Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Health & Medicine

    Regulating Muscle Decline: Small molecules linked to degenerative diseases

    Snippets of RNA that regulate gene activity play a role in muscle-wasting diseases such as muscular dystrophy.

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  2. Anthropology

    Going Coastal: Sea cave yields ancient signs of modern behavior

    A South African cave yields evidence of complex, symbolic behavior among ancient people about 164,000 years ago, the oldest such indications yet.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    Better Than Pap: Virus test detects cervical cancer

    A new test for human papillomavirus (HPV) detects cervical cancer more reliably than traditional Pap smears.

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  4. Humans

    The Ignobility of Wrinkles

    A theoretical study of the way skin, apple peel, and bedsheets wrinkle has won this year's Ig Nobel Prize in Physics.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Troubling Meaty ‘Estrogen’

    High temperature cooking can imbue meats with a chemical that acts like a hormone.

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  6. Humans

    Letters from the October 20, 2007, issue of Science News

    Well, read Margit L. Bleecker appears to have discovered that those who score highly on reading tests also score highly on tests of memory, attention, and concentration (“How reading may protect the brain,” SN: 8/18/07, p. 110). I don’t find that highly surprising. Ivan MannHoover, Ala. How it happened stance “Alien Pizza, Anyone?” (SN: 8/18/07, […]

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  7. Humans

    From the October 9, 1937, issue

    Aging ships' hulls rejuvenated by welding, public health workers target five major diseases, and Plato celebrated as the first "round-Earther".

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  8. Humans

    Mice, Magnetism, and Reactions on Solids

    The 2007 Nobel prizes in the sciences recognized research in genetics, materials science, and surface chemistry.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Moving up the Charts: Drug-resistant bug invades military, civilian hospitals

    Acinetobacter baumannii, a common bacterium, is becoming more virulent and drug resistant in hospitals.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Antibiotic improves recovery from stroke

    An antibiotic called minocycline seems to limit brain damage and disability in stroke patients.

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  11. Anthropology

    Ancient DNA moves Neandertals eastward

    Evidence from mitochondrial DNA indicates that Neandertals lived 2,000 kilometers farther east than previously thought.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Diabetes precursor may be checked by omega-3 fatty acids

    Omega-3 fatty acids in the diet might fend off diabetes in children prone to the disease.

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