Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Putting African sleeping sickness to bed
Experiments in mice find a protein that could lead to a safer and more effective treatment for parasitic disease.
- Health & Medicine
Junk food junkies, round two
Laura Sanders follows up on a story first reported from the Society for Neuroscience’s 2009 meeting.
- Health & Medicine
Identical twins may not be so identical when it comes to gut bacteria
A new study suggests that intestinal microbe populations vary widely from one person to another.
- Chemistry
Mothballs deserve respect
I don’t use mothballs — except sometimes to sprinkle down the burrows of animals excavating tunnels beneath the deck floor of my pergola. It’s the most effective stop-work order for wildlife that I’ve found. But I won’t use these stinky crystals inside my home because they scare me. And those fears appear justified, according to Linda Hall of the California Environmental Protection Agency.
- Health & Medicine
Cap or cork, it’s the wine that matters most
Comparative study finds that screw tops can perform just as well in regulating the aging process.
- Health & Medicine
Walnuts slow prostate cancer growth
A new study suggests that mice with prostate tumors should say “nuts to cancer.” Paul Davis of the University of California, Davis, hopes follow-up data by his team and others will one day justify men saying the same.
- Tech
Smokin’ entrees: Charcoal grilling tops the list
At the American Chemical Society meeting, earlier this week, I stayed at a hotel that fronted onto the kitchen door of a Burger King. This explained the source of the beefy scent that perfumed the air from mid-morning on – the restaurant’s exhaust of smoke and meat-derived aerosols. A study presented at the meeting confirmed what my nose observed: that commercial grilling can release relatively huge amounts of pollutants.
- Humans
Wildlife trade meeting disappoints marine scientists
The 15th meeting of signatories to the CITES treaty ended on March 25 without passing several proposals to protect high-profile fish species.
- Earth
Alternative flame retardants leach into the environment
Supposedly safer chemicals are spotted in peregrine falcon eggs in California.
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- Health & Medicine
One of H1N1’s mysteries explained
The current H1N1 influenza shares many similarities with the 1918 pandemic influenza.
- Health & Medicine
Existing antibiotic might help keep wraps on AIDS virus
The acne drug minocycline inhibits HIV activation in infected immune cells, lab tests show.
