Humans
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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Neuroscience
To beat sleepiness of anxiety drugs, team looks to body’s clock
Studying basic functions, such as the body’s clock, has inadvertently led to a compound that relieves anxiety in mice.
- Neuroscience
Protectors of our nervous system play a role in pain
PET and MRI brain scans show that the cells that protect our central nervous system also play a role in chronic pain.
- Health & Medicine
Asthma may add to sleep apnea risk
A long-term sleep study strengthens the link between the two breathing disorders asthma and sleep apnea.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
More oxygen may lead to more tumors
Lung cancer risk drops at higher elevations where the air is thinner.
- Humans
Babbling to babies is OK, despite previous warnings against it
Fifty years ago, a researcher advised banning baby talk, but results since then say otherwise.
- Health & Medicine
Allergy-related Google searches follow pollen season ups and downs
Google search queries could help researchers track pollen seasons in areas without pollen-monitoring stations.
- Health & Medicine
New antibiotic candidate shows promise
Tests in lab dishes and mice suggest an experimental compound called teixobactin can kill staph, TB microbes and other bacteria.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Weight-loss surgery linked to better survival
Obese middle-aged and older people fare better if they have had bariatric surgery, a long-term study of veterans finds.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
HPV vaccination not linked to multiple sclerosis
Getting vaccinated against human papillomavirus, or HPV, is not associated with developing multiple sclerosis or similar diseases, a new study shows.
- Archaeology
Stones challenge dating of Easter Island collapse
Despite losing ground in some areas, Polynesian farmers outlasted European contact.
By Bruce Bower - Life
Cold coddles colds
Antiviral responses aren’t as effective against common cold viruses in cooler temperatures.
- Health & Medicine
‘AIDS’ gives inside view of science, politics of epidemic
In ‘AIDS Between Science and Politics,’ pioneering HIV expert Peter Piot discusses the factors and events that shaped the epidemic.
By Beth Mole