SCIENCE AND HEALTH HIGHLIGHTS

December 17, 2015 (San Diego's East County)-- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Lacking in Christmas spirit? Your brain might be to blame (Medical News Today)
• Antibiotics use on farms is up despite promise to kick the drugs (NPR)
• Ovarian cancer: screenings may cut deaths by a fifth (BBC)
• Cancer is not just ‘bad luck’ but down to environment, study says (BBC)

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• Twitter warns some users of possible state-sponsored cyber attack (Reuters)
  
  Polar bears travel farther as arctic sea drifts (BBC)
• Facebook enters transport business with UBR (BBC)
• Lawmakers call for trials of genetically modified insects (Reuters)

For excerpts and links to full stories, click “read more” and scroll down.

HEALTH

Lacking in Christmas spirit? Your brain might be to blame (Medical News Today)

‘Tis the season to be jolly...well, for most of us. For others, the thought of Christmas festivities fills them with dread - a phenomenon termed "bah humbug" syndrome. But according to new research, this phenomenon may be down to lack of activity in a brain network associated with "Christmas spirit."

Antibiotics use on farms is up despite promise to kick the drugs (NPR)

f you go by their declarations and promises, meat producers are drastically cutting back on the use of antibiotics to treat their poultry, pigs and cattle. Over the past year, one big food company after another has announced plans to stop using these drugs.But if you go by the government's data on drugs sold to livestock producers, it's a different story.

Ovarian cancer: screenings may cut deaths by a fifth (BBC)

 Doctors say there is now "encouraging" evidence that an annual blood test may cut ovarian cancer deaths by a fifth. Ovarian tumours are often deadly as they are caught too late.

Cancer is not just ‘bad luck’ but down to environment, study says (BBC)

The new study, in the journal Nature, used four approaches to conclude only 10-30% of cancers were down to the way the body naturally functions or "luck".

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Twitter warns some users of possible state-sponsored cyber attack (Reuters)



Twitter Inc issued an alert to some users warning them that state-sponsored hackers may have tried to obtain sensitive data from their accounts, the company said, the first such warning by the micro blogging site.

Polar bears travel farther as arctic sea drifts (BBC)

Polar bears are working harder just to stay in one place, as the Arctic sea-ice on which they hunt drifts away.

Facebook enters transport business with UBR (BBC)

… The new service means Messenger users will be able to ask for an Uber vehicle without leaving the Facebook software.

Lawmakers call for trials of genetically modified insects (Reuters)

Britain should challenge "woefully inadequate" European regulations and launch field trials of genetically modified insects that are designed to wipe out disease-carrying bugs that harm crops and people, lawmakers said on Thursday.