Discovered: war on super bugs, the love hormone and broken heart syndrome, a smoking gene, and respect for the lowly fly.

  • Europe declares war on superbugs. Take that "multi-drug resistant bacteria" -- which is what superbugs actually are. Reuters informs us today that the European Union is concerned that big pharma companies haven't stepped up to the plate to take on bacteria that has evolved to be resistant to antibiotics because it "has become an unprofitable area of research." Ah. So, the European Union health commission has a plan to give "rapid approval to new antibiotics and would work with governments to make sure they enjoyed 'adequate market and pricing conditions.'" Said the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control director to the news outlet: "We need to declare a war -- a war against these bacteria." [Reuters]
  • Headline-ready findings: the 'love hormone' and 'broken heart syndrome'. But niether of which seem like they can be explained very simply. The "love hormone," as Time's Healthland reports, is the name for sensitive people who, in a new study, were found to have a gene variation "associated with trust and caring" in common. And "broken heart syndrome," as the AP relays from the first, large nationwide study examining the phenomenon, found that women are likelier  to suffer "heart failure or heart attack-like symptoms" spurred by a traumatic event. One theory floated to the news wire about why this is that "men have more adrenaline receptors on cells in their hearts than women do." [Time Healthland, Associated Press]

Read the full story at The Atlantic Wire.