Science

Oxford University researchers are joining with the Lausanne Museum of Zoology in a project that seeks to finally take a serious look into the various claims of evidence of the existence of bigfoot throughout the years. Scientists will collect evidence through September, with testing and examination set to begin in November.

Researchers are asking for hair and other genetic samples from cryptologists or anyone who believes they have evidence that may present a case for bigfoot, also known as yeti, sasquatch and other names, the supposed giant ape-like creature that some believe is a distant cousin of the human species.

"I'm challenging and inviting the cryptozoologists to come up with the evidence instead of complaining that science is rejecting what they have to say," said geneticist Bryan Sykes of the University of Oxford, LiveScience.com reported. more >>

A rare dinosaur fossil was auctioned this week in New York for $1.05 million, but the sale cannot be completed until ownership rights of the fossil are sorted out.

This issue over the fossil stems from a claim by the Mongolian government that the fossil was illegally taken from the country. The Mongolian government has laws in place that make it a crime to remove fossils from the country.

Robert Painter, an attorney representing the president of Mongolia Elbegdorj Tsakhia, filed a restraining order to prevent the sale of the dinosaur fossil; however, the sale went through with the stipulation that it must first get court approval. more >>

A new study recently published showed that for women who are overweight, moderate weight loss could help bring down the risk of a known cause of breast cancer.

Researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center looked at 439 women who were overweight or obese and were between the ages of 50 and 75.

The results were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology and showed that for overweight and obese women losing just five percent of their body weight contributed to lower levels of circulating estrogen, which is known to be a risk factor for breast cancer. more >>

POM Juice exaggerated the health benefits of drinking their juice, a court has ruled. The POM Wonderful Company has been ordered to stop making health claims in absence of "competent and reliable scientific evidence," according to the judgment.

The case, brought by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, brought new information on marketing strategies to light. The POM Wonderful group claimed that its pomegranate juice helped with prostate cancer, erectile dysfunction and heart disease.

Judge D. Michael Chappell stated in the ruling: "The basic research relied upon by Respondents (POM Wonderful) and the Forest/Padma-Nathan Study support the conclusion that pomegranate juice as a beneficial effect on erectile tissue physiology, health and function. The evidence relied upon by Respondents also supports the conclusion that pomegranate juice is a potential treatment for erectile dysfunction." more >>

Tapeworms are most commonly thought of to be found in the digestive tract, but new evidence shows that certain tapeworms can actually live in the human brain. If that wasn't bad enough, the incident of brain tapeworms is higher than one might expect and could cause significant brain damage if left untreated.

"Nobody knows exactly how many people there are with it [neurocysticercosis] in the United States," Dr. Theodore Nash of the National Institute of Health in Maryland told Discover Magazine. "Minimally there are 5 million cases of epilepsy from neurocysticercosis."

Cysticerocosis is defined as infection of bodily tissue after exposure to the pork tapeworm through contaminated food or water. The eggs of the tapeworm often move to the brain, causing cysts. Most commonly, the cysts can cause "headache, nausea, and vomiting and may be accompanied by altered mental status," according to a case report by Andrew H. Kerstein and Andrew. D. Massey. more >>

Sleep apnea can be very dangerous for those who suffer from the condition, but a new report by Dr. Javier Nieto of the University of Wisconsin's School of Medicine and Public Health has shown that there is a significant correlation between sleep apnea and death from cancer.

"Sleep apnea is the periodic pausing of breathing during sleep that results in drops in oxygen levels in your blood. It causes snoring and sleepiness during the day," Nieto notes in the study. "Aside from being an annoyance to your spouse, family members and maybe even your neighbors, depending on how loud your snoring is, sleep apnea is a severe problem."

"Drowsiness and sleeping during the day increase the risk of accidents, and sleep apnea is associated with cardiovascular disease, heart disease, strokes, hypertension and cardiovascular mortality. Now, we see this new angle: an increase in cancer mortality," Nieto explained. more >>