Do you happen to be one of those rare people who believes that a little marijuana can improve your shooting skills? It's an important question as, on Friday, the government declared that pot has no medical benefits whatsoever. Indeed, its opinion is that it should remain in the same class of drug as heroin.

A new study indicates that heavy coffee drinking staves off deadly prostate cancer in men. According to analysis by investigating scientists, men who drank the most coffee (a fairly normal six-plus cups per day) had a 20 per cent lower risk of developing any kind of prostate cancer.

UC Berkeley's Austin Whitney has been paralyzed since July 2007 as the result of a car accident. Thanks to the research project of a team of Berkeley engineers, the history and political science double-major was able to stand up out of his wheelchair and physically walk across the stage to accept his diploma at the university's May 14 graduation ceremony.

Men’s Health reported on a study that concluded this fact. Then the New York times reported on another study that found that people had a greater risk of obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes when they sat an extra 6-8 hours a day.

The saga between Nintendo’s 3DS gaming console and its subsequent health concerns still continues, with the company hitting back that claims of the newly released device are causing headaches, eye problems and feelings of fatigue.

Thousands of customers have reported suffering headaches and dizziness after playing the three-dimensional machine, which works by flashing separate images into each eye, creating the illusion of depth. But some are angry that they are only being offered partial refunds if they return the console to some retailers.

With NHS reforms it will soon be only the rich and brave that are prepared to enter a spit-and-sawdust English hospital. But it is comforting to hear that for those who do manage to drag themselves to the local quack the chances of leaving alive are set to increase - with IBM researchers announcing a step towards eradicating one of what the tabloids will tell you is the main danger of a visit to the hospital, the MRSA bug.

In a culture where people cradle their cellphones next to their heads with the same constancy and affection that toddlers hold their security blankets, it was unsettling last month when a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association indicated that doing so could alter brain activity.

Extremely low levels of radioactive iodine from the tsunami-hit Japanese nuclear plant have been detected in parts of the UK, the Health Protection Agency says. A statement from the HPA said the “minutest traces of iodine” were being seen in the UK, with low levels detected at monitoring stations in Oxfordshire and Glasgow.

Bruce Bailey, a professor of Exercise Science at BYU, found that middle-schoolers who played active videogames — such as Wii Boxing and Playstation's Dance Dance Revolution — experienced enough exercise to meet recommendations for physical activity.

American scientists found that 50 minutes of mobile phone use was associated with increased "brain glucose metabolism" - a marker of brain activity - in the region closest to the phone antenna.

A device which can be worn like a watch could revolutionise the way blood pressure is monitored in the next few years, scientists say.

HIV As You've Never Seen It BeforeIt's hard to visualise what something as small and complex as HIV actually looks like. But now Ivan Konstantinov and his team from Visual Science have created the most-detailed 3D model of the virus to date.

Following news last month that Nintendo warned its forthcoming new 3DS handheld is unsuitable for young children, a British eye specialist claims the latest gaming tech could permanently damage children's eyes.

A study conducted among software engineers indicates that a high proportion of coders suffer from "severe insomnia" and that a majority have sleep problems of some sort, putting their mental health and "hygiene" at risk.

A researcher from Queen's University has created a medical tool that will improve the way brain injury and disease are assessed in patients. Stephen Scott, creator of the medical tool and a professor at the Centre for Neuroscience Studies at Queen's University, developed the tool to assess brain function. This type of objective tool could eventually be used to design better therapies for treating brain disease or injury.

Game-playing kids, sat inside with their consoles while the real world goes on around them, risk getting the bone disease rickets, doctors say.

Consuming a cup of Tea or Coffee on everyday not only keeps your body active, also protects you from deadly brain cancer, revealed a study. People consuming one cup of any hot drink that contains Caffeine can avoid the risk of the disease by a third.

An appeals court ruled Tuesday that government funding of embryonic stem cell research can continue for now. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington granted the Obama administration's request to allow the funding from the National Institutes of Health while it appeals a judge's order blocking the research.

Overweight middle-aged men in Teesside could soon be using an exercise-based video game to improve their health. Researchers are using the game to enthuse a population that is typically reluctant to take up sport or exercise.