Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Anthropology
Ancient Maya king shows his foreign roots
Copán’s first king may have been part of a colonial expansion by another, distant Maya kingdom.
- Ecosystems
Greening Christmas
I love the smell of balsam and firs and decorating holiday cookies – preferably with the sound of popular holiday standards in the background. I even enjoy shopping for and wrapping carefully chosen presents in seasonal papers festooned with huge bows. So when my hosts, this week, asked what I wanted to see during my visit, the answer was simple. Take me to one of Germany’s famed Christmas markets. And literally within a couple hours of my plane’s landing, they were already ushering me into the first of what would be a handful of such seasonal fairs. But as I also quickly learned, this first was an unusual one: a "green" bazaar.
- Humans
Another livestock drug endangers vultures
After one veterinary NSAID almost wiped out vultures in South Asia, one of the possible replacements turns out to be toxic too.
- Life
Model for powerful flu fighters from existing drugs
Computer screening mines inventory of existing drugs to find possible new drugs that the H1N1 and H5N1 flu viruses just wouldn’t be able to resist.
- Health & Medicine
Best choice for chronic leukemia treatment may change
A newer treatment outperforms current frontline drug Gleevec in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia and an older drug may plug gap in coverage.
- Psychology
Depression medication may offer mood lift via personality shift
A new study suggests that commonly used antidepressants may work after first altering personality traits.
- Climate
EPA: Greenhouse gases still endanger health
In April, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that based on its reading of the science, greenhouse gases threaten public health. Since then, the public and legions of interest groups have weighed in on the subject, shooting EPA some 380,000 separate comments. “After a thorough examination of the scientific evidence and careful consideration of public comments on the ruling,” EPA today reiterated its so-called “endangerment” assessment of greenhouse gases
- Climate
Newspapers issue strong warning on climate
SN senior editor Janet Raloff blogs from Hamburg, Germany, before going to Copenhagen to attend the climate talks.
- Health & Medicine
H1N1 hits sickle cell kids hard
Cases particularly acute in children with the chronic blood condition.
- Health & Medicine
Patients deficient in vitamin D fare worse in battle with lymphoma
A new study suggests that the sunshine vitamin may play protective role against common form of the blood cancer.
- Earth
Countering Copenhagen’s Carbon Footprint
The United Nations’ Climate Change Conference, beginning Monday (Dec. 7), will draw legions of people to Copenhagen from 192 countries. Traveling to Denmark — sometimes from the far corners of the Earth — will expend huge amounts of energy. And spew plenty of the very carbon dioxide that the meeting negotiators are trying to rein in. So several bodies will be offsetting the carbon footprint of this gathering — with bricks. Or brick ovens, anyway.
- Health & Medicine
Targeting microRNA knocks out hepatitis C
Blocking a small molecule, a new drug reduces levels of the virus, chimp study shows.
