Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Dengue virus found in donated blood
Scientists have discovered that 12 units of blood donated in Puerto Rico in late 2005 contained the dengue virus.
- Health & Medicine
Sleeping sickness pill may work as well as injections
The first oral drug for sleeping sickness is showing effectiveness in a trial in central Africa.
- Health & Medicine
Bomb craters mean trouble for islanders
A skin infection in people living on the Pacific island of Satowan stems from swimming in ponds formed from World War II bomb craters there.
- Health & Medicine
Patch guards against Montezuma’s revenge
A patch worn on the skin delivers a vaccine against a form of Escherichia coli that causes traveler's diarrhea.
- Health & Medicine
Additives may make youngsters hyper
Common food colorings and the preservative sodium benzoate have the potential to foster hyperactivity and inattentiveness in children, a new study finds.
- Anthropology
Ancient-ape remains discovered in Kenya
Newly unearthed fossils of a 9.8-million-year-old ape in eastern Africa come from a creature that may have evolved into a common ancestor of African apes and humans.
- Humans
Letters from the December 1, 2007, issue of Science News
Bed nets and insecticides Kenyan researchers report that insecticide-treated bed nets can reduce malaria-related deaths in children (“Keep Out: Treated mosquito nets limit child deaths,” SN: 9/29/07, p. 195). While these nets appear to provide preventive measures against malaria, my only concern is the toxicity of the insecticides. The World Health Organization lists two of […]
- Humans
From the November 20, 1937, issue
An American Nobel laureate in physics, the need for research in the chemistry of petroleum, and a new way to send photographs by telegraph.
- Health & Medicine
Biohazard: Smoking before or after pregnancy may harm daughters’ fertility
Smoking before pregnancy or during breastfeeding might impair the female offspring's fertility, a study in mice shows.
- Health & Medicine
Wrong Way: HIV vaccine hinders immunity in mice
An HIV vaccine hurts, not helps, the immune systems of mice, say scientists.
- Health & Medicine
9/11 reflux
Up to 20 percent of 9/11 workers in New York City experience symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease, also called acid reflux.
- Humans
Letters from the November 24, 2007, issue of Science News
Blame where it’s due Although multinational agreements on global warming try to spread the burden among all nations, data from the MILAGRO project in Mexico City (“What Goes Up,” SN: 9/8/07, p. 152) suggest that the major responsibility for excess production of greenhouse gases and other pollutants lies with the megacities, which constitute a rather […]
