Humans
- Tech
Cashiers may face special risks from BPA
“People working at places that use thermal paper can have continual contact with bisphenol A. And if they knew, I think they would be horrified,” notes Koni Grob, an analytical chemist with an official government food laboratory in Zurich, Switzerland. He’s describing the thermal paper commonly used throughout Europe and North America to print store receipts.
- Climate
EPA rejects climate-change deniers’ petitions
A number of people challenge that climate change is real, that it's due to greenhouse gases released by human activities and that it's a threat to human health and the environment. On July 29, the Environmental Protection Agency formally rejected those claims as it turned down 10 petitions asking the Obama administration to reconsider EPA’s “endangerment finding.”
- Psychology
Sadness response strengthens with age
Older people reacted more strongly to sad scenes than twentysomethings did in a recent study of emotional receptivity.
- Chemistry
More evidence that BPA laces store receipts
People interested in limiting exposure to bisphenol A — a hormone-mimicking environmental contaminant — might want to consider wearing gloves the next time a store clerk hands over a cash-register receipt. A July 27 report by a public-interest research group has now confirmed many of these receipts have a BPA-rich powdery residue on their surface.
- Health & Medicine
‘Housekeeping’ proteins may set aging limit
Aging cells may seal their fate by keeping worn-out proteins when they sprout offspring.
- Health & Medicine
Coffee perks up memory and balance in geriatric animals
Millions of Americans start their day with a cup of coffee and then reach for refills when their energy or attention flags. But new research in rats suggests that for the aging brain, coffee may serve as more than a mere stimulant. It can boost memory and the signaling essential to motor coordination.
- Health & Medicine
Diet and behavior changes may slow Alzheimer’s
A new study in dogs finds that antioxidants and enriched lifestyle can ward off symptoms, and suggests brain plaques may not be the cause of the disease.
- Health & Medicine
Separating wheat from chaff in celiac disease
Three partial proteins may trigger the T cell immune reactions that cause the symptoms of this intestinal ailment, new research shows.
- Health & Medicine
Good vibrations: A greener way to pasteurize milk
Many people like the taste of raw – as in unpasteurized – milk. The problem, of course, is that germs may infect raw milk, so food safety regulations require that commercial producers heat-treat their milk. But food scientists at Louisiana State University think they’ve stumbled onto a tastier way to sterilize milk. They bombard it with sound waves.
- Tech
Nano-scale additives fight food pathogens
Nano products are all the rage, even in food science. Here at the Institute of Food Technologists’ annual meeting, on July 18, scientists described dramatic success in fighting food-poisoning bacteria by doctoring foods or their packaging with microbe-killing nanoparticles – sometimes along with natural anti-bacterial agents.
- Health & Medicine
Taking some of the doubt out of IVF
Testing shows that a complex array of factors can be used to calculate the probability of in vitro fertilization success better than just using woman’s age as a guidepost.
- Health & Medicine
Gel shows promise against HIV
Scientists have developed the first topical treatment that can prevent HIV infection among women.
