Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine have reason to say "yes". The study, published in the April 2009 issue of the journal Acta Pædiatrica, is the first to report that birth defect rates in the United States were highest for women conceiving in the spring and summer.

Researchers from the Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins have discovered evidence that genetic changes occurring outside nuclear DNA may cause more than half of all cancers. Hypermethylation - the build up of chemical bonds on certain cancer-promoting genes - has been proven to turn healthy cells cancerous by disrupting the stop growth signals built into the genes.

A new global map of malaria has been released by the Malaria Atlas Project showing how severe the risks of contracting malaria are worldwide. Never before has this been attempted using empirical data at this scale and the product represents an important bench-mark of malaria endemicity in 2007.

A biophysics professor from Iowa State University reveals the results of a study that shows that pharmaceutical drugs aimed at reducing overall cholesterol levels by inhibiting production in the liver, may also keep the brain from making cholesterol, which is vital to brain function.

Yale University researchers have found cause to believe that an 'angry heart' can lead to sudden death. The latest research links changes brought on by anger or other strong emotions to future cardiac arrhythmia and sudden cardiac arrests.

Reported this week at the Association for Research in Otolaryngology's annual conference in Baltimore, researchers have discovered that vitamin supplementation may be the key to preventing hearing loss.

UC San Diego researchers have published the first comprehensive paper on statins' adverse effects. The research provides evidence for reported side effects of this class of cholesterol lowering medications - including muscle and cognitive problems.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared the way for the first trial to see if human embryonic stem cells can treat people safely, a company involved in the controversial research reported on Friday.

German researchers have identified a genetic defect for common epilepsies on chromosome 15. They discovered that a subset of patients with epilepsy lacked a certain part of this chromosome. Further studies on additional patients from the USA confirmed this finding.

Researchers from the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease (GIND), UCSF, and Stanford have recently discovered a certain type of collagen, collagen VI, that may protect against Alzheimer's Disease.