Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Breast density signals tamoxifen’s effectiveness
Decreasing breast density signals the drug tamoxifen is working in women at risk of developing breast cancer.
- Archaeology
Tools with handles even more ancient
An analysis of stone tools excavated at a Syrian site indicates that, around 70,000 years ago, Neandertals used a tarlike adhesive to affix sharpened items to handles.
- Chemistry
Of Presidents and Nobels
It appears Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will soon have produced two Nobel laureates to offer White House counsel and directives on science policy.
- Health & Medicine
Stronger role for a breast cancer drug
Going beyond its original role as an add-on for chemotherapy, the breast cancer drug lapatinib, when taken with another kind of frontline drug, may find use for patients with the HER2-positive form of the cancer.
- Health & Medicine
Gene could drive species separation
Newly identified fruit fly gene provides evidence for “cheating genes” that may cause species schisms
- Tech
Obama selects Steven Chu as Energy Secretary
Featured blog: Chu is an energy researcher who also shared the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics.
- Chemistry
ENV Tidbits: Corals, nano concerns, and more
News nuggets on climate-imperiled corals, nanotech worries, and soft drinks bearing pesticides.
- Health & Medicine
In the brain, justice is served from many parts
Imaging study reveals variation in brain activity depending on the severity of punishment a person decides.
- Health & Medicine
Pollutants in the womb can trigger adult cancers
Mouse study shows fetal exposure to carcinogens may pose long-term risks.
- Health & Medicine
Antioxidants fail to prevent prostate cancer
Selenium, vitamins C, E don’t lower incidence of prostate cancer in two large trials.
- Chemistry
Engineered bacteria create high-energy biofuel
Scientists alter E. coli microbes to make a high-energy alcohol not produced naturally
- Humans
When giving gifts, the price is wrong
Gift givers expect that expensive presents will be appreciated by gift receivers more than inexpensive presents, but three new investigations suggest that that’s not the case.
