Humans
- Chemistry
Case of the toxic gingerbread man
Featured blog: A search for the source of some indoor-air anomalies turns up a surprising culprit.
By Janet Raloff - Humans
Visual illusion stumps adults but not kids
Finding suggests that sensitivity to visual context develops slowly.
By Bruce Bower - Earth
Where humans go, pepper virus follows
Plant pathogen could help track waters polluted with human waste.
- Climate
Climate might be right for a deal
The upcoming Copenhagen negotiations will take steps toward an international, climate-stabilizing treaty.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Malaria shows signs of resisting best drug used to fight it
The frontline malaria medicine artemisinin shows gaps in effectiveness in Southeast Asia.
By Nathan Seppa - Humans
Obese people can misjudge body size
Survey finds that many overweight individuals consider their body size normal and healthy despite having health problems
By Laura Beil - Health & Medicine
Marathoners’ hearts stressed, but not necessarily by heart attacks
Detailed imaging of runners’ hearts before and after races doesn’t find signatures of heart attacks
By Laura Beil - Health & Medicine
Mummies reveal heart disease plagued ancient Egyptians
CT scans of preserved individuals show hardening of arteries similar to that seen in people today.
By Laura Beil - Health & Medicine
PCBs hike blood pressure
No one would choose to eat polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs — yet we unwittingly do. And a new study finds that the cost of their pervasive contamination of our food supply can be elevated blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart disease.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Heart attack patients get high radiation dose
Medical imaging can add up to exposure similar to what nuclear power plant workers experience.
By Laura Beil - Earth
Plastics ingredients could make a boy’s play less masculine
Study links boys' fetal phthalate exposure to tendency toward gender-neutral play later on.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
B vitamin outperforms another drug in keeping arteries clear
The findings led to an early halt of a small study comparing Niaspan and Zetia, two compounds commonly used along with statins to reduce heart attack risk.
By Laura Beil