Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Health & Medicine

    Sense for morphine has gender gap

    Female rats have fewer brain receptors that sense morphine, making the drug less effective. The work points to the need for more research on why medicine potency can vary among people.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Experimental drug fends off emphysema in mice

    Mice exposed to cigarette smoke and then ed the drug and fended of emphysema, suggesting the edible drug might help ex-smokers.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    Body & Brain: Science news of the year, 2008

    Science News writers and editors looked back at the past year's stories and selected a handful as the year's most interesting and important in Body & Brain. Follow hotlinks to the full, original stories.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Nutrition: Science news of the year, 2008

    Science News writers and editors looked back at the past year's stories and selected a handful as the year's most interesting and important in Nutrition. Follow hotlinks to the full, original stories.

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  5. Humans

    Science & Society: News of the year, 2008

    Science News writers and editors looked back at the past year's stories and selected a handful as the year's most interesting and important in the interface of Science & Society. Follow hotlinks to the full, original stories.

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  6. Humans

    Humans: Science news of the year, 2008

    Science News writers and editors looked back at the past year's stories and selected a handful as the year's most interesting and important in Humans. Follow hotlinks to the full, original stories.

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  7. Humans

    Taking trophy heads close to home

    Members of the prehistoric Nasca culture in southern Peru took trophy heads from their own people rather than from foreigners captured in wars or raids, a new biochemical analysis suggests.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Big Increase Coming for NIH — Maybe

    The Obama administration hopes to do what lawmakers couldn't last year — give an extra $1 billion to NIH.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    For preemies, less is more

    Multiple courses of steroid treatment for mom could harm premature babies.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    EPA should test demasculinizing pollutants collectively, NRC says

    Cumulative effects of phthalates and related compounds likely larger than effects measured one chemical at a time, reports a National Research Council panel.

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  11. Climate

    Holdren to Head White House Science

    It appears that another physicist with Nobel ties is set to become the primary Obama adviser on science.

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  12. Humans

    Primates get a neural facial

    New brain-imaging studies indicate that similar brain areas coordinate face recognition in people, chimpanzees and macaque monkeys, suggesting that a face-sensitive brain system evolved early in primate evolution.

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