Features - The Malaysian Insider

Dementia rates slowing, says US study

Dementia rates in the United States may be falling, an influential study released on Wednesday said, offering hope that some cases of the disease might be delayed or even preventable. The...

Online ang pow rocket for Chinese New Year

Billions of online money transfers have taken place in China as the ancient Lunar New Year tradition of handing out red envelopes of cash met the Internet age. For centuries parents, relatives...

Concussions boost risk of suicide 3x, says study

Adults who suffer a concussion may see their risk of suicide rise three times or more in the years after the injury, according to a study out on Monday. The medical records of more than 235,000...

Bananas may help detect, cure skin cancer, says study

The black spots on old banana peels may unlock a faster, easier diagnosis of human skin cancer, boosting survival chances, scientists said Monday. When bananas ripen, their skin is covered in...

Twin births almost double in rich countries, says study

Twin births have almost doubled in developed countries in four decades, said researchers on Monday who cautioned about the associated health risks. In a study published in the US journal...

Meditation beats relaxation in improving resistance to stress

What's really going on in our brains when we meditate? Among growing scientific research backing up its beneficial effects on health – such as improving anxiety, depression and inflammatory...

In Khartoum kitchen, pharmacist serves up rare Sudanese cookbook

Preparing vegetables in a quiet Khartoum neighbourhood, pharmacist Omer Eltigani hopes not just to serve up the dish an aunt is teaching him, but also the first cookbook to bring Sudanese cuisine...

Bilingual kids better at problem-solving, says new study

A Canadian study has found a new benefit to being bilingual, with children who speak two languages better at problem solving than monolingual children. Published in the Journal of Experimental...

New year, new travel as more Chinese choose tourism over tradition

While hundreds of millions of his Chinese compatriots pack into planes, trains, and automobiles to return to their ancestral homes for the Lunar New Year celebration, Zhang Hao, 30, is getting as...

Not getting enough sleep? You’re probably on Facebook, says study

In a recent study by the University of California, Irvine, researchers found that a lack of sleep is linked to a higher level of online browsing, including checking social media websites such as...

Are we indulging too much while on vacation?

We all like to relax and indulge on vacation, but a new study has found that just a one-week trip away can cause us to put on weight, which we could still be carrying around for up to six weeks...

Bad diet, fat linked to postmenopausal breast cancer cases, study finds

A French study carried out at the Insistut Gustave Roussy in Villejuif and published in the International Journal of Cancer has found that half of postmenopausal breast cancer cases can be...

For many species, noise pollution can be deadly

Some reef-dwelling fish are twice as likely to get gobbled up by predators in the presence of a noisy motorboat, according to a study released on Friday. The research, published in Nature...

Tidy kitchen can cut calories, says study

A study by the Cornell Food and Brand Lab has found that cluttered kitchens – and a cluttered mindset – can cause you to consume more calories. In their study, designed to explore how a chaotic...

Anonymous browsing won’t do you favours in online dating, says study

A new study has found that even in the modern world of Internet dating, old fashioned rules still apply, with women reluctant to ask out a man even when browsing online prospects...

New tarantula named after music legend Johnny Cash

Scientists scouring the fields of Folsom, California found a new kind of black tarantula which they have named after Johnny Cash, the US music legend who sang of the jailhouse blues. The...

From pitch to screen, Ola Bola a success story for director Chiu

In 1980, as an eight-year-old growing up in Batu Pahat, Chiu Keng Guan already knew he loved to play football. He took an active part in the sport in school and that interest continued through to...

Anti-cancer foods to add to your diet

Many recent studies have shown the important role our diet plays in everyday health, and in the prevention of cancer. On the occasion of World Cancer Day on February 4 we have rounded up some...

High fiber intake could reduce the risk of breast cancer by 24%

New American research suggests that young and adolescent women should increase their intake of fiber, especially from fruit and vegetables, to reduce the risk of developing premenopausal breast...

Hormones make weight loss harder for women than men, study finds

A new study has found that men and women might not be on equal ground when it comes to losing weight. Researchers at the Universities of Aberdeen and Cambridge in the UK, and Michigan in the...