Using CT scans to measure blood flow in the lungs of people who smoke may offer a way to identify which smokers are most at risk of emphysema before the disease damages and eventually destroys areas of the lungs, according to a new study published in PNAS

The study found that smokers who have very subtle signs of emphysema, but still have normal lung function, have very different blood flow patterns in their lungs compared to non-smokers and smokers without signs of emphysema.This difference could be used to identify smokers at increased risk of emphysema and allow for early intervention.

Eating eggs for breakfast reduces hunger and decreases calorie consumption at lunch and throughout the day, according to a new study published in Nutrition Research.

 University of Connecticut researchers found that men who consumed an egg-based breakfast ate significantly fewer calories when offered an unlimited lunch buffet compared to when they ate a carbohydrate-rich bagel breakfast of equal calories.

The authors say their study supports previous research which revealed that eating eggs for breakfast as part of a reduced-calorie diet helped overweight dieters lose 65 percent more weight and feel more energetic than dieters who ate a bagel breakfast of equal calories and volume.

Archaeologists have begun excavating a proto-urban settlement situated where the Balikh River joins the Euphrates River in Northern Syria. The location was at the crossroads of major trade routes across ancient Mesopotamia that followed the course of the Euphrates River valley.

Known as Tell Zeidan, the town may have been one of the largest Ubaid temple towns in northern Mesopotamia, as large or larger than any previously known contemporary Ubaid towns in the southern alluvial lowlands of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is today southern Iraq.

A new study in Nature Geoscience has uncovered more evidence linking regular changes in  Earth's orbital cycle to changes in the planet's climate

The new analysis of ocean sediment cores from 57 locations around the world suggests that the pattern of climate change over the past million years likely involves complicated interactions between different parts of the climate system, as well as three different orbital systems: eccentricity, tilt, and "precession," or a change in the orientation of the rotation axis.

Psychologists at Baylor University say that people primed with Christian concepts are likely to express  racial prejudice and general negative views toward African-Americans.

The researchers don't know why the association exists but speculate that it may be that "priming religious words activates cognitive representation of things like right-wing authoritism and a Protestant work ethic.”

The study was published in Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Medical researchers at the University of Texas say they can detect obesity in infants just six month old, and a lot of children in the age group are obese and on track to maintain that status later in life.

By analyzing the electronic medical records of babies seen for routine "well-child" visits to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston pediatric clinic, researchers  found that about 16 percent of 6-month-olds fit the criterion for obesity — a weight-for-length ratio that put them in the top 5 percent of all babies in their age group. 

Further analysis of the records indicated that obese 2-year-olds were much more likely to have been obese at 6 months than 2-year-olds who were not obese.