Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Tech
Cans bring BPA to dinner, FDA confirms
Federal chemists have confirmed what everyone had expected: that if a bisphenol-A-based resin is used to line most food cans, there’s a high likelihood the contents of those cans will contain at least traces of BPA.
- Health & Medicine
Bacterial meningitis keeps falling
Vaccination against a strep bacterium and other microbes has proved a potent deterrent over the past decade, a nationwide survey shows.
- Humans
Skeptical scientists call 1-800-BALONEY on cell phone study
Findings on brain effects are vigorously attacked and just as strenuously defended.
- Health & Medicine
Clues to autism’s roots from brain study
A new analysis finds differences in genetic activity, especially in genes controlling nerve cell form and function.
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- Chemistry
Natural pain-killing chemical synthesized
Conolidine — a headache to isolate from the plant that makes it — can now be produced from scratch in the lab, opening the promising compound to study.
- Psychology
Geometric minds skip school
Villagers' understanding of lines and triangles raises questions about how people learn the properties of objects in space.
- Life
Suspect bacterium may trigger Parkinson’s
A study in mice shows that H. pylori, the microbe that causes stomach ulcers, may also affect the brain.
- Health & Medicine
Body & Brain
Coffee may help protect against prostate cancer, plus protecting organ transplants and limiting HIV transmission in this week’s news.
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- Health & Medicine
Healthy Aging in a Pill
To extend life span, scientists envision a drug that mimics the benefits of a near-starvation diet.
- Health & Medicine
Don’t share that clarinet
Bacteria can linger on woodwind instruments, particularly those with reeds, for days, a new study finds.
