Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Cola May Weaken Women’s Bones
New research indicates that, in postmenopausal women, regular consumption of cola-flavored soft drinks may weaken bones.
- Humans
Letters from the October 28, 2006, issue of Science News
Slow down a minute “Braking news: Disks slow down stars” (SN: 8/12/06, p. 109) says that a magnetic linkage between spinning stars and the charged particles in the dusty disks that surround them slowed the spin of the stars, but says nothing about its effect on the disk. The law of conservation of angular momentum […]
- Health & Medicine
A Salty Controversy over Sodium-and-Health Papers
A public-interest group has raised a ruckus over salt-industry payments to the authors of a nutrition journal's package of articles on salt's influence on health.
- Humans
From the October 17, 1936, issue
A million volts to fight cancer, relief from migraines, and differing sensitivity to sound.
- Humans
Insect Close-Ups
Psychology professor David Yager of the University of Maryland has focused his research on the evolution of hearing. In the course of this work, he has produced extraordinary, close-up portraits of a variety of insects. His image of a Cuban cockroach recently won second place for photography in the National Science Foundation’s annual Science and […]
- Health & Medicine
Prep Work: Bird-flu vaccine might work better with primer
Giving people a vaccine against an existing form of avian influenza might help them respond better when given a shot for a future strain of the virus during a pandemic.
- Health & Medicine
Antiviral drug may limit herpes spread
In people with genital herpes, the drug famciclovir sharply reduces virus shedding from the genitalia.
- Health & Medicine
Do acid blockers let microbes reach the colon?
Suppressing stomach acid while taking antibiotics may allow drug-resistant bacteria to colonize the intestines.
- Humans
Letters from the October 21, 2006, issue of Science News
Fish story? To argue that the concentrations reported in “Macho Moms: Perchlorate pollutant masculinizes fish” (SN: 8/12/06, p. 99) are environmentally relevant is misleading. Those concentrations are usually in groundwater, not surface waters. I’ve been involved in the environmental field for almost 20 years and have yet to hear of any fish being caught in […]
- Health & Medicine
Olive Oil’s Newfound Benefits
New studies find benefits in olive oil beyond their heart-friendly fats.
- Humans
From the October 10, 1936, issue
The inner beauty of leaves, a better treatment for pneumonia, and alcohol fuel for cars.
- Health & Medicine
Life Blood: Drug stops mothers’ bleeding after births
A drug sometimes used to induce abortions can stem bleeding after childbirth.
