Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Dive suits could spread disease
Divers' wetsuits can harbor bacteria that cause diseases in coral and people.
- Humans
Letters from the June 10, 2006, issue of Science News
Know the drill Could it be that the ancient teeth discovered with drill marks but no signs of fillings (“Mystery Drilling: Ancient teeth endured dental procedures,” SN: 4/8/06, p. 213) were drilled to relieve abscesses? On a long holiday weekend years ago, a dentist opened and drained an abscess for me until I could get […]
- Health & Medicine
For women, weight gain spells heartburn
A study of more than 10,000 women suggests that weight gain is associated with heartburn.
- Health & Medicine
Has Early Programming Sealed These Animals’ Fate?
Surprising data from harbor seals indicate that nutrition prior to weaning may permanently set growth rates in the animals.
- Humans
The Influenza Epidemic of 1918
This eye-opening Web site from the National Archives and Records Administration features photos and documents related to the influenza epidemic of 1918, which killed more people than died in World War I. Go to: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/influenza-epidemic/
- Humans
From the May 30, 1936, issue
A shaking mountain, a warm blood factory, and signaling with invisible heat rays.
- Archaeology
Stones of Contention: Tiny Homo species tied to ancient tool tradition
Controversial new discoveries suggest that our half-size evolutionary cousins who lived on the Indonesian island of Flores as recently as 12,000 years ago carried on a stone-toolmaking tradition passed down from the island's original colonizers more than 700,000 years ago.
- Humans
Letters from the June 3, 2006, issue of Science News
Latitude adjustments “Shafts of snow sculpted by sun” (SN: 4/1/06, p. 206) doesn’t say that penitentes appear only in the Andes, nor does it say in what part of the Andes they appear. Does the formation of penitentes require that the sun be nearly directly overhead for part of the day? Can penitentes form only […]
- Health & Medicine
At iconic Asian temple, monkeys harbor viruses
Temple sites in South and Southeast Asia that offer refuge to monkeys also shelter monkey viruses.
- Health & Medicine
Common drugs offer some hot flash relief
Antidepressants and some other prescription drugs reduce the number of hot flashes that many women experience during menopause.
- Archaeology
Jarring clues to Tut’s white wine
Chemical analyses of residue from jars found in King Tutankhamen's tomb have yielded the first evidence of white wine in ancient Egypt.
- Health & Medicine
Blood, Iron, and Gray Hair
Recent findings show that anemia is exceedingly common in elderly people and link the condition to severe health problems, including accelerated physical and mental decline and a shorter life span.
