Humans

  1. Health & Medicine

    Caffeine Aids Golden Girls’ Mental Health

    Coffee and tea appear to keep aging women sharp. Men, not so much.

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  2. Humans

    From the August 14, 1937, issue

    Trees inspire a new kind of architectural support, a university sophomore finds the first mosasaur fossil west of the Rockies, and an oilman scoffs at fears over increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide due to industrial activity.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    Calming Factor: DNA vaccine for MS passes initial test

    A DNA vaccine against multiple sclerosis passes a safety trial and shows signs of suppressing immune-directed nerve damage.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Anti-inflammatory prevents pancreatic cancer in mice

    An anti-inflammatory drug of the COX-2 inhibitor family blocks precancerous lesions in mice prone to pancreatic cancer.

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  5. Humans

    Letters from the August 18, 2007, issue of Science News

    Exhaustive analysis I would debate the “1,000 watts or more” value attributed to typical adults during strenuous exercise (“Powering the Revolution: Tiny gadgets pick up energy for free,” SN: 6/2/07, p. 344). Hiking up steep slopes, I rarely exceed 250 W myself, and typical hikers are going much slower. The 1,000-watt figure can only apply […]

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  6. Humans

    From the August 7, 1937, issue

    Ancient gold and ivory treasures from Palestine arrive in Chicago, searching for Ice Age Americans in New Jersey, and a sampling of airborne microorganisms lost with the disappearance of Amelia Earhart's plane.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Nerve Link: Alzheimer’s suspect shows up in glaucoma

    Amyloid-beta, the protein fragment implicated in Alzheimer's disease, may also play a role in glaucoma.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Skeletal Discovery: Bone cells affect metabolism

    A protein made by bone cells has a surprising influence on energy metabolism, and could have a role in treating diabetes.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Serotonin lower in shift workers

    Workers who rotate between day and night shifts have less of the brain chemical serotonin than day shift workers do.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    CT heart scans: Risk climbs as age at screening falls

    CT scans are increasingly used to investigate heart blockages, but their X rays can increase cancer risk.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Taking a Jab at Cancer

    Vaccines that train a person's immune system to kill cancerous cells, when combined with drugs that block tumor defense mechanisms, are starting to show promise.

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  12. Humans

    Letters from the August 11, 2007, issue of Science News

    Sum kids While testing was done on 5- or 6-year-old children (“Take a Number: Kids show math insights without instruction,” SN: 6/2/07, p. 341), it would be interesting to see if this intuitive skill persists after these students are exposed to standard mathematical instruction in the higher grades. I suspect that the answer will be […]

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