Humans
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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Humans
From the August 31, 1935, issue
A turtle's trusty armor, a new growth stimulator, and the science of making cranberry jelly.
By Science News - Health & Medicine
A New Role for Statin Drugs? Cholesterol fighters may reduce deaths soon after heart attacks
Statin drugs given within 24 hours of a heart attack improve a patient's chance of surviving.
By Nathan Seppa - Anthropology
Chimps to People: Apes show contrasts in genetic makeup
The first comparison of the chimpanzee genome to that of people has revealed new DNA disparities between ourselves and the primate species most closely related to us.
By Bruce Bower - Humans
Letters from the September 3, 2005, issue of Science News
Pick of the crop “Honey, We Shrank the Snow Lotus: Picking big plants reduces species’ height” (SN: 7/9/05, p. 20) suggests that the change is an evolutionary process. However, this and the other examples given are all more selective breeding than natural selection. In this case, organisms with undesirable characteristics (smaller size) are overrepresented during […]
By Science News - Humans
Movies put smoking in a bad light
Smokers in American films are more likely to be villains than heroes, a review of movies from the 1990s shows.
By Nathan Seppa - Humans
From the August 24, 1935, issue
Learning from spiders, a tiny electric motor, and two new cancer-causing chemicals.
By Science News - Health & Medicine
Dark Side of a Blood Builder: Hormone linked to diabetic blindness
Erythropoietin, a hormone that orchestrates growth processes, may contribute to eye damage in people with diabetic retinopathy.
By Nathan Seppa - Anthropology
A Seasoned Ancient State: Chinese site adds salt to civilization’s rise
Analyses of remains from an ancient Chinese site situated along a river indicate that salt making occurred there as long as 4,000 years ago.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
Stroke site is often not right
Thousands of strokes in the right half of the brain may go unrecognized because their symptoms are less distinctive than those of left-side strokes.
By Ben Harder - Health & Medicine
Targeted Attack
Scientists are piecing together the details of how mutations in a protein called EGFR can lead to cancer, and they are designing a new class of drugs to stop the protein's destructive behavior.
By Emily Sohn - Health & Medicine
The Kindest Cuts Are Underwater
Fruits and veggies stay fresher longer when they're peeled and sliced underwater, not on the countertop.
By Janet Raloff - Humans
Letters from the August 20, 2005, issue of Science News
Just a little gas “Energy on Ice” (SN: 6/25/05, p. 410) states that the gas-hydrate deposit near Prudhoe Bay “contains more than 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. That’s twice the total amount of natural gas consumed annually in the United States. …” Does it behoove us to invest the time and dollars it will […]
By Science News