Fat Chance Of Diagnosis
Radiologists are finding that the traditional apparatuses for peering inside the body, including X-ray machines, are not working on some of the more sizable citizens of the US, where 64% of the population is either overweight or obese. According to a study led by Massachusetts General Hospital radiologist Raul Uppot, medical reports acknowledging limitations due to patients' "body habitus" have effectively doubled over the last 15 years. Larger patients may be unable to fit into scanners, and their fat may be too dense for X-rays or especially sound waves to penetrate. While many are trying to solve America's obesity problem, medical manufacturers are capitalizing on the new demand by building larger MRI machines. Uppot said his hospital is buying three.
(source: Reuters)
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Eggs Over Easy
Days after President Bush vetoed the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005, and the EU blocked funding for research that destroys human embryos, Britain's Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) issued a therapeutic cloning research group license, which will allow them to ask women undergoing in vitro fertilization to donate their eggs to science. The North East England Stem Cell Institute is investigating the potential of human embryonic stem cells to treat illnesses such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and diabetes. This is the first time a group in the UK will be allowed to offer a financial incentive for donation: Couples who are unable to afford IVF will be able to offset the cost by donating eggs for research. Controversy has ensued, with the co-founder of a group called Hands Off Our Ovaries saying this is the "worst example of HFEA arrogance" she has seen.
(source: BBC)
Twice Shy
While ecologists have speculated that the male praying mantis may get some evolutionary benefit out of being cannibalized during copulation, a recent study out of State University of New York-Fredonia indicates that male mantids do not appreciate being eaten. (Shocker.) The researchers found that when male mantids were at a higher risk for cannibalism—if the female is oriented towards the male, she can use her front legs to attack him more easily—the fellas responded by slowing their approach, increasing their courtship behavior and mounting from a greater distance. Author William Brown called sexual cannibalism "an example of extreme conflict between the sexes." Yeah, that's the understatement of the year.
(source: The University of Chicago Press, Journals Division)
Fowl Play
The Swedish avian community was rocked by scandal last summer, when a female duck "accidentally" drowned during a bout of aquatic intercourse. Her body was hardly cold when her mate was seen cavorting with another woman. That would have been disgraceful enough, but it was the identity of the new lover that capped off the scandal: She was not another lady duck, but a hen.
Farm owners Annika Stenbäck and Peter Andersson told the Norrköpings Tidningar this sordid tale of suspected murder, deceit and, yes, interspecies love. Now, one year after they were first seen together, the odd couple is still going strong. In fact, the duck is the proud foster-father of five chicks, born from fertilized eggs Stenbäck snatched from a relative's farm. Reportedly, the duck stayed by his lady during her entire brooding period, and he hasn't left her side since the chicks hatched.
(source: Dagens Nyheter, translated by Johan Anglemark for Boing Boing)
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