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A study in the Journal of Psychological Science says overhearing cell phone conversations isn't just annoying — it makes our brains try to decipher what the other person is saying, lessoning our ability to concentrate:

"Cornell University doctoral student Lauren Emberson, BSc, and colleagues enlisted 41 volunteers to test whether their thinking abilities were most affected by listening to two people talking in conversation, a monologue, silence, or only one side of a conversation, called a 'halfalogue.'"

"The results were clear — the participants listening to only one side of a conversation had lower scores on a series of cognitive tests that required attention and focus."

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New research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that drinking milk and eating dairy foods may help fight the battle of the bulge:

"Adults who ate or drank the highest amount of dairy per day — about 12 ounces of milk or 580 milligrams of dairy calcium — at six months lost about 12 pounds at the end of the two-year study. People who got the least amount of calcium from dairy foods — about 150 milligrams of dairy calcium, or half of a glass of milk per day — lost 7 pounds after two years. Higher levels of vitamin D in the blood were also linked with successful weight loss, the study showed."

"'Our study suggests that both higher dairy calcium intake and increased [blood] vitamin D are related to greater diet-induced weight loss,' conclude the researchers, who were led by Danit R. Shahar, of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva, Israel."

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A Russian scientist says he's created a pill that will stave off age-related illnesses and add decades to our lives. He says it will be available to the public within the next two years:

"The Russian scientist from Moscow State University, said the drug works by halting the damaging effects that oxygen can have on the body's cells."

"But while many may dismiss the 69-year-old's claims as outlandish, his findings have been backed up by the international scientific community including Nobel prize winner Dr. Gunter Blobel."

"Dr. Blobel from Rockefeller University said: 'It has been shown that oxidative damage is huge. But we do not have an anti-oxidant of the type that Professor Skulachev has developed.'"

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