Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- 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.
- Anthropology
Contested signs of mass cannibalism
A new study yields controversial evidence of mass cannibalism in central Europe 7,000 years ago.
- Health & Medicine
The apnea and the ecstasy
Users of the illicit drug have more bouts of sleep apnea, a dangerous nighttime breathing disorder.
- Health & Medicine
Amino acid recipe could be right for long life
In fruit flies, a low-calorie diet with extra methionine extends lifespan without harming fertility
- Life
Gene stops tumors, but only when it’s gone
When a single copy of the microRNA processor Dicer is disabled, cancer can become more deadly. Removing Dicer completely, though, stops tumors.
- Chemistry
Pollutants: Up in flames
Forest fires have the potential to release toxic industrial and agricultural pollutants previously trapped on soil. After glomming onto smoke particles, these chemicals can hitch long-distance rides — sometimes across oceans — before they’re grounded and contaminate some new region, scientists report.
- Humans
Loneliness is contagious, study suggests
An analysis of social networks finds that people who feel isolated may spread mistrust among others.
- Health & Medicine
Discerning pancreatic cancer from pancreatitis
New test shows patients with autoimmune pancreatitis are more likely to have a telltale antibody.
- Ecosystems
Dining: Bugged on Thanksgiving
Earlier this week, I met with Zack Lemann at the Insectarium, a roughly 18-month-old Audubon museum. He gave me a behind-the-scenes tour of its dozens of living exhibits hosting insects and more -- including tarantulas and, arriving that day for their Tuesday debut, white (non-albino) alligators. But the purpose of my noon-hour visit was to sample the local cuisine and learn details of preparations for a holiday menu that would be offered through tomorrow at the facility’s experiential cafe: Bug Appetit. There’s Thanksgiving turkey with a cornbread and wax worm stuffing, cranberry sauce with meal worms, and Cricket Pumpkin Pie. It’s cuisine most Americans would never pay for. But at the Insectarium, they don’t have to. It’s offered free as part of an educational adventure.
- Humans
Beefy hormones: New routes of exposure
On any given day, some 750,000 U.S feedlots are beefing up between 11 million and 14 million head of cattle. The vast majority of these animals will receive muscle-building steroids — hormones they will eventually excrete into the environment. But traditional notions about where those biologically active pollutants end up may need substantial revising, several new studies find.
- Life
Bone regulators moonlight in the brain as fever inducers
Study in mice suggests proteins could be source of post-menopausal hot flashes.
