Humans
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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Nobel Prize in medicine given for HIV, HPV discoveries
Three Europeans recognized for linking viruses to AIDS, cervical cancer.
By Nathan Seppa - Humans
Genetic link to dyslexia
Scientists studying a large group of British children find a link between a DNA sequence that contains a gene involved in brain development and a range of reading problems, including dyslexia.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
Smokers May Benefit from Red Wine
Smokers: Red wine may be the prescription for you.
By Janet Raloff - Chemistry
Trapping Compact Fluorescents’ Toxic Gas
New nanomaterials may offer a solution to mopping up a toxic pollutant associated with fluorescent lighting.
By Janet Raloff - Chemistry
Oops! A Fluorescent Light Breaks
Toxic mercury will be released whenever a fluorescent lamp breaks.
By Janet Raloff - Chemistry
Fluorescent bulbs offer mercury advantage
Featured blog: Switching to light bulbs that contain mercury might, surprisingly, reduce overall mercury releases to the environment. Plus, what to do when you break your fluorescent bulb.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Don’t forget diet composition
Caloric restriction, an antiaging technique, fails to lower levels of IGF-1, a growth factor that, in high amounts, is linked to cancer in humans. But cutting protein along with calories does decrease IGF-1.
- Health & Medicine
On Following the Money
Judge medical writers on issues that matter most in a given story, not just on what's easiest to quantify.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Pregnancy curiosity
Asian-Caucasian couples having children face slightly increased risks of pregnancy complications.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
You Choose: Vioxx vs Rofecoxib
Physicians weigh in on how reporters refer to certain medications.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Anthrax vaccine makeover
Revamped anthrax vaccination regimen eases some side effects that have hampered the vaccine’s acceptance.
By Nathan Seppa - Humans
Machu Picchu’s far-flung residents
A new chemical analysis of skeletons at the Inca site of Machu Picchu strengthens the idea that the royal estate was maintained by retainers who had been uprooted from homes throughout the empire.
By Bruce Bower