Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Nice Shot: Hepatitis E vaccine passes critical test
An experimental vaccine for hepatitis E has proved nearly 96 percent protective in a test in Nepalese soldiers.
- Humans
Letters from the March 3, 2007, issue of Science News
Up, down, around I haven’t seen any reference to the similarity between the “morphing” wing (“Ahead of the Curve: Novel morphing wing may reduce aircraft’s fuel use,” SN: 12/23&30/06, p. 406) and the “warping” wing that the Wright brothers used on their gliders and powered aircraft. It seems we’ve come full circle in our quest […]
- Health & Medicine
Cocoa compound increases brain blood flow
Cocoa that retains compounds usually removed to soften the product's flavor can significantly improve blood flow to the brain.
- Health & Medicine
A cornea that’s got some nerve
Researchers have developed a technique to grow corneal tissue that includes nerve cells, an advance that may enable them to test consumer products in lab dishes rather than live animals.
- Health & Medicine
Fungus produces cancer drug
Several varieties of fungi that attack hazelnuts produce high quantities of the popular cancer drug paclitaxel.
- Health & Medicine
How antipsychotic drugs can cause weight gain
A study of mice has identified a biological mechanism by which medications called atypical antipsychotics cause people to gain weight.
- Anthropology
New age for ancient Americans
New radiocarbon dates indicate that the Clovis people, long considered the first well-documented settlers of the New World, inhabited North America considerably later and for a much shorter time than previously thought.
- Health & Medicine
Fixes for Fatty Liver
A slate of experimental treatments, including three established diabetes drugs, could become medicines for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, an obesity-related cause of cirrhosis.
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- Health & Medicine
Of Bamboo and French Fries
A bamboo extract can limit the formation of a carcinogen in baked and fried foods.
- Health & Medicine
Virus Stopper: Herpes drug dampens HIV infection
An antiviral drug commonly taken for genital herpes seems to suppress HIV in people harboring both pathogens.
- Health & Medicine
Hurt-Knees Rx: Surgical method promotes ligament regeneration
A new artificial knee ligament that sparks regeneration of natural tissue could eventually make recovering from knee-repair surgery less painful and debilitating.
