Everyone knows smoking is bad for your health. Even tobacco company’s must provide a surgeon general’s warning to the customer about how dangerous smoking is. Second hand smoke is just as deadly. However, no one really understood how cigarette smoke caused lung cancer. Was it the nicotine? Other toxins?Researchers from the University of California published a report in The FASEB Journal on how cigarette smoke causes cells to become cancerous. Hydrogen peroxide (and similar toxins) is the main culprit. In the study, the scientists exposed two different sets of human lung airway cells to cigarette smoke and to hydrogen peroxide.The cells were then incubated for one to two days. Airway cells that were not exposed to the toxins were also assessed for signs of cancer development. The cells exhibited to cigarette smoke and hydrogen peroxide showed the same molecular signs of cancer. The unexposed cells did not.With the five-year survival rate of lung cancer patients being 15.5%, the researchers hope the new find will allow the tobacco industry to develop ’safer’ cigarettes by eliminating the toxins in the smoke. They also hope to give other medical researchers the ability to develop better lung cancer treatments. photo credit: HAMED MASOUMI

Patty Clement’s 11-year-old daughter had a problem with one of her teachers.  It appears that Rex Roland, an educator at Enka Middle School in Buncombe County in Asheville, North Carolina, had issues with her daughter.  That’s the best explanation as to why he wrote that she was a loser on her paper not once, but […]

There’s a condition unique to the human condition called default bias.  Generally, when presented with two options, the default option and a different option, most people choose the default.  Even when it’s wrong, this dithering tends to go to the default choice.  That’s why people stare blankly at hundreds of channels, then just stay with […]

As the Elvis estate could tell you, being dead is a great business deal.  Michael Jackson’s estate is living proof of that, as his heirs, controllers, and various business managers have negotiated the biggest record deal in history for the singer, who died only 9 months ago in mid-preparation for a string of comeback concerts. […]

It’s no secret that the Internet has changed how we do everything since it took hold of the world.  There’s a reason that improving the Internet is one of the FCC’s top goals.  That’s not hyperbole; from shopping to music, reading to communication, the Internet has changed everything and here are the 15 websites responsible […]

Actually, it’s not just perfume.  City workers at three different buildings in Detroit are banned from using or wearing the following:  “colognes, aftershave lotions, perfumes, deodorants, body/face lotions … (and) the use of scented candles, perfume samples from magazines, spray or solid air fresheners.”  This is part of a settlement agreement between the city and […]

While Buzz Aldrin has landed a good career post-space flight by landing on Dancing With The Stars, and John Glenn was in Congress between stints as the first man to orbit the earth and the oldest astronaut, respectively, not all astronauts are so lucky. It’s a tight job market, which is why Bigelow Aerospace is […]

If you’ve ever had a rough day, stumbled home after a bad commute, and immediately been snuggled up to by a pet, you’re not alone.  The benefits of pet ownership on emotional well being are well known, but not as well known are just how valuable those relationships are to the pet owners.  Dogs are […]