Scientists from Harvard Medical School recently developed a method to turn ordinary skin cells to stem cells. The method is not only a great contribution to science, but it also solves a lot of moral dilemmas since stem cell research doesn't have to involve destroying human embryos anymore. The problem is, this may not entirely be the case: some researchers still believe that stem cells converted from skin cells are no substitute for embryonic stem cells.

Dr. George Daley of Harvard Medical School and his colleagues have found a way to turn ordinary skin cells to embryonic stem cells. They found four genes that can direct skin cells to form any kind of tissue.

This allows scientists to find cures for injuries, Parkinson's and Diabetes. More information on their findings after the Jump!

Despite so many health warnings and bans set up in regards with tobacco consumption, people either just can't kick the habit or refuse to do so altogether. However, some new products have been developed for smokers to indulge in their nicotine fix without the harmful chemicals, toxins and cancer-causing poisons due to their habit.

These products are a type of "electronic" or "digital" smoking designed to eliminate the harmful side-effects of smoking tobacco products. One of these products, the Crown7, is an Art Deco styled tube with a cartridge and a rechargeable battery.

Costing only US$ 2 a pop, the cartridges contain water, propylene glycol, nicotine, and a tobacco flavor which simulates the effect of smoking while emitting only a harmless vapor which leaves no residual odor or causes second hand smoking effects.

The only downside with the product would probably be the hefty price for the reusable tube itself - the price ranging around US$ 64.95 to 149.95. The tube comes in three styles that cater to different types of smokers: cigarette, cigar, and pipe.

Another product made for this purpose is the Vapir from AIR-2, an air vaporizer that transforms the active elements of practically any plant into an inhaleable mist without burning it. A patented microchip regulates the vaporization process, called volitization, to avoid overheating or burning. With this method tobacco users can get the nicotine fix they need without the harmful smoke.

Professor Lester Grinspoon of Harvard Medical School Associate relates the vast applications this method has beyond simple smoking substitution. Medicinal vaporization may eliminate the need to use hypodermic needles and oral medications which can be degenerated by digestive enzymes.

Despite all the advantages these new products may bring, it is still doubtful whether the public will be able to accept them as a new convention to alternative smoking. Regardless, it's a small step where innovative devices such as these bring about a healthier lifestyle for everyone.

Scientists at the company LS9 are nearing completion on a project they call "renewable petroleum," which may turn out to be the answer to the Earth's depleting oil supply and our dependence on the oil fields of the Middle East.

LS9 was founded by George Church, a geneticist from Harvard Medical School and Chris Somerville, a plant biologist from Stanford University. Apparently if you put a geneticist and a plant biologist together you get oil-making bacteria. LS9 has developed a way for bacteria, plants and animals to make petroleum.

How does this work? Organisms make fatty acids to store energy. By modifying certain genetic pathways, scientists can take the acid away from the fatty and what you get is fatty oil. More specifically, a hydrocarbon that can be made into fuel.

One of the advantages of LS9's new process is that their product is purely oil, not ethanol, which studies show do not contain as much energy as gas and also may be more dangerous to the public at large.

LS9 claims to be able to make hundreds of different hydrocarbons using bacteria. An advantage to this is that harvesting the oil doesn't involve the contaminating sulfur they get from underground crude oil. LS9 hopes to have the oil out within three to five years.

Previously, we reported on a study done by a research team from Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Michigan State University. In that study, it was determined that violent games were more popular among kids. Now, here's an update to that: it's now said that violent games could actually be healthy for kids!

Published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, it's been said that violent games don't necessarily lead to violence among children and that they (the kids) could actually benefit from playing video games.

Massachusetts General Hospital's Cheryl Olson SC.D. commented that "this idea that 'M' rated games cause shootings or major violence just doesn't hold water."

One portion of the study focused on the actual benefits, with anger management being one possible factor on why it's healthy. Olson continues, "We don't know whether playing to get anger out is a good thing or a bad thing for any individual child, but we suspect that it might be healthy for a lot of kids."

Another benefit: social interaction. The study found that the kids are more likely to be playing with a couple of friends in tow, whether in the same room or over the net. In their study, none of the kids fell into the "solitary violent gamer up in his room" stereotype.

Do note that these findings are based on a focus group of 1,200 seventh and eight graders. And from what we know about focus groups (no matter how large), they still tend to be too limited to make a general theory out of - there's still some room for allowance here. So, the researchers still suggest constant vigilance among the parents, and that they should be aware of the types of games their kids play, nonetheless.

The conclusion, though, from Olson rests:

It's not going to ruin them, they're not going to go out and pick up a gun. Violent video game play is typical and normal for kids nowadays. That doesn't mean that parents have to like it, but they shouldn't panic about it

Now how's that for a safe, clean answer? We're not trying to recommend violent games to kids here. We're just saying that, hey!, it's normal.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has shown that a person's chance of becoming obese increases by a whopping 57% if they have an obese friend. Surprisingly, family members had less of an influence than friends with the greatest influence being between mutual close friends.

Those who conducted the study noted that the same effect can be found for weight loss as well. However, since most people have been gaining and not losing weight over the last 32 years, the result is an obesity epidemic.

A physician and professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School and a principal investigator in the new study Dr. Nicholas Christakis noted that this might be caused by the way friends view fatness, i.e. When a close friend becomes obese, obesity may not look so bad.

This new study has not been fully accepted by obesity researchers. The director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University Kelly Brownell expressed a pretty strong opinion regarding this: "I think there's a great risk here in blaming obese people even more for things that are caused by a terrible environment."

Obesity has become a problem which has can have many detrimental effects on ones health. If this study is true, then the best way to help a friend from becoming obese and remaining fit and healthy is by keeping yourself in good condition. Remember that the next time you're tempted to snack on that candy bar instead of a healthier banana.

A NASA-funded study has proven that it is possible for humans to run on a 25-hour day. These findings may be put to good use if they decide to send astronauts to Mars.

A day on Mars is equivalent to about 24.65 hours and the recurring concern scientists have regarding this is that astronauts may feel constantly jet-lagged if they stick to our 24-hour days.

The study was conducted by a team of researchers which included Charles Czeisler, MD, PhD, the director of the sleep medicine division at Harvard Medical School and chief of the sleep medicine division at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Twelve adults with an average age of 28 volunteered to endure 65 days living in rooms without windows, clocks, or any other time cues. The test subjects got eight full hours of sleep for at least three weeks prior to the experiment. They then spent three days on a normal 24-hour day as the researchers tweaked the hours of light and darkness to find each test subject's natural circadian rhythm or body clock.

After this, the scientists added an extra hour of light to each of the participants' waking hours. Additionally, two pulses of extremely bright light 10 times brighter than regular room light were delivered at the end of each day. These pulses of bright light caused the 12 adults to stay up an extra hour.

Each of the test subjects retained the 25-hour-day routine for a month with their bodies adjusting accordingly. To end the experiment, the individuals taking part were switched back to their normal 24 hour day schedule.

The researchers noted at the end of the experiment that "the implications of these findings are important, because they could be used to treat circadian misalignment associated with space flight, shift work, and circadian rhythm sleep disorders." Now, if only we could convince the rest of the world to follow this schedule so we can have an extra hour of gaming everyday.

Coffee was first discovered in the Middle East when a shepherd allegedly noticed goats munching on coffee beans and acted funny afterwards. As the story goes, the shepherd brewed the means and found out that it not only tasted good, it also helped fight drowsiness. Another story tells the tale of Pope Clement VIII blessing the drink because it kept the monks awake during mass.

These tales may never be confirmed, but what scientists from UCLA and Harvard are sure of is the fact that the drink has a lot of great health benefits. When taken in moderate quantities, coffee will reduce chances of getting Parkinson's and Alzheimer's by 50 percent and lower the risks of type 2 diabetes. Reports also suggest that cancer can be avoided with regular intake.

According to Dr. Rob van Dam (not the pro wrestler) of the Harvard Medical school, an estimated 171 million people around the world have type 2 diabetes. The figure is expected to balloon up to some 366 million in 20 years if left unchecked. Dr. Van Dam suggests taking 3-5 cups of coffee every day to bring the figure down.

Dr. Lenore Arab agrees, and says coffee has a lot of nutrients that aid in enhancing the body's ability to maintain homeostasis. Chlorogenic acid, caffeine, magnesium, potassium, vitamin B3, trigonelline, and lignans are present in good amounts in every cup, making the drink a good health supplement of sorts.

Studies on its effects on cancer, whether preventive or risk-inducing, are as of yet still inconclusive. The evidence on ovarian, breast and prostate cancer is still limited and are awaiting more research to verify claims.

There have been many theories about this before but this is the first time an evidence has been unearthed to support the claims.

Thanks to tiny bits of protein extracted from a 68 million-year old Tyrannosaurus rex bone, our dear scientists now have the first ever genetic proof that the T. rex is actually a distant cousin of the modern chicken.

Even before all these findings, the researchers have long believed that chickens evolved from dinosaurs based on the study of dinosaurs' bones. It's just that they are lacking soft tissue evidence to confirm their take.

The first light glimmered when Mary Higby Schweitzer of North Carolina State University reported that she has found soft tissues (with blood vessels and cells) in a T-Rex bone from Hell Creek Formation in Montana back in 2005.

To be able to extract the samples, Asara utilized a scientific technology known as mass spectrometry. He first purified the bone extract. The brown fragments were then broken down into peptide fragments, little bits of proteins, isolated into the amino acid sequences that make them up.

Harvard Medical School researcher John Asara said,

It's the first molecular evidence of this link between birds and dinosaurs. It was very tough to get anything. Based on all of the genomic information we have available today, it appears these sequences are closer to birds or chickens than anything else.

After interpreting the sequence, it turned out that it is mostly similar to the amino acid sequences of a chicken.

Yes, way. Or at least that's what the recent studies show. Research on the indigenous people of Panama, the Kuna, shows that drinking cocoa might just be good for you.

The Kuna people drink around 40 cups of cocoa per week as their local tipple or alcoholic beverage. According to study by Dr. Norman Hollenberg of Harvard Medical School, less than 10% of the Kuna population have strokes, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. They also have longer life expectancies than other indigenous people in Panama and they do not succumb to dementia, though experts argue that genes and other factors should also be taken into account.

Dr. Hollenberg said that his interest was piqued when he learned that the Kuna people do not develop high blood pressure. He studied whether the Kuna's immunity was due to great genetics or an environmental factor. He found that it was indeed environmental since the Kuna people who migrated to the urban mainland got hypertension with age and ultimately had (read: died from) ischemic heart disease, stroke, diabetes mellitus and cancer.

Cocoa contains a flavonoid (plant metabolites that have antioxidant properties) called Epicatechin. It is found in tea, wine, chocolate, and some fruits and veggies. Epicatechin is believed to get nitric oxide levels up which relaxes blood vessels thus improve blood flow. The bad thing is, it also gives food a bitter taste and are thus stricken off commercial cocoas.

Dr. Hollenberg is continuing his research with the good effects of epicatechin and receives financial backing from a big chocolate company, M&M/Mars Company. Some experts are still torn. Ellen Mason from the British Heart Foundation had this to say: This is an interesting observation of a unique culture. We do not advise that people in the UK take up drinking cocoa in high quantities in order to protect their hearts.

Fair enough. It wouldn't hurt to try it, but then rock solid evidence is yet to be found.