Too much running kills; chromosome caps hold secret to eternal life; e-cigarettes impair breathing and immune system; I.V.F. ethics

Trail Running Ireland
Running too fast, for too long and too regularly is dangerous for health according to a new Danish study. Picture Credit (trailrunningireland.com)

The news that excessive running, according to a large Danish study, is bad for people, and can even kill them will no doubt be greeted with gleeful delight by the couch potatoes of Ireland.

The study of more than 1,000 runners found that running too fast, defined as more than 5 miles per hour, for too long, and too regularly can cause premature death. It’s even worse for health that doing no exercise!

The Holy Grail of biological science is to enable people to live longer, healthier lives. The secret might be revealed in studies of the caps that protect the chromosome structures that protect our DNA, a study has found.

E-cigarettes contain far less concentrations of dangerous ‘free radicals’ that react in the body and cause damage, but in a mice study, it was found that they impair breathing, knock out the immune system and can cause death.

The science of I.V.F. and how assisted technology is producing babies is an ethical minefield. We talk about what’s happening and some of the ethical issues.

Click below to listen to science slot broadcast on The Morning Show with Declan Meehan, 5th February 2015