Today’s Headline of the Day is from a Reuters report by Tan Ee Lyn. The headline manages to implicitly make both the mythic, astrological connection between cancer and crabs and the dietary connection between crabs and the stomach, and to include a trendy mention of robots (which are in fact the focus of the story):

Experts build crab-like robot to remove stomach cancer

The article goes on to say:

SINGAPORE | Feb 1, 2012 – Inspired by Singapore’s famous chili crab dish, researchers have created a miniature robot with a pincer and a hook that can remove early-stage stomach cancers without leaving any scars….

They developed the robot after a seafood dinner in Singapore in 2004 with top Hong Kong surgeon Sydney Chung, who suggested they fashioned their device after the crab. Chung is best known for fighting SARS in Hong Kong in 2003.

“He (Chung) suggested we used the crab as a prototype. The crab can pick up sand and its pincers are very strong,” said [enterologist Lawrence] Ho.

BONUS: How to cook crab in Hong Kong:

(HT Debra Sherman)

Carbon Monoxide – dubbed “The Silent Killer” is a colourless and odourless gas – highly toxic to human beings. It’s a common pollutant in city air, coming mainly from vehicle exhaust emissions. But perhaps “CO, in small doses, is a boon to the well-being of urbanites, better equipping them to deal with environmental stress”?

New research from professor Izhak Schnell and colleagues* at the Geography and Human Environment Department at Tel Aviv University, (just published in the journal Environmental Monitoring and Assessment) indicates that : “… low levels of the poisonous gas can have a narcotic effect that helps citydwellers cope with other harmful environmental factors of an urban environment, such as off-the-chart noise levels”.

The quotes are a this press release entitled :‘Carbon monoxide — the silent calmer?’ from EurekAlert, 8-Nov-2011.

Notes:
Although the press release fails to mention the title of the paper in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, it may well be this one

*The research was carried out in cooperation with Dr. Oded Potchter and Yaron Yaakov from the Department of Geography and the Human Environment, Prof. Haggai Hermesh from the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Prof. Yoram Epstein from the Heller Institute of Medical Research, and Dr. Shmuel Brener from the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies.

A biomedical alert, or perhaps a breakthrough, is announced on the Seacoast Natural Health company’s web site. The initial report is light on details; presumably more information will arrive soon. This is what they say for now:

Joy Of Mountain Herpes

Treatments, Benefits & Side Effects

Research Joy Of Mountain Herpes with our natural health encyclopedia and product reviews. Information on Joy Of Mountain Herpes include treatment, health benefits & side effects. Joy Of Mountain Herpes products are reviewed below for non FDA-reviewed or approved uses such as Promoting Healing, , and Relieving Cold Sores.”

Here is a screen capture of the announcement:

Thanks to investigator Sandy Choi for alerting us to the concept of mountain herpes. Choi posted this photo on Twitter:

Today’s Headline of the Day is from the Health Behavior News Service:

Caffeine Can Ease a Spinal Tap Headache

People who suffer headaches after a spinal tap might have a relatively simple way to ease the painful throb: a caffeine tablet…. Researchers led by Xavier Basurto Ona of the Hospital de Figueres in Catalonia, Spain, now show that caffeine treatment can decrease the number of patients with persistent puncture headaches, when compared to a placebo. Both oral and intravenous caffeine work, with the IV form especially helpful in lessening the duration of the headaches.

Here, connected in name at least, is the trailer for the film This Is Spinal Tap:

(HT @LisaEspo]

Today’s Headline of the Day comes from the science blog called ScienceBlog reports:

Researchers use human cells to engineer functional anal sphincters in lab

Researchers have built the first functional anal sphincters in the laboratory, suggesting a potential future treatment for both fecal and urinary incontinence. Made from muscle and nerve cells, the sphincters developed a blood supply and maintained function when implanted in mice. The results are reported in the medical journal Gastroenterology….

The study’s senior author, Kahlil N. Bitar, is pictured here.

(Thanks to investigator Mark Dionne for bringing this to our attention, and for suggesting a more-or-less unprintable way to paraphrase that headline.)