Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Tech
Newfound water risk: Lead-leaching valves
Hidden elements in drinking-water lines can shed large amounts of lead, a toxic heavy metal. And it's quite legal, even if it does skirt the intent of federal regulations.
- Humans
Visor might protect troops from blasts
Computer simulations show that the current military helmet lets explosive forces into the head through the face.
- Humans
Wine-trashing microbe identified
In finding the source of the off-tasting molecule MDMP, researchers hope to point the way to eliminating it.
- Psychology
Shared talking styles herald new and lasting romance
Verbally in-sync conversations may help to start and maintain dating relationships.
- Humans
Extra weight in early childhood foretells later disease risk
A study tracking kids from birth into young adulthood identifies ages 2 to 6 as most crucial for predicting later problems with metabolic syndrome.
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- Paleontology
Ancient trumpets played eerie notes
Acoustic scientists re-create and analyze sounds from 3,000-year-old shell instruments for insight into pre-Inca civilization.
- Tech
Lots of blame over BP well blowout, panel reports
Crews responsible for drilling BP’s Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, this past spring, missed plenty of signs that a catastrophic accident was looming, according to a November 17 interim report by the National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council.
- Health & Medicine
New drug bumps up good cholesterol
Anacetrapib raises beneficial HDL while lowering harmful LDL, a medical trial finds, suggesting it may be a powerful new weapon against cardiovascular disease.
- Life
Genes jump more in one type of autism
A mutation that causes Rett syndrome also increases the activity of retrotransposons in the brain.
- Health & Medicine
Mining fat tissue for cardiac repair
Stem cells that are abundant in adipose tissue seem to boost the recovery of heart tissues in people who survive the big one, early research shows.
- Tech
BPA: EPA hasn’t identified a safer alternative for thermal paper
Some researchers and public interest groups have been arguing that BPAfree thermal receipts paper is a preferable alternative, at least from a health perspective. But is it really? That’s what Environmental Protection Agency scientists want to know. And to date, they maintain, the jury’s still out.
