Because of its popularity, a great deal of research has been devoted to understanding the impact of chocolate on our health and well-being. There are several positive effects of chocolate. Cocoa has been found to be a rich source of antioxidants, and certain types of chocolate (eaten in moderation) reduce blood pressure and positively affect the circulatory system.

Sadly, most chocolates on the market today are also rather unhealthy due to their extremely high fat content. Rising obesity rates worldwide make it hard to recommend chocolate as a health food. Reducing the fat levels in chocolate would help address this concern.

Unfortunately, no adequate solution has ever been found. In a new study recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers investigated the basic science behind liquid chocolate suspensions that makes it so difficult to get rid of the fat.

Whoever said crime doesn’t pay didn’t know about the booming ransomware market. A case in point, the latest version of the scourge known as CryptXXX, which raked in more than $45,000 in less than three weeks.

A migraine is one of the most common health issues worldwide, affecting up to one in five people. But the mechanisms that drive migraines aren’t well understood. In fact, doctors and scientists are still trying to figure out if migraine is primarily a vascular or a neurological disorder.  A new genome-wide association study published in Nature Genetics suggests that a migraine may be primarily stem from problems with the blood supply.

The data in this paper comes from a meta-analysis of 22 genome-wide association studies, a combined dataset of over 35,000 migraine cases and even more controls. The primary meta-analysis found associations between migraines and 38 independent genomic regions, 34 of which were associated with migraines for the first time by this study.

When the authors characterized the genes near these associated loci, they found that a number of them were previously associated with vascular disease. Others are involved in smooth muscle contraction (smooth muscle lines larger blood vessels) and regulation of vascular tone. Some of these genes were also associated with arterial functioning.