Carrying excess weight around the abdomen is linked to an increased risk of kidney disease, a study suggests. It was already known that being “apple-shaped”, as opposed to “pear-shaped”, added to the risk of developing cardiovascular problems. This research, in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, found signs of kidney problems in even otherwise healthy apple-shaped people. UK experts said people needed to take more care of their […]

Deepening the mystery of human origins, researchers Thursday offered the most complete view yet of fossils from a puzzling forerunner of humankind, revealing that these creatures were, from head to heel, a collage of primitive and modern anatomy.   In six research papers published in Science, an international team described how the hominids had almost-human hands attached to apelike arms, a rib cage that was narrow like an ape’s at […]

A Russian billionaire has unveiled plans to make humans immortal by converting them into ‘Terminator-style’ cyborgs – a creature that’s part human and part machine – within the next three decades. Thirty two-year-old mogul, Dmitry Itskov has been pushing the project forward since 2011 when he founded the 2045 Initiative. His ultimate goal is to transfer a person’s mind or consciousness from a living brain into a machine with that […]

April 3 is a special day in the world of telecommunications, as this is the day the first known mobile phone conversation took place. On Wednesday, the 40th anniversary of the event, Martin Cooper, the engineer who made the first call on 3 April, 1973, was honoured with the 2013 Marconi Prize, recognising his contributions to the world of telecommunications. “Motorola was one of the luckiest things that ever happened […]

Eye drops designed to lower cholesterol may be able to prevent one of the most common forms of blindness, according to US researchers. They showed how high cholesterol levels could affect the immune system and lead to macular degeneration. Tests on mice and humans, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, showed that immune cells became destructive when they were clogged with fats. Others cautioned that the research was still at […]

US President Barack Obama has unveiled a new initiative to map the brain. Speaking at the White House, he announced an initial $100m investment to shed light on how the brain works and provide insight into diseases such as Alzheimer’s and epilepsy. President Obama said initiatives like the Human Genome Project had transformed genetics; now he wants to do the same with the brain. The project will be carried out […]

In Pic :An aerial view of fairy circles — mysterious circular bare spots that new research suggests are created by termites. Have you heard the one about the little termite that could, and did, take on a desert and turn it green? At least a little greener, except for those spots. The reddish barren spots, thousands of them, are called fairy circles, the name itself an invitation to try to […]

In Pic :The smaller mouse, right, lost weight after gastric bypass surgery, while the heavier ones, left, had “sham” operations. The bacterial makeup of the intestines may help determine whether people gain weight or lose it, according to two new studies, one in humans and one in mice. The research also suggests that a popular weight-loss operation, gastric bypass, which shrinks the stomach and rearranges the intestines, seems to work […]

A rare giant bird egg is being auctioned at Christie’s auction house in London. It was laid by an Elephant Bird in Madagascar and is thought to have been discovered by archaeologists in the late 19th or early 20th century. The species became extinct sometime between the 13th and 17th centuries. James Hyslop, scientific specialist at Christie’s said, “the egg is the largest egg ever laid by any animal, they […]