017 to 2040 - the most expensive regulation the U.S. government has ever issued. 

In total, the study finds that letting the EPA revise the ozone standard for manufacturing from 75 parts per billion (ppb) to 60 ppb - below what even  exists at national parks, such as Yellowstone and Denali - could:

- Reduce U.S. GDP by $270 billion per year and $3.4 trillion from 2017 to 2040; 
- Result in 2.9 million fewer job equivalents per year on average through 2040; 

XBiotech has begun its European Phase III study using its novel cancer drug Xilonix™ for the treatment of colorectal cancer.

Xilonix is an antiobody works to block a number of processes that tumors use to grow and spread, such as potentially inhibiting the formation of tumor blood supply and new metastasis. Blocking tumor-related inflammation may also inhibit or reverse wasting and other illness associated with the malignancy. 

The double-blinded placebo controlled study is evaluating the use of the monoclonal antibody therapy designed to block chronic inflammation associated with malignant tumor growth. The treatment is reportedly aimed at reversing disease symptoms associated with disease progression and survival.

Shaving facial hair, bikini line, legs and armpits can cause wounds, which are an ideal setting for Staphylococcus aureus bacteria to cause infections. This 'shaving irritation' is characterized by redness, pimples, shaving bumps and an itching and burning sensation.

Antibiotics and traditional anti-bacterial products do not distinguish between good and bad bacteria but a healthy bacterial population is important. Dutch market research panel 'hettestpanel.nl' tested Gladskin Skin Irritation on a large group of men and women suffering from skin irritation after shaving and it received an 80% score on efficacy and 91% on user satisfaction.  

Results  presented at the 2014 World Transplant Congress evaluated the safety and efficacy of CSL Behring's C1 Inhibitor (C1-INH) concentrate in preventing antibody-mediated rejection following kidney transplants in highly sensitized patients.

C1-INH is a human protein and an important inhibitor of the complement system. Antibody-mediated rejection is a major cause of kidney transplant failure and a prime barrier to improving long-term outcomes for transplant patients. The types of antibody-mediated rejection vary in acuity and severity. Approximately 10 to 15 percent of kidney recipients experience rejection within one year after transplantation.

There's a little bit of MacGyver in all of us so even if it's unlikely to come up in our day-to-day lives, it would be nice to know how to do an artificial heart transplant in case it becomes really, really necessary, like you need to save a third world dictator or his second-in-command will launch a nuclear bomb.

The Journal of Visual Experiments is here to help. They have made it possible to watch the implantation of the SynCardia temporary Total Artificial Heart as you read their journal article. The paper and video both describe the case of a 60-year-old male with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Both detail the implantation surgery. They also discuss perioperative complications, postoperative care and selection of good candidates for the procedure.