Health News for the Week of 7/21/08

This week, our health links round-up is having a night out. We have a lot of interesting links to get to, so let's party.

• Maybe you just want to grab a burger. Fast-food restaurants in New York are now required to post calories on their menus. The last time I went to a fast food restaurant it really made me think about what I was going to get. Their tasty-looking new burger was over 1500 calories, so I passed on it. But at least we can get fast food in New York - one City Councilwoman wants to ban all new fast food restaurants in South LA.

• If your night on the town ends with a trip to the tattoo parlor, be careful. New studies show that women are more likely to regret their tattoos than men.

• If a night out sounds too scary, I have good news for you. Scientists have found the hormone that controls social interaction, and have started experimenting with a way to make shy people feel more social.

• If shyness makes your palms sweat, don't fear. This article tests every kind of sweat-prevention method imaginable. Interesting for anyone who’s anyone felt sweaty on a hot day. And that’s all of us, isn’t it?

• This has been going around the Internet quite a bit. A woman found out that her granite countertop was radioactive. It seems that as the number of styles of granite countertops increase, so does the chance that yours might be radioactive.

• They've just released a list of the 10 most medicated states. I was surprised to see that neither New York nor California are on it (in fact, California is one of the least medicated states).

• Great news: scientists have identified stem cells that they think can be used for spinal-cord repair. This is a great breakthrough.

• Officials announced that they've traced the salmonella outbreak back to jalepeno peppers. And this excellent article talks about the people who helped track it back to its source by putting all the pieces together.