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However much the likes of Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay might want to shake up our diets, culinary evolution dictates that our cultural cuisines remain little changed as generations move on. Three national cuisines - British, French and Brazilian -- are affected by the founder effect which keeps idiosyncratic and nutritionally ambivalent, expensive and sometimes hard to transport ingredients in our diets.

Alaskan Inuit people have higher rates of fatty-plaque lined arteries than other Americans, possibly because they smoke more and are increasing other unhealthy behaviors. An observational population study found that 60 percent of adult Eskimos smoke at least three times more than other US populations. Researchers said heart protection that should come with Eskimos' high fish diet may be negated by smoking.

The sound of a noisy Chicago restaurant during the breakfast rush -- the clang of plates and silverware and the clamor of many voices -- was the crucial test of new hearing aid technology in a study conducted by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The study showed that the hearing aids worked well in a noisy environment -- the most challenging test for a hearing aid.

Using a Blue Gene supercomputer, scientists have demonstrated the most extensive simulation yet of actual human bone structure. This achievement may lead to better clinical tools to improve the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis, a widespread disease that worldwide affects 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men over the age of 50.

In the first in-depth study of its kind ever done in the Southeastern United States, researchers have discovered a link between thunderstorms and asthma attacks in the metro Atlanta area that could have a "significant public health impact."

Sarcomeres are key microscopic elements of muscle fiber. Examining them typically requires a painful muscle biopsy that does not offer the opportunity to see the sarcomeres at work within the body. The Stanford microendoscopy technique provides a real-time view of contracting sarcomeres. This should prove useful in understanding how muscles are altered by spinal cord injuries or strokes, as well as muscular dystrophy and other diseases of diminished muscular control.

New findings shed new light on how a previously-unknown messaging mechanism within the human immune system prompts specific influenza-fighting cells to the lung airways during an infection. Although researchers have known for some time that white blood cells congregating in the lung and directly attacking the virus play an important role in defending against influenza, it has never been clear how exactly these white blood cells know when they are required in the lung.

Researchers have shown a mechanism that explains how two essential components of human telomerase -- normally active only in early prenatal development but turned back on during cancer growth -- are "recruited" from distinct sites in the cell to the telomere, an area at the end of a chromosome that normally protects it from destruction.

Scientists have recently become interested in the biomechanics of a very unusual activity: skyscraper run-ups. Competitors in this extreme sport ascend the steps inside the world's tallest buildings, the winners often scaling thousands of steps in just a few minutes. New research has shed light on the metabolic profile of athletes, as well as having a potential impact on studies of aging.

Researchers have demonstrated for the first time that transplanted muscle stem cells can both improve muscle function in animals with a form of muscular dystrophy and replenish the stem cell population for use in the repair of future muscle injuries.