By Emily Murray

All too often, news headlines leave us concerned, angry, scared or sad. Well it’s Friday so why don’t we all prepare for the weekend by checking out some of the happier news stories and headlines we saw this week? Here are 5 health related headlines that give us something to feel good about.

1. “Kissing is All About Chemistry” – USA Today 
Research from scientist Sheril Kirshenbaum has shed some light onto the curious subject of love and attraction. Most of us have experienced (and hopefully still do) that undeniable draw to someone who often  becomes a lover or lifetime partner. Upon further research, Kirshenbaum dove deeper into the idea that chemistry is involved in falling in love and found that it is very present during those intimate moments of a first kiss. At our very primitive roots of humanity, for women this serves as a radar for finding a man she can produce a child with.

“A first kiss is nature’s ultimate litmus test,” said Kirshenbaum.

 

2. “First European Embryonic Stem Cell Trial Gets Green Light” – TIME
Imagine blindness becoming obsolete? While we aren’t there yet, a decision Thursday has helped the long journey begin. A clinical trial has been approved that will allow doctors in London to provide patients with macular dystrophy cells grown from embryonic stem cells. The hope is that these cells will grow and multiply and take over where the injured or dead cells left off and ultimately they hope vision could be restored.

 

3. “Never Too Old to Quit” – The New York Times
As mentioned in the article (and perhaps experienced in our own lives), there are always those older smokers who say things like “it’s too late to quit now.” Some of us may find that hard to argue with but in light of new evidence, even older smokers can help themselves feel better and help their body stay healthier once they quit the habit. In fact, research has now found that cognitive ability may remain intact longer in those who quit smoking (even at an older age) than those who continue to smoke their entire lives.

4. “Coverage Rises as Young Adults Take Advantage of Obama Health Law” – Los Angeles Times 
It’s rare in the past few months to read something uplifting about the economy or health care, but this L.A. Times article was a much needed breath of fresh air this week. According to new data, nearly a million young adults have signed up for health insurance over the past year. Since this is most often the age population that faces a gap in coverage, this is seen as a large win for Obama’s highly debated health care changes.

5. “Why Your Brain Hates All Those Facebook Changes” – Huffington Post  
If you are on Facebook, there is a very large chance that you not only dislike the most recent changes to Facebook but perhaps even the changes that will be rolling out in the next few months as announced by Mark Zuckerburg yesterday.  In an interesting Huffington Post blog this week, author Michael Taft described, perhaps unsurprisingly, why many of us feel an aversion to changes like this.  We all know that humans are creatures of habit. When part of our daily routine doesn’t go the way it was planned, many of us experience difficulty getting back on track for the remainder of the day. We get comfortable with certain things and therefore reject any changes. To further prove this, the article referenced a study which revealed that even in entertainment, people prefer the familiar. Researchers found that those who saw spoilers about shows or films prior to seeing them actually enjoyed watching them more when they could anticipate what would happen.

 

Were there any other headlines you liked in the news this week? Share them with us!