Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Diabetes drug might fight cancer
A widely prescribed medication with few side effects shows promise in both mice and humans.
- Health & Medicine
Alzheimer’s trade-off for mentally active seniors
Staying mentally active may delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease but may also prompt rapid cognitive decline once symptoms appear.
- Health & Medicine
Ovary removal proves beneficial for cancer-prone women
BRCA mutation carriers who opt for surgery survive longer than those who forgo the operation, a new study shows.
- Life
Why starved flies need less sleep
Low lipid levels keep the insects buzzing past bedtime, a new study finds, suggesting a role for metabolism in regulating sleep.
- Tech
Tar sands ‘fingerprint’ seen in rivers and snow
A new study refutes a government claim (one echoed by industry) that the gonzo-scale extraction of tar sands in western Canada — and their processing into crude oil — does not substantially pollute the environment.
- Health & Medicine
Wheat genome announcement turns out to be small beer
The DNA sequence released by U.K. team still requires assembly.
- Climate
Academies recommend that IPCC make changes
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an authoritative scientific organization set up in 1989 to assess climate science, took some heat today from a group that it commissioned to investigate its credibility. The oversight group reported findings procedural weaknesses that preclude IPCC from responding nimbly to events — or from reliably identifying errors in its assessments.
- Archaeology
Big eats from a 12,000-year-old burial
Middle Eastern villagers may have feasted around a shaman’s grave 12,000 years ago, before the dawn of agriculture.
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- Health & Medicine
Dairy foods may cut heart attack risk
The reputations of milk, cheese and many other dairy products have taken a bit of a hit in recent years for their constituting a major dietary source of saturated fats — a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. How ironic, then, that a Swedish study now correlates intake of dairy fats with a reduced risk of heart attacks.
- Plants
Most energy drinks lag in added health benefits
Many caffeinated tonics lack natural antioxidants and other beneficial compounds found in coffee, yerba maté and other plant-based drinks.
- Tech
New help for greasy works of art
NMR technique identifies oil stains, guiding art conservation efforts.
