Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Humans
Letters from the August 26, 2006, issue of Science News
Dust to dust In “Not a planet?” (SN: 6/17/06, p. 382), Alycia Weinberger says, “The discovery of a disk around the planetary-mass companion to 2M1207 should be a bit of a relief to planet-formation theorists” because it casts doubt on the object being a planet. But wouldn’t our early solar system have been composed of […]
- Health & Medicine
How to Wash Up in the Wilderness
Many campers who wash their dishes in the wilderness use methods that don't consistently remove all bacteria.
- Humans
From the August 15, 1936, issue
Art fit for a king, healing wounds, and cops and robbers in the blood.
- Health & Medicine
Origins of Ache: Immune proteins may yield chronic-pain clues
People with chronic pain that has no underlying disease have low concentrations of proteins in the cytokine family that restrain inflammation.
- Anthropology
Evolution’s DNA Difference: Noncoding gene tied to origin of human brain
Investigators have discovered a gene that shows signs of having evolved rapidly in people and of having made a substantial contribution to the emergence of a uniquely human brain.
- Health & Medicine
Fewer Drugs, Same Outcome: Simpler HIV regimens are effective
In two studies, AIDS clinicians found that standard three-drug regimens fight HIV as well as four-drug treatments do, and that a single drug might maintain a patient's health once the virus is suppressed.
- Health & Medicine
The Screen Team
New and experimental methods of screening for colorectal cancer that patients find less unpleasant than current tests could take a bite out of the malignancy's toll.
- Humans
Letters from the August 19, 2006, issue of Science News
Aye carumba Math isn’t the only science that makes it into The Simpsons (“Springfield Theory,” SN: 6/10/06, p. 360). In one episode a few years ago, a meteorite landed near Bart. He picked it up and put it in his pocket. Although most people are under the impression that meteorites are extremely hot, they’re not. […]
- Health & Medicine
Juice May Slow Prostate Cancer Growth (with recipe)
Compounds in pomegranate juice show promise in curbing the growth of prostate cancer.
- Humans
From the August 8, 1936, issue
Phosphorus for agriculture, dirtless gardening, and the spectroscopic analysis of blood.
- Health & Medicine
Total Recall: Drug shows long-lasting boosts of memory in rats
Research in rats shows that an experimental drug completely regenerates parts of the brain crucial to forming memories.
- Health & Medicine
Need for Speed: Faster-acting tuberculosis drugs now in testing would limit deaths
Drugs that take only 2 months to cure tuberculosis instead of the usual 6 months could prevent millions of TB infections and deaths.
