health

Staying healthy is tough when there are things like Kit-Kats in the world.

All that might be changing very soon, though.

Nestle, the creators of Kit-Kat, announced that they have found a way to make Kit-Kats using less sugar without sacrificing flavor.

According to Nestle’s blog, “Using only natural ingredients, researchers have found a way to structure sugar differently. So even when much less is used in chocolate, your tongue perceives an almost identical sweetness to before.”

“This truly groundbreaking research is inspired by nature and has the potential to reduce total sugar by up to 40% in our confectionery,” said Stefan Catsicas, Nestlé Chief Technology Officer.

So it looks like Kit-Kats are healthy now. You can eat as many of them as you want. It’s basically like an apple. Enjoy Kit-Kats. Heck, enjoy 15 Kit-Kats. They’re good for you now.

via GIPHY

Want to heal your bones faster? Well, thanks to researchers at Northwestern University, pretty soon you'll be able to 3D print a flexible "scaffolding" to encourage bone growth on and around them.




Okay, taking a breath.

Here we go:

The scaffold is "made up of hydroxyapatite, a naturally occurring mineral that exists in our bones and teeth, and a biocompatible polymer called polycaprolactone, and a solvent. Hydroxyapatite provides strength and offers chemical cues to stem cells to create bone. The polycaprolactone polymer adds flexibility, and the solvent sticks the 3D-printed layers together as it evaporates during printing. The mixture is blended into an ink that is dispensed by the printer, layer by layer, into exact shapes matching the bone that needs to be replaced."




The idea, they continue, is that "a patient would come in with a nasty broken bone—say, a shattered jaw—and instead of going through painful autograft surgeries or waiting for a custom scaffold to be manufactured, he or she could be x-rayed and a 3D-printed hyperelastic bone scaffold could be printed that same day."

Currently the technology is being used to fuse spinal vertebrae in rats, and is performing well. Since you can't use this tech YET, maybe you can 3D print yourself a cast in the meantime:



Read more on the innovation here.

Is your weird Uncle Herbert spending too much time at Disney recently?

It may be because a urologist at Michigan State University recently "discovered that riding a roller coaster helps patients pass kidney stones with nearly a 70 percent success rate."





As it turns out, not every roller coaster is equal for stone passage, "Big Thunder Mountain was the only one that worked. We tried Space Mountain and Aerosmith's Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and both failed."

Read more about the discovery of fun, cheaper healthcare here.

Canadian Scientists have created Nanorobots, that not unlike G.I. Joe's Nanomites, that "can travel down the bloodstream to administer drugs precisely by targeting a tumor's cancer cells."

The advantages of injecting the tiny robots are that the medicine doesn't injure other organs and tissue, but is deposited exactly where it's needed. The dosage of drug needed could even be reduced, decreasing the toxicity inside a cancer patient's body, which is good all-around.

For an explanation of the cool technology, go here and check out this video:

Let's just hope they don't go rogue and try to destroy Paris.

The Zika virus is spread mainly by mosquitoes, although it's recently been found to be sexually transmitted as well. Researchers believe it is linked to birth defects like microencephaly.

This video from Jamaica's health ministry warns people to get rid of all standing water that mosquitoes that carry the virus can breed in. It also encourages people to use mosquito repellent and that pregnant women should take extra care.

It's also super catchy for a government sponsored message about public health.

In 2013, Tracy Spraggins desperately needed a kidney transplant. She has been battling Lupus since she was six and it finally destroyed her kidney function. Knowing that time was running out, her husband PJ Spraggins was tested to find out if he was a match to donate a kidney to her.

It was rare and lucky that PJ was a perfect match to give Tracy a kidney but doctors told him his blood pressure was too high. He had to diet and exercise for a year until he lost 70lbs and was cleared for the operation.

After the transplant the hospital sent them a kind Easter gift.



The Spraggins' also posted this very sweet video of their first stroll after the transplant. 

Seeing McDonald's food looking pristine after an uncomfortable amount of time is nothing new. That doesn't make it any easier to swallow.  Jennifer Lovdahl posted this image on Facebook with a description of it's quality six years after purchase. 



This is what she had to say about it:

It's been 6 years since I bought this "Happy Meal" at McDonald's. It's been sitting at our office this whole time and has not rotted, molded, or decomposed at all!!! It smells only of cardboard. We did this experiment to show our patients how unhealthy this "food" is. Especially for our growing children!! There are so many chemicals in this food! Choose real food! Apples, bananas, carrots, celery....those are real fast food.

Some people carry a hair tie wherever they go by wearing on their wrist like a bracelet. While it is extremely rare, a tight hair tie around the wrist could cause an infection like it did for Audree Kopp in Philadelphia. This infection didn't respond well to antibiotics so it led to surgery. If she had let it go on longer it could have led to sepsis, when an infection gets into the bloodstream.

While this kind of infection is unlikely, the result is alarming enough to make someone with long hair think twice about how they want to carry their hair ties with them.