Study Archives

Even if they won’t admit it, parents do have a favorite kid

January 17, 2025

Everyone with a sibling knows it can feel like their parents have a favorite. It turns out they do, at least according to a new study.

Researchers at Brigham Young University looked at the results of more than 30 studies including more than 19,000 participants and found parents do, indeed, treat their children differently.

For the study, researchers look at five key areas of parent-child interaction:

Overall treatment.
Positive interactions (praise and displays of affection).
Negative interactions (criticism or fighting).
Resource allocation (spending time with a child and material resources).
Behavior control (setting rules and expectations).

They found one of the biggest factors is birth order. Researchers said parents tend give older siblings more autonomy, like later curfews and more freedom to make their own decisions.

A child’s personality characteristics also play a huge role. Basically, children who show more conscientiousness and responsibility have fewer negative interactions with their parents. They’re the kids who do their chores without having to be told, for example.

Agreeable children who show more cooperation and consideration also usually see more positive parental responses.

The study found, contrary to popular belief, both mothers and fathers tend to favor daughters over sons, though the children surveyed did not notice that discrepancy.

Researchers said the children who receive less favorable treatment are more likely to experience mental health and relationship issues.

1 alcoholic drink per day increases chance of premature death: Study

January 15, 2025

A federal study likely to impact U.S. dietary guidelines found that drinking alcohol even at “low levels” drastically increases a person’s risk of premature death. The research comes from the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking (ICCPUD) on Tuesday, Jan. 14, and it is one of two reports guiding the 2025 revision to dietary guidelines.

Researchers found people that drank more than seven alcoholic beverages per week had a 1-in-1,000 chance of premature death, while those who drank nine or more alcoholic beverages per week raised that risk even higher to a 1-in-100 chance of premature death.

The report also said one drink a day increases the risk of liver disease, as well as certain cancers and injuries, but reduces the risk of a stroke.

The report comes after a recent advisory from U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who called for a warning to be added to alcoholic beverages about increased cancer risk associated with consuming alcohol.

The ICCPUD’s study, however, is in conflict with a report in December by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, which found that moderate drinkers have a lower risk of death than nondrinkers. U.S. lawmakers and the alcohol industry are criticizing the ICCPUD’s findings.

Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson of California voiced concerns on Wednesday, Jan. 15, on what he considers a lack of transparency in the agency’s review process.

While Science over Bias, a coalition of the nation’s agricultural, beverage and hospitality industries, argued the study is “rife with bias and conflicts of interest” while lacking “scientific evidence.”

The alcohol industry also questions the ICCPUD panel’s motivations and qualifications, noting all six of the panelists in charge of the study are experts in substance abuse disorders, but not experts on other health effects associated with alcohol.

Two of the panelists also reportedly said no level of alcohol is safe to consume, and another panelist received funds from a religious group whose mission is to promote alcohol abstinence.

However, the U.S. Alcohol Alliance applauded the findings. A spokesperson for the organization said, “The fact that any amount of alcohol is harmful to your health can no longer be ignored.”

How the study will impact U.S. dietary guidelines remains to be seen. There is reportedly speculation that the guidelines could be in concert with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2022 declaration, stating that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption.

Dementia diagnoses expected to rise to 1 million per year by 2060

January 14, 2025

The risk of developing dementia may be much higher than health experts previously thought. A newly published study shows two in five people will develop dementia in their lifetime, a large difference from older studies.

Older studies estimated about 14% of men and 23% of women would develop dementia at some point in their life. However, it’s much higher, with 42% of both men and women 55 and older expected to develop the disease, according to the study published this week in the journal Nature Medicine.

The biggest finding from the study is that the number of people diagnosed with dementia every year is expected to double, jumping from 514,000 in 2020 to 1 million per year by 2060.

Researchers say a big reason is because Baby Boomers are aging and they make up the second-largest faction of the U.S. population after millennials. By 2040 all baby boomers will be at least 75 years old, which is when dementia diagnoses were found to increase substantially.

The new research found only about 17% of cases were diagnosed before age 75, with an average age at the time of diagnosis being 81. The study also found Black people and women had the highest risk of developing dementia.

Popular protein powders found to contain dangerous heavy metals: Report

January 10, 2025

A new Clean Label Project report found that nearly half of some of the most popular protein powders may contain heavy metals like lead and cadmium. The nonprofit, which advocates for transparent food labeling, released the report Thursday, Jan. 9.

Researchers discovered that 47% of over-the-counter protein powders contain heavy metal amounts exceeding at least one federal or state guideline.

No level of lead is safe for humans, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Plus, cadmium is a carcinogen that’s also toxic to the heart, kidneys, gut, brain, respiratory and reproductive systems.

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Clean Label Project findings

Researchers tested 160 products from 70 of the top-selling brands representing 83% of the market.

The results found the highest amounts of heavy metals in organic, plant-based and chocolate-flavored protein powders, the report said. It found, on average, organic powders contained three times more lead and twice the amount of cadmium non-organic products did.

Plant-based powders like those made from soy, rice and peas were found to contain three times more lead than whey-based products. Whey is the liquid byproduct created when cheese is made.

Plants already naturally absorb heavy metals from the earth when they’re growing, but lead levels can be higher if they’re grown in soil contaminated by mining, industrial waste and some pesticides and fertilizers.

Chocolate-flavored protein powders that make consuming the product more appetizing are some of the worst offenders. The project found that chocolate-flavored powders contained up to four times more lead and 110 times more cadmium than vanilla-flavored ones.

The same study found bisphenol levels, like harmful BPA, in protein powders were only detected in 3 of the 160 powders tested, compared to 55% in 2018.

Sugary drinks tied to millions of diabetes, heart disease cases worldwide

January 6, 2025

A new study exploring the harmful effects sugary drinks have on health reveals a global rise in diabetes and heart disease linked to regular consumption. Researchers from Tufts University have released data showing that sugary drinks are responsible for an increase in both conditions, with significant health disparities emerging in low and middle-income countries.

The study estimates sugary drinks contribute to 2.2 million new diabetes cases and over a million heart disease diagnoses each year.

It also highlights how quickly sugary drinks spike blood sugar levels, with regular consumption linked to weight gain, insulin resistance and an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

The data includes nearly 3 million people, representing 87% of the global population. In 2020, sugary drinks were responsible for 24% of all new diabetes cases in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Sub-Saharan Africa, which has seen the largest rise in cases over the past 30 years, is also heavily impacted. The study found sugary drinks were responsible for 21% of new diabetes cases and 11% of new heart disease diagnoses in the region.

Dariush Mozaffarian, one of the study’s authors, noted that sugary drinks are often targeted to low and middle-income communities. Those are areas where people are more vulnerable to long-term health problems.

“Not only are these communities consuming harmful products, but they are also often less well-equipped to deal with the long-term health consequences,” Mozaffarian said.

Countries like Colombia and Mexico, which have high poverty rates, have seen sugary drinks contribute to a significant percentage of both diseases.

While the study can’t definitively prove cause and effect, researchers are calling for increased public awareness about the risks sugary drinks pose to health.

They point to efforts in countries like Mexico, France and Thailand, where “sugar taxes” have been implemented to curb diabetes or obesity rates.

Several U.S. cities, including San Francisco, Seattle and Philadelphia, have also adopted similar taxes on sugary beverages.

The World Health Organization estimates 830 million people worldwide are living with diabetes. Meanwhile, heart disease claims nearly 18 million lives each year.

Brain processes thought at a fraction of the speed of Wi-Fi connection: Study

December 27, 2024

A new study has revealed that the speed of human thought is 10 bits per second. To put into perspective how slow that is, the average Wi-Fi connection can process 50 million bits per second.

The study was led by Jieyu Zheng, a graduate student at Caltech.

The researchers also discovered the body’s sensory systems gather data about the environment at a rate of one billion bits per second.

The study’s authors said the fact that our sensory systems absorb information at a rate 100 million times faster than our brains process thought raises several questions.

For instance, there are 85 billion neurons in the brain. Each neuron is more than capable of processing information far faster than 10 bits per second. But scientists are wondering why neurons don’t process faster, why people have powerful neurons but don’t use them and why humans can only think about one thing at a time.

Scientists said they have a few ideas.

Researchers found that the brain seems to operate in two modes. The outer brain absorbs high-dimensional sensory information and motor signals while the inner brain processes information needed to control behavior, which is significantly less data than is absorbed by all the senses.

Another factor is that 10 bits is really all humans need to make the decisions necessary to survive. In fact, they said 10 bits per second is only for “worst case situations” the rest of the time, humans don’t even use that much.

The team suggests more research needs to be done to discover how the “one thought at a time” operating procedure is woven into the architecture of the human brain.

The research also had an interesting look into the future. There are multiple companies trying to develop neural interfaces that would create a direct link between a brain and a computer.

Perhaps the most well-known is Neuralink by Elon Musk. The company is trying to help people with disabilities like quadriplegia, blindness or loss of speech regain autonomy.

The researchers said, based on their findings, a brain would communicate with the neural interface at the rate of 10 bits per second.

Biodegradable sponge could remove 99.9% of microplastics from water

December 26, 2024

Microplastics are everywhere, from the deepest depths of the ocean to the highest point of Mount Everest, even human brains and they’re notoriously hard to get rid of. Now, scientists in China may have come up with a solution.

The scientists created a biodegradable sponge made of cotton and squid bones. They said research has shown this material can remove almost all tiny plastic particles from water sources.

The sponge uses chitin from squid bones and cellulose from cotton, which are both organic compounds known for eliminating pollution from wastewater.

Researchers tested the sponge on four different types of water: irrigation water, pond water, lake water and seawater. They found it removed up to 99.9% of microplastics in the samples.

The study’s authors say the sponge’s production appears to be scalable, which means they can make larger batches of it to meet potential demand. Previous similar microplastic filtration systems were found to be successful but couldn’t be scaled up.

If the new sponge works successfully on a large scale, which is the next step in testing, it could be a world-changing discovery.

Tea bags found to contain ‘huge’ and ‘concerning’ amounts of microplastics

December 24, 2024

Tea is known for its calming and relaxing qualities, but a new report may cause a little stress. Scientists have discovered that three different types of commercially available teabags release millions, sometimes even billions, of nanoplastics and microplastics into tea, which then get absorbed into the intestinal cells of whoever consumes the drink.

Microplastic contamination is an ongoing concern. These plastics have been found in hearts, testicles and this year, scientists found a “scary” amount in brain tissue.

While scientists do not yet know how exactly microplastics impact human health, they are known to release chemicals called “endocrine disrupters,” which are believed to impact human hormones and increase the risk for certain cancers.

One of the study’s authors said they hope the research helps spur a push to regulate single-use plastics and cut down on plastic contamination.

While the study’s authors did not identify the brands of tea bags it tested, this is not the first study of its kind. The digital platform “I’m Plastic-Free,” which helps people find plastic-free household products, has compiled a list of plastic-free tea brands across the world.

50,000-year-old ‘best-preserved’ remains of baby mammoth ever discovered

December 24, 2024

Scientists announced a discovery tens of thousands of years in the making on Tuesday, Dec. 24. In the permafrost of Russia’s Siberia emerged the 50,000-year-old remains of an incredibly well-preserved baby mammoth.

In fact, scientists say it’s the “best-preserved” mammoth body ever found, and one of just seven baby carcasses ever found globally. Nicknamed “Yana,” the female mammoth weighs around 400 pounds and is nearly 7-feet long.

Researchers believe that Yana was a year old when she died, but they are conducting more tests to confirm her age. Yana was found by locals in June in the world’s largest permafrost crater.

Scientists say they are working with genetic researchers to find out more about the young mammoth’s life, hoping to uncover more information about how this extinct species lived.

Russia’s permafrost is currently thawing, which scientists attribute to climate change, and the thaw has revealed several prehistoric discoveries over the last several years, including a mummified saber-toothed cat in the northeastern part of Siberia in 2020, which scientists believe to be around 32,000 years old.

The next year, researchers found the remains of a 44,000-year-old wolf.

Most teens aren’t drinking, smoking or doing drugs, new survey shows

December 18, 2024

It looks like drinking, smoking and getting high aren’t considered as cool as they used to be among teenagers these days. Every year since 2017, researchers with the Monitoring the Future project have tracked the number of eighth, 10th and 12th graders abstaining from alcohol, tobacco and marijuana use.

It found 2024 saw the lowest use of these substances since tracking began.

This year, 67% of 12th graders said they hadn’t used any of these substances in the last 30 days, a sizable jump from 53% in 2017. The percentage of 10th graders abstaining rose from 69% in 2017 to 80% this year. Meanwhile, among 8th graders, the news was even better — going from 87% to 90%.

However, researchers did see a concerning rise in the use of nicotine pouches with about 6% of 12th graders saying they have used them. That’s double last year’s findings when 3% said they did.

The study’s authors say that since substance use among teens dropped significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has not rebounded.