New study from BU psychologists suggests that for children, retribution comes before gratitude. Source: BU study: Are kids hardwired for revenge?

CSHL researchers have shown that 10 different cancer drugs being given to about 1,000 human patients in clinical trials kill cancer in entirely different ways than previously thought. Source: Cancer drugs don’t always work as intended, researchers warn

Extreme ritual practices involving pain and suffering pose significant risks such as injury, trauma, or infection. Nonetheless, they are performed by millions of people around the world and are often culturally prescribed remedies for a variety of maladies, and especially those related to mental health. What is the actual impact of these practices on health?…

Harvard scientists are blurring the distinction between brain and machine, designing nanoelectronics that look, move, and feel like real neurons. Camouflaged in the brain, this technology could offer a better way to treat Alzheimer’s disease or post-traumatic stress disorder, control prosthetics, or even enhance cognitive abilities. Source: The future of mind control

Using politically incorrect speech can incite controversy but also brings social benefits: It’s a powerful way to appear authentic. Researchers at Berkeley Haas found that replacing even a single politically correct word or phrase with a politically incorrect one — ‘illegal’ versus ‘undocumented’ immigrants, for example — makes people view a speaker as more authentic…

If the United States and Russia waged an all-out nuclear war, much of the land in the Northern Hemisphere would be below freezing in the summertime, with the growing season slashed by nearly 90 percent in some areas, according to a Rutgers-led study. Indeed, death by famine would threaten nearly all of the Earth’s 7.7…

Negative interest rate policies in Europe and Japan were intended to stimulate flagging economies but research from the University of Bath they may be doing more harm than good. Source: Negative interest rate policies are backfiring — new research

Most patients who died or were removed from the kidney transplant waitlist before getting a transplant received multiple offers for a donor kidney. Source: Many who die waiting for a kidney had multiple offers, new study finds

Immunity against mumps virus appears insufficient in a fraction of college-aged people who were vaccinated in childhood, research from Emory and CDC indicates. The findings highlight the need to better understand the immune response to mumps and mumps vaccines. Source: Mumps study shows immunity gaps among vaccinated people

French organ transplant centers are far more likely to accept ‘lower-rated’ kidneys, like those from older organ donors, than centers in the United States, according to an analysis published today in JAMA Internal Medicine. French transplant centers would have transplanted more than 60% — about 17,500 kidneys — of the nearly 28,000 deceased-donor kidneys discarded…

Total deaths from heart disease, stroke, diabetes and hypertension — known collectively as cardiometabolic disease — have been increasing since 2011, a new Northwestern Medicine study shows. Cardiometabolic disease is the leading cause of preventable death worldwide. While the overall rate of heart disease deaths decreased over time, the rate of decline slowed after 2010,…

Prenatal exposure to the organophosphate pesticides has been linked to poorer cognition and behavior problems in children. A new study led by University of California, Berkeley, researchers is one of the first to use advanced brain imaging to reveal how exposure can actually change brain activity. Teenagers estimated to have higher levels of prenatal exposure…