World / Health & Beauty
Home HIV test should be approved, FDA panel rules
May 15, 2012 07:55 
washingtonpost.com
An expert panel recommended Tuesday that the Food and Drug Administration approve the first over-the-counter HIV test, a kit that could quickly return results for consumers in the privacy of their homes. Read full article >>
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Health & Beauty
Sleepwalking study: Common in children, less so in adults
May 14, 2012 05:39
washingtonpost.com
When my daughter was little, she was quite the sleepwalker. Until you have a sleepwalker in the family, you have no idea how terrifying it can be. You worry about whether they’ll safely navigate the stairs when they decide to sleep-stumble from...
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Health & Beauty
Allergies are less common in people from environments rich in biodiversity
May 14, 2012 04:54
washingtonpost.com
Now there’s another reason to get back to nature. A new study reveals that people who grow up in more-rural environments are less likely to develop allergies. The reason may be that environments rich with species harbor more friendly microbes,...
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Health & Beauty
Dogs yawn when they hear people yawn, suggesting they empathize with humans
May 14, 2012 04:52
washingtonpost.com
Yawn next to your dog, and she may do the same. This is quite remarkable: Only a few animals exhibit such contagious behavior, and only dogs cross the species barrier. Now a study finds that dogs yawn even when they merely hear the sound of humans...
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Health & Beauty
Soup has many benefits, but it can be a problem if it has too much salt
May 14, 2012 04:50
washingtonpost.com
Sipping a bowl of soup is an easy way to give yourself a healthful boost — as long as you keep an eye on the nutrition label. Nearly 99 percent of us consume more than 1,500 milligrams of sodium a day, the upper limit recommended for African...
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Health & Beauty
Chemotherapy via pills can be costly; health plans are slow to cover new drugs
May 14, 2012 04:47
washingtonpost.com
Cancer treatment is changing: Increasingly, pills are the drug of choice rather than intravenous chemotherapy that drips into a patient’s vein. In contrast to conventional IV chemotherapy, which often kills both cancer and healthy cells alike,...
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Health & Beauty
Smoking marijuana can help ease symptoms of multiple sclerosis, study suggests
May 14, 2012 04:45
washingtonpost.com
THE QUESTION Marijuana has been investigated as a medicinal aid for people with cancer, AIDS, glaucoma and other conditions. Might smoking marijuana help relieve the muscle spasticity in people with multiple sclerosis? Read full article ...
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Underwater habitats for humans don’t attract scientists; drugmakers focus on venom
May 14, 2012 04:37
washingtonpost.com
This month’s issue of Discover dedicates a significant portion of its page count to underwater exploration, including a piece on seafloor sensor networks and a lengthy interview with underwater archaeologist George Bass. The magazine also...
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Health & Beauty
Researchers race to make a long-lasting battery for cellphones and other devices
May 14, 2012 04:28
washingtonpost.com
When Noam Kedem was strolling around the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, he was struck by the fact that business seemed to slow down every afternoon. And it wasn’t because of the usual post-lunch blahs. Read full article ...
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Health & Beauty
Pica, the compulsion to eat dirt and other oddities, is found in many cultures
May 14, 2012 04:05
washingtonpost.com
The father who came to our family-medicine clinic with his young daughter seemed concerned. The girl, he said, had become a voracious consumer of books. But not in a good way. “She eats them,” he explained, describing how she tore away the...
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