A talk about Karl Marx's chronic ill health. Until now there have been few clues as to the cause of cluster headaches. The ABC Science Unit's Lynne Malcolm has just returned from Cambodia with this story. Researchers in the U.S. found that head trauma not only damages brain cells, but also damages their ability to repair themselves, which can cause long-term brain damage. The cravings for nicotine can last much, much longer than has been anticipated in the past.
Some people still have cravings years after they've given up smoking.
Australian farmers and companies have been exporting thousands of tonnes of a potentially toxic legume which looks a bit like a split lentil, to impoverished countries, sometimes deliberately mislabelled. A recent study has found that hair from breast cancer patients has a different intermolecular structure to hair from healthy people. This could open the way for a new diagnostic tool for Breast Cancer which could do away with mammography. This condition in its mildest form causes daytime sleepiness and at its worst can bring about a demi world of hallucinations, nightmares and periods of paralysis. Research has found that you can detect very real changes in brain function in healthy people and those suffering from pain when they receive acupuncture.