Kick the butt: Smoking changes lung cells, readies them for cancer

Chronic exposure to cigarette smoke can change lung cells over time, making them more vulnerable to disease and priming them to develop cancer, say US researchers. The report in the journal Cancer Cell is based on lab experiments on lung cells that were exposed to chronic cigarette smoke – the equivalent of a person smoking for 20 to 30 years. After about 10 days, the cells began to change their gene expression, a process known as epigenetic change. It took 10 months before these changes built up enough to boost…

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4 Ridiculously Easy Diet Changes to Help Kickstart Your Weight Loss

If you want to shed some pounds, but you’re not into the idea of a complicated diet with hard-to-remember rules, you’ve come to the right place. These four simple changes will help you lose weight fast, and get you back into your favorite jeans in no time. The best part: there’s no “cleansing” required. Make veggies the star of your meals Time to load up on those vegetables. I’m talking at least one to two cups (a cup is the size of a tennis ball) at each meal, even breakfast. In addition to…

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Here’s How Pregnancy Changes Your Brain to Make You a Better Mom

Thinking about having a baby, but worried you’re not cut out for motherhood? You may take some comfort in this news: Pregnancy causes changes in a woman’s brain that appear to make her better able to care for her child, say researchers in Spain. Their new study is the first to show that giving birth involves long-lasting changes—for at least two years afterward—in the structure of a woman’s brain. It’s long been known that pregnancy causes hormonal and chemical surges throughout the body, but until now its impact on the…

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Apple Forms Team to Explore Changes to App Store: Report

Apple has formed a secret team to explore changes to its App Store, including a new strategy for charging developers to have their apps more prominently displayed, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the plans. The iPhone maker is considering paid searches, similar to Google’s model, where companies would have to pay to have their apps appear among top search results based on what a customer is seeking, Bloomberg said. About 100 employees are working on the project, including many engineers from Apple’s advertising group iAd, which is being scaled…

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