Everyone from Bill Clinton to Cameron Diaz has one, and chances are, you’ve also got a list of things you want to do before you die. But is having a bucket list a good idea? While it can clearly be useful to have defined goals, some experts say that if you’re constantly living in the future and shooting for one goal after another—goals that happen and end so quickly—then you’re not really living in the present. The End Of Zits? [CBS News] Who knew that the bacteria on your skin, which often get blamed for acne, could actually end it? Scientists at UCLA and the University of Pittsburgh have discovered that “phages”, which are 11 types of harmless viruses that live on our skin, have the natural ability to infect and kill the acne-causing bacteria Propionibacterium acnes. They’re hoping that the discovery will lead to new acne treatments and other medical advances. In the meantime, you can stick with these surefire ways to keep the zits at bay. Potential Breakthrough In Treating Type 2 Diabetes [Medical News Today] In an exciting new discovery, researchers managed to prevent type II diabetes from developing in rodents, as well as reversing the disease progression in animals with established diabetes type II. How? By blocking VEGF-B, a signaling protein, they were able to keep fat from accumulating in muscles and the heart, which meant the cells within those tissues could respond properly to insulin again, according to new research in the journal Nature. What Losing Tons Of Weight Really Looks Like [Daily Mail] A woman from the UK who weighed 338 lbs—and was terrified of cameras—decided to face her insecurities head on, chronicling the loss of half her body weight in a series of nude self-portraits. She says her pictures were an attempt to show how dramatic weight loss really effects the everyday woman, and as you’ll see, it’s nothing like how such a dramatic weight loss is usually portrayed. The Birth Control Benefit No One Talks About [The Huffington Post] Contraception has shaped American women’s lives since they gained access to The Pill in the early 1960s, but one benefit, however, seems to have received less recognition than the rest: It offers women financial freedom. In a new survey of more than 2,000 US women, researchers found that the majority of participants—all of whom received services at family planning clinics around the country—indicated that contraception is part of their strategy for achieving and maintaining financial stabilty. Want Some Taste With That Ice Cream? [Boston.com] Let’s face it: Nonfat cheese tastes more like plastic than dairy, and sugar-free brownies? Let’s not even go there. Taking the fat and calories out of your favorite treats usually means saying goodbye to the taste too—until now. Introducing the new “mid-calorie” trend where snack brands like Edy’s ice cream, Hershey’s chocolate, and Lay’s potato chips are rolling out products that have more fat and calories than the snacks of earlier diet crazes, but less than the original versions. They’re following the lead of soda companies like Pepsi and Dr Pepper that introduced mid-calorie drinks last year.
