Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Humans

    Letters from the March 24, 2007, issue of Science News

    Story panned So we shouldn’t cook food in easily cleanable pots because we might release a little bit of maybe-not-even-toxic chemicals into the food (“Heating releases cookware chemicals,” SN: 1/27/07, p. 61)? Because a common chemical found worldwide is merely suspected of being linked to worldwide rates of exposure? Why are our U.S. companies being […]

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  2. Humans

    From the March 13, 1937, issue

    Man helping snake, paraffin lenses for neutrons, and glass with a past.

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  3. Humans

    The Next Generation: Intel Science Talent Search honors high school achievers

    A 17-year-old from Oklahoma City who built a homemade Raman spectra system took first place at this year's Intel Science Talent Search.

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  4. Anthropology

    Ancient Slow Growth: Fossil teeth show roots of human development

    An extended period of childhood evolved in people at least 160,000 years ago.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Brain Fix: Stem cells supply missing enzyme

    Brain stem cells implanted into sick mice restored a missing enzyme and extended life span by 70 percent.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Emerging bug pilfers DNA

    A virulent bacterium invading U.S. hospitals and the battlefields of the Middle East pilfers its genes from other bacteria.

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  7. Humans

    Letters from the March 17, 2007, issue of Science News

    Disputable thesis “Counterintuitive Toxicity: Increasingly, scientists are finding that they can’t predict a poison’s low-dose effects” (SN: 1/20/07, p. 40) took a wrong turn into Hormesis Swamp. The hormesis thesis has been thoroughly discredited by all major radiation organizations and professional societies, and its past conferences have been sponsored by tobacco companies and the U.S. […]

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  8. Humans

    From the March 6, 1937, issue

    Machines creating new jobs, stopping smoke with sound, and conflicts over atomic structure.

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  9. Humans

    Bad Influence: TV, movies linked to adolescent smoking

    White adolescents who have frequent exposure to television and R-rated movies are more likely to try smoking than are their peers with less exposure to these media.

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  10. Humans

    Letters from the March 10, 2007, issue of Science News

    Cosmic cling At least on Earth, rock impacts result in charging of the particles (“Rocky Finding: Evidence of extrasolar asteroid belt,” SN: 1/6/07, p. 5). In space, wouldn’t this have a great effect on the motion of the rocks? Stuart HoenigTucson, Ariz. According to researchers, it’s true that the electrostatic charging of space dust and […]

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  11. Archaeology

    Spicy finds from before Columbus

    Ancient Americans cultivated and ate chili peppers at least 6,100 years ago, setting the stage for the spicy condiment to spread throughout the world after Columbus' voyages to the New World.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Long-Term Threat

    Survivors of a childhood cancer face a sixfold risk of developing a new cancer later in life, compared with people in the general population.

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