Feb. 15, 2012 -- That "new car smell" may come from toxic chemicals, according to new research.

A new study suggests that new car smell comes from toxic chemicals off-gassing in a car's interior, like brominated flame retardants (BFRs), chromium, and lead. In all, researchers identified more than 275 different chemicals in vehicle interiors (More)
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Jan. 27, 2012 -- An obsession with wearing high heels may take a toll on women's muscles as well their pocketbooks.

A new study offers a scientific explanation for why walking in high heels can be so painful: It changes the basic mechanics of how women walk.

The results show that women who regularly wear high heels walk with shorter, more forceful strides and recruit more muscles to walk, compared to women who favor flats. These changes persist even (More)
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Jan. 20, 2012 -- Could your office be toxic?

Indoor office air is an important source of worker exposure to the potentially toxic substances known as PFCs, or polyfluorinated compounds, according to a new study.

''Workers who spend their day in a typical office environment are likely to have exposure to PFCs through the air, and that seems to lead to PFC levels in their blood," says researcher Michael McClean, ScD, associate professor of environmental (More)
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Jan. 20, 2012 -- Even mild dehydration may affect our moods and ability to concentrate.

In a new study of 25 healthy women, mild dehydration dampened moods, increased fatigue, and led to headaches.

The women in the study were aged 23, on average. They were (More)
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Jan. 11, 2012 -- We are living longer these days.

Our average life expectancy increased by about one month from 2009 to 2010. In 2010, the average life expectancy rose to 78.7 years, up from 78.6 years in 2009. These are some of the findings from a new report by the CDC on death rates in the U.S. in 2010.

The death rate hit its lowest rate ever in 2010, at 746.2 deaths per 100,000 people. Overall 2,465,936 people died in the U.S. in 2010.

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Dec. 15, 2011 -- Older men who walk at least 3 miles an hour need not fear the Reaper. They stay ahead of him and tend to outlive guys who move along at a slower pace, new research reveals.

In the study, published in the Christmas issue of the journal BMJ, Australian scientists attempted to nail down the Grim Reaper's walking speed. (The usually straitlaced journal loosens up this time of year with offbeat scientific papers like this one.) (More)
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Dec. 6, 2011 - Yes, the job seems to turn them gray and age them before our eyes, but a new study shows that being president of the United States may not actually shorten a man's life.

In fact, those holding the highest elected office in the land tend to live longer than other men who were the same age when they first took office. This was true even when factoring in that American presidents are thought to age twice as fast while in office.

The study (More)
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Dec. 2, 2011 (New York City) -- It may be called "men"-opause, but it's a time of life that only belongs to women. Male menopause, well, that may be a myth, according to some experts.

While many men and men's health experts argue that male menopause (andropause) occurs when a man's supply of the male sex hormone testosterone dwindles with advancing age, there really is (More)
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Nov. 29, 2011 -- Men do think about sex more often than women overall, but not all the time -- and the gap is not as wide as you might think, a new study finds.

"The absolute number of sexual thoughts is dramatically less than the urban legend that men think about sex every seven seconds," says study researcher Terri Fisher, PhD, professor of (More)
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Nov. 22, 2011 -- The more often older people have sex, the more likely they are to be happy with life and enjoy a good marriage, a small study shows.

The findings show that elderly people who had sex more than once a month were 50% more likely to say they were very happy with their life than those who reported no sexual activity during the previous (More)
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