Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Drug Running: Bust nets suspects in counterfeit antimalaria trade
Investigators have traced the source of counterfeit antimalarial pills in Southeast Asia to southern China, where suspects have been arrested and an illicit factory shut down.
- Health & Medicine
Caffeine intake tied to miscarriage
Intake of caffeine equal to two cups of coffee per day seems to double a woman's risk of miscarriage.
- Humans
Heed your elders, survive a tsunami
An oral tradition passed down among islanders in the South Pacific saved many lives during a tsunami last year and illustrates the benefits that community-based education and awareness programs can provide.
- Health & Medicine
Weighty Evidence
Connections between the family of insulin hormones and cancer have been suspected for more than 2 decades, and today, drug companies are testing anticancer drugs based on the actions of an insulin cousin.
- Humans
Letters from the February 16, 2008, issue of Science News
Inert placebo? Regarding “Getting the Red Out” (SN: 1/19/08, p. 35): While drug companies wish to market their products, my attention is drawn to the fact that 1 in 8 of the control group of psoriasis patients was cured by placebo effect. Who will investigate the process therein? Is there a market for it? Carson […]
- Humans
From the February 5, 1938, issue
Tiny shells test lenses, the rules of radioactivity, and discovering new lunar terrain.
- Humans
Wish List: FY ’09 budget proposal ups physical sciences
President Bush's proposed 2009 federal budget would boost R&D in the physical sciences while reining in biomedical research.
- Health & Medicine
Pot Downer: Marijuana users risk gum disease
Regular marijuana smoking is linked to gum disease in young adults.
- Archaeology
Zeus’ altar drew early visitors
Archaeologists have discovered evidence that people used a ceremonial altar to the ancient Greek god Zeus around 5,000 years ago, a millennium before Zeus worship originated.
- Archaeology
The Black Death chose its victims selectively
An analysis of medieval skeletons in England and Denmark finds that the devastating epidemic known as the Black Death killed excess numbers of people who were physically frail to begin with.
- Humans
Diabetes drug and conflicts of interest
A U.S. senator outed a noted diabetes researcher for breaking confidentiality and leaking a study while he was peer-reviewing it for a major journal.
- Archaeology
Dawn of the City
A research team has excavated huge public structures from more than 6,000 years ago in northeastern Syria, challenging the notion that the world's first cities arose in the so-called fertile crescent of what's now southern Iraq.
