More Stories from the May 18, 2002 issue
- Earth
Honey may pose hidden toxic risk
Many honeys may contain potentially toxic traces of potent liver-damaging compounds produced naturally by a broad range of flowering plants.
- Health & Medicine
Spice component versus cancer cells
Curcumin, a compound in the spice turmeric, teams up with an immune-system protein to kill prostate cancer cells in a new laboratory study.
-
In depression, the placebo also rises
In a small group of depressed patients, those whose condition improved after taking placebo pills for 6 weeks displayed many of the same brain changes observed in people who benefited from an antidepressant drug.
- Health & Medicine
Beating two infections with one vaccine
Identifying key similarities between related viruses could enable researchers to coax some vaccines to do double duty.
- Health & Medicine
Liquid could aid vaccine storage and use
A new medium for vaccines could remove the need to either refrigerate or rehydrate vaccines, hurdles that impede immunization campaigns in poor countries.
-
Baby Facial: Infants monkey with face recognition
Between ages 6 months and 9 months, babies apparently lose the ability to discriminate between the faces of individuals in different animal species and start to develop an expertise in discerning human faces.
- Health & Medicine
Amyloid Buster? New drug hinders Alzheimer’s protein
By disabling a dementia-linked protein, a synthetic drug is showing a tantalizing capacity to interfere with the formation of waxy amyloid deposits like those that accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.
- Earth
Shelter from Space Storms: Energy rebounds from Earth
NASA satellite observations show that Earth's outer atmosphere interacts dramatically with the solar wind and shields the planet from it.
- Health & Medicine
Wholesome Grains: Insulin effects may explain healthful diet
Overweight people who eat whole grains rather than refined ones appear better equipped to manage their blood-sugar concentrations with minimal production of the hormone insulin, which could help explain why a diet rich in whole grains appears to guard against type II diabetes and heart disease.
- Tech
Live Tour: Joystick journeys reveal tumor interiors
A new holographic technique may someday enable doctors to skip certain biopsies and choose instead to take video excursions inside suspicious growths in skin or internal body linings.
- Health & Medicine
D-fending the Colon: Bile component triggers vitamin D receptor
The protein that enables cells to respond to vitamin D also helps the gastrointestinal tract protect itself from an especially dangerous acid in bile.
- Planetary Science
Hard bodies pair off
About one out of every eight asteroids traveling near Earth has a rocky companion.
-
Anthrax genomes compared for terrorism clues
Investigators seeking clues to last fall's anthrax attack have analyzed the genome of the anthrax bacterium.
- Animals
Gator Feelings: Tough faces, more sensitive than ours
Alligator and crocodile faces carry pressure receptors so responsive that they can detect ripples on the water's surface from a single falling drop.
- Health & Medicine
A Model Mouse
Mice with symptoms similar to rheumatoid arthritis may illuminate the puzzling disorder.
- Archaeology
Openings to the Underworld
Archaeological finds indicate that ancient groups in Mexico and Central America, including the Maya, held beliefs about a sacred landscape that focused on natural and human-made caves as sites of important ritual activities and burials.
