Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Earth
Feds up estimates of BP-spill rate
At a news briefing on June 10, Marcia McNutt, who chairs the National Incident Command’s brain trust of experts calculating the likely release rate of the ongoing Gulf of Mexico oil spill, pegged the best available estimates at between 20,000 and more than 40,000 barrels per day.
- Humans
Ancient shoe steps out of cave and into limelight
Excavations in an Armenian cave have uncovered the oldest known leather footwear, a 5,500-year-old shoe.
- Health & Medicine
What’s missing may be key to understanding genetics of autism
A large study of people with the developmental disorder reveals the importance of extremely rare variations in genes, making each case a bit different.
- Earth
Gulf gusher is far and away the biggest U.S. spill
As cleanup efforts progress, scientists try to track missing oil roaming below the surface.
- Earth
BP oil isn’t the only source of Gulf’s deep roaming plumes
During a June 8 briefing for reporters, a NOAA science officer described deep strata of water tainted with oil identified during a recent cruise in the Gulf of Mexico. The presumption was that anything they found would be plumes of oil spewed by the jet of hydrocarbons emanating from the BP well head. But the chemical fingerprinting of diffuse undersea clouds of oil at one sampling site was “not consistent with BP oil,” he pointed out.
- Health & Medicine
In youth hockey, more contact means more injuries
Concussions are three times more common among 11- to 12-year-olds in leagues that permit checking, a Canadian study finds.
- Humans
Secondhand smoke linked to mental distress
A Scottish survey finds a link between exposure to cigarette smoke and serious emotional problems.
- Humans
2010 Kavli Prizes awarded
The 2010 Kavli laureates in astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience are named for work on powerful telescopes, neuron chatter molecules, building structures with DNA and a method for moving individual atoms.
- Health & Medicine
New angle on treating sepsis
An enzyme that plays a role in the lethal inflammatory disorder may be a suitable drug target, early tests show.
- Humans
Tracing Jewish roots
An analysis of the entire genome of Jewish people shows Middle Eastern roots and traces ancestry across the globe.
- Health & Medicine
Understanding why hot peppers are slimming
Korean researchers describe pepper-triggered changes in genes that appear to underlie the fat-shunning changes of chilis — ones that point to how their fiery chemistry might be harnessed to fight obesity.
- Humans
July: When not to go to the hospital
Being admitted to the hospital is never a picnic. But when possible, schedule any therapeutic procedure for some month other than July. At least if you’ll be treated at a teaching hospital. That’s the conclusion of a new analysis that uncovered a cyclical spike across the nation in serious medication errors.
