Earliest animal footprints ever found -- discovered in Nevada

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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The fossilized trail of an aquatic creature suggests that animals walked using legs at least 30 million years earlier than had been thought.

The tracks -- two parallel rows of small dots, each about 2 millimeters in diameter -- date back some 570 million years, to the Ediacaran period.

The Ediacaran preceded the Cambrian period, the time when most major groups of animals first evolved.

Mental barriers hamper obese women's efforts to get exercise

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For arachnophobes, it's difficult to kill a spider as it scurries across the floor. Those who are scared to fly might not ever set foot on a plane. While nothing physically stops people with these aversions, a mental barrier can keep them from the task at hand.

The same could be said for obese women when it comes to physical activity, according to research presented at the Obesity Society's Annual Meeting on Oct. 5.

A little exercise goes a long way for severely obese

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DURHAM. N.C. -- A little exercise goes a long way toward helping severely obese individuals improve their quality of life and complete important daily tasks, according to researchers at the Duke Diet and Fitness Center.

In a pre-program assessment where patients reported, on average, just under one hour of exercise per week, individuals who were more active reported better overall-quality of life. They also reported improvements in their ability to perform daily tasks as measured on a physical functioning scale.

Form of Crohn's disease traced to disabled gut cells

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St. Louis, Oct. 5, 2008 — Scientists report online this week in Nature that they have linked the health of specialized gut immune cells to a gene associated with Crohn's disease, an often debilitating and increasingly prevalent inflammatory bowel disorder.

Food for thought -- regulating energy supply to the brain during fasting

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LA JOLLA, CA—If the current financial climate has taught us anything, it's that a system where over-borrowing goes unchecked eventually ends in disaster. It turns out this rule applies as much to our bodies as it does to economics. Instead of cash, our body deals in energy borrowed from muscle and given to the brain.

Children aware of white male monopoly on White House

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AUSTIN, Texas—Challenging the idea that children live in a color or gender blind world, a new study from The University of Texas at Austin reveals most elementary-school-age children are aware there has been no female, African-American, or Hispanic President of the United States. And, many of the children attribute the lack of representation to discrimination.

How much are you really exercising?

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People struggling with obesity often underestimate how many calories they are actually consuming, which can hinder weight loss efforts. It should follow that the same person would overestimate the amount of exercise they're doing, right?

Corner stores capture kids on morning commute

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In most cities, the corner store, with its chips, soda and candy, is ubiquitous. Convenient for the neighborhood residents, but also researchers are discovering, a major snack source for school age children.

Researchers from Temple University and The Food Trust recently examined the eating habits of urban children before and after school as part of a larger project to make corner store snacks healthier. Their findings will be presented at The Obesity Society's annual scientific meeting on Saturday, October 4, 2008.

Duke researchers show reading can help obese kids lose weight

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DURHAM, N.C. -- It's no secret that reading is beneficial. But can it help kids lose weight? In the first study to look at the impact of literature on obese adolescents, researchers at Duke Children's Hospital discovered that reading the right type of novel may make a difference.

Smoking and solid fuel use in homes in China projected to cause millions of deaths

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Boston, MA -- If current levels of smoking and biomass and coal fuel use in homes continues, between 2003 and 2033 there will be an estimated 65 million deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and 18 million deaths from lung cancer in China, accounting for 19% and 5% of all deaths in that country during this period.