Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. 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.

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  2. 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 […]

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  3. 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.

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  4. 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.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Fungus produces cancer drug

    Several varieties of fungi that attack hazelnuts produce high quantities of the popular cancer drug paclitaxel.

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  6. 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.

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  7. 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.

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  8. 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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  9. Humans

    From the February 20, 1937, issue

    Giant sunspots and money from farm wastes.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Of Bamboo and French Fries

    A bamboo extract can limit the formation of a carcinogen in baked and fried foods.

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  11. 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.

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  12. 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.

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