We are faced with making decisions all the time. Often, we carefully deliberate the pros and cons of our choices, taking into consideration past experiences in similar situations before making a final decision. However, a new study suggests that cognitive stress, such as distraction, can influence this balanced, logical approach to decision making.

DNA origami just got a new "twist" from Brigham Young University researchers who use DNA strands of customized length to spell "BYU." The advance puts them one critical step closer to building nanoscale electronic circuits.

A new genomic analysis shows that small-bowel transplant patients with an ileostomy have a very different population of bacteria living in their gut than patients whose ileostomy has been closed.

A difference in brain activity patterns may explain why some people are able to maintain a significant weight loss while others regain the weight, according to a new study.

Life-threatening tumors are fed by the uncontrolled growth of blood vessels within them that allows them to thrive – and to halt disease-fighting cells in their tracks. Reversing or re-arranging the growth of these vessels in combination with specific immune strategies is a promising new strategy for cancer therapy, according to researchers.

Scientists cast a rosy light on the potential for gene therapy to treat adult vision disorders involving cone cells -- the most important cells for vision in people. Scientists used gene therapy to cure two squirrel monkeys of color blindness -- the most common genetic disorder in people.

Cramps, diarrhea, vomiting…. Interviewing people about their food poisoning symptoms isn't a glamorous job. Yet, the investigative work of a group of public health graduate students who work for the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has helped find the sources of the country's two most recent major salmonella outbreaks , in peanuts earlier this year and in jalapeño peppers (previously blamed on tomatoes) in 2008. Dubbed "Team Diarrhea," or "Team D," the students' work has played a major role in solving cases that had kept health officials in other states stumped for months and sickened thousands of people. [More]

Reading a book by Franz Kafka -- or watching a film by director David Lynch -- could make you smarter. According to research by psychologists, exposure to surrealism enhances the cognitive mechanisms that oversee implicit learning functions.

Scientists have developed a prototype of an electrocardiogram or ECG necklace. The technology enables long-term monitoring of cardiac performance and allows patients to remain ambulatory and continue their routine daily activities while under observation. The embedded beat detection algorithm copes with the artefacts inherent to ambulatory monitoring systems.

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators do not appear to be associated with a reduced risk of death in women with advanced heart failure, according to a meta-analysis of previously published research.