It’s still cold in some parts of the country, but spring isn’t really that far off. And with spring comes the rush to fit back into summer clothes and swimsuits. If toning up is on your mind, don’t make the same mistake as thousands of gym rats: inefficient, possibly dangerous, exercises. One not-so-great move: crunches. (MORE: Work Out in One Minute — FLAT) When performed correctly, crunches can help sculpt six-pack abs — but for those trying to increase their...

Air pollution directly affects cognition in elderly individuals, German researchers said at the 2015 meeting of the American Thoracic Society, after analyzing data on the link between impaired lung function and cognitive decline. What are some other health risks from air pollution? Click through to find out. (ThinkstockNadofotos) Environmental factors such as toxins and pesticides can cause severe health problems, especially for pregnant women and fetuses. For male fetuses, the harmful effect of exposure to these toxins work like this:...

The Benefits of Green Space As cities and populations expand, one advantage of rural life shines clear over urban settings: The effect of green spaces, fresh air and nature on a person’s health and wellness. “As cities move towards going green, there are additional benefits that people can get from turning a building green, adding green spaces, or making a park that was much more concrete into a park with trees,” Jacqueline Moline, M.D., chairman of the department of population...

The 2013-2014 flu season isn’t over quite yet, but researchers are declaring it a relatively mild year for the United Kingdom. Although it might not fully explain the low activity, vigorous exercise could have contributed to some people avoiding the virus this year, according to survey results from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Approximately 4,800 survey participants were asked how many hours of “vigorous exercise” they do each week, including activities like running, fast cycling or competitive...

Public health problems, food and water scarcity, climate change: all serious global issues mitigated if there were just fewer of us, says Camilo Mora, Ph.D., assistant professor at the University of Hawaii Manoa, who published a new review of population studies in the journal Ecology and Society. (ABOVE: America’s Most Densely Populated Cities) “Rapid populationgrowth, for instance, is increasing the proportion of the world’spoorest people and impairing their economic growth, making theobjective of eradicating poverty and hunger increasingly unattainable,”Mora wrote...

When antibiotics fail, doctors might want to try reaching for the honey jar. A natural, ancient home remedy for a variety of ailments, a bit of honey might possess the right compounds to fight antibiotic-resistantsuperbugs, according to a presentation at the 247th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society. "The unique property of honey lies in its ability to fight infection on multiple levels, making it more difficult for bacteria to develop resistance," said study leader Susan M. Meschwitz, Ph.D.,...

Wild animals, bright butterflies, outer space — the stuff childhood dreams are made of. But for some children with health conditions, who are forced to spend their days in hospital beds instead of outside playing, conquering The Great Outdoors, even just in their imaginations, can seem impossible. That's where photographer Shawn Van Daele — and his Drawing Hope Project — step in. Van Daele takes a child's drawing, photographs the child and then turns the original drawing into a colorful...

((Thinkstock/Hemera Technologies)) Tuberculosis, a disease that infects one-third of the world’s population, is at least 7,000 years old, according to new research published in the journal PLOS ONE. Seventy-one recovered skeletons in the south of Hungary were used in the paleomicrobiological analysis. They revealed numerous cases of infections and stress indicators, including signs of tuberculosis. (MORE: Drug Resistant Tuberculosis a Public Health Crisis, Says WHO) One skeleton, a young male referred to as HGO-53, could be the earliest examples of...

((PLOS One)) Relative to other pathological disorders, archeologists have found difficulty tracing cancer back to ancient skeletons — until a recent dig. Archeologists say they have found the oldest evidence of metastatic carcinoma in a young man from Ancient Nubia, dating back to approximately 1200 B.C., according to a paper published in PLOS One. (MORE: Ancient Remains Reveal Early Signs of Tuberculosis) The study authors analyzed remains of the Nubian skeleton and detected abnormal lesions all over the body, particularly...

You're never too old to start exercising. Just look at Ruth Firth, who died "peacefully," of natural causes on Feb. 28, at the age of 104, according toThe Brisbane Times. At 102, Firth was still competing in — and winning — Masters throwing events, grueling athletic feats such as javelin, shot put and hammer throw. She didn't take up field events until her 70s, proving that it's never too late. At age 100, shewas the oldest competitor in the World...

Substances found in the environment, pesticides and the everyday toxins in furniture and clothing — all of these together may be massively harming the brains of Americans. Forty-one million IQ points have been lost because of lead, mercury and organophosphate pesticides, Dr. David Bellinger wrote in a paper published by the National Institutes of Health, James Hamlin reports for The Atlantic. (Read Hamlin’s full piece here.) That doesn’t even include the IQ costs of the nine other brain-threatening chemicals identified...

In this undated photo, Alexander Kumar is seen near Concordia in Antarctica. The British doctor travels to the harshest environments in the world to perform life saving medical research. (Caters News Agency) Thanks to Antarctica’s extreme snowy conditions and treacherous terrain, Alexander Kumar often trades in his lab coat for a winter coat. Kumar, an experienced medical doctor, studies deep in the frigid areas of Concordia, a joint French-Italian inland Antarctic research station, trying to learn more about space exploration,...