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Menopause and women's health: why science needs to catch up

Posted by Otto Knotzer on May 06, 2023 - 5:14am

Menopause and women’s health: why science needs to catch up

A focus on women’s health research, and the star caught in the act of devouring a planet.

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In this episode:

00:47 A focus on women’s health

Kerri Smith and Heidi Ledford join us to discuss two Features published in Nature looking at topics surrounding women’s health. The first looks at efforts to understand how menopause affects brain health, while the second shows how less research funding is allocated for conditions affecting women more than men.

Feature: How menopause reshapes the brain

Feature: Women’s health research lacks funding – these charts show how

18:15 Research Highlights

The herb that could be a new source of cannabinoid compounds, and the vibrating crystal that confirms Schrödinger’s cat.

Research Highlight: Old and new cannabis compounds are found in an African herb

Research Highlight: Schrödinger’s cat is verified by a vibrating crystal

20:34 The planet swallowed by a star

Stars have a finite lifespan, and for many their fate is to expand as they reach the end of their lives. It’s long been speculated that these growing stars will consume any planets in their way, but this process has never been seen directly. Now though, a chance observation led to a team catching a dying star in the act of eating a Jupiter-like planet in the distant Milky Way.

Research article: De et al.

30:25 Briefing Chat

We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, a clearer image of the supermassive black hole M87*, and how elephant seals catch some shut-eye while diving.

Nature News: Black-hole image reveals details of turmoil around the abyss

New York Times: Elephant Seals Take Power Naps During Deep Ocean Dives

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Otto Knotzer Thanks Andries for the extensive comment, have a wonderful new week
May 8, 2023 at 9:36am
Andries Van Tonder Thanks for the info Otto.....When Naomi Rance first started studying menopause and the brain, she pretty much had the field to herself. And what she was discovering surprised her. In studies of post-mortem brains, she had found neurons in a region called the hypothalamus that roughly doubled in size in women after menopause1. “This was changing so much in postmenopausal women,” says Rance, a neuropathologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson. “It had to be important.”
May 8, 2023 at 9:29am