Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Lyme microbe forms convenient bond with tick protein
The bacterium that causes Lyme disease commandeers a gene in the deer tick, inducing overproduction of a salivary protein that the bacterium uses to escape immune detection once it's inside a mammal.
- Anthropology
The Human Wave
Anatomically modern people evolved in small groups of ancient Homo sapiens that never traveled too far but continually interbred with nearby groups, including other Homo species, creating a genetic wave that moved from Africa across Asia, a new model suggests.
- Humans
From the July 27, 1935, issue
The geometry of honeycombs, high-energy, man-made gamma rays, and an electrical speed trap.
- Health & Medicine
Echinacea Disappoints: There’s still no cure for the common cold
The folk remedy echinacea shows no benefit against the common cold.
- Health & Medicine
How ‘Green’ Is Home Cooking?
From an environmental perspective, made-from-scratch meals aren't much better than ready-to-eat, store-bought meals are in consuming fewer resources and contributing less to pollution.
- Humans
Letters from the July 30, 2005, issue of Science News
Led astray The illustration of the solar system in “Roaming Giants: Did migrating planets shape the solar system?” (SN: 5/28/05, p. 340) does not represent the current orbit of the planets. Rather, it must be a frame from the computer simulation referred to in the article. William MeadowsDripping Springs, Texas Indeed, the image reflects the […]
- Archaeology
Judeo-Christian ties buried in Rome
New radiocarbon dates from one of ancient Rome's underground cemeteries, or catacombs, indicates that these structures were built in the Jewish community more than a century before early Christians started to do the same.
- Humans
Pushing Drugs
Pharmaceutical marketing toward both patients and physicians appears to influence which medicines get prescribed.
- Archaeology
Seeing Past the Dirt
Increasingly, researchers are using geophysical techniques such as ground-penetrating radar and magnetometers to target their excavations.
- Humans
From the July 20, 1935, issue
A warning sign for pilots, better methods for producing radioactive substances, and making potatoes grow better with ultrasound.
- Health & Medicine
Tumors in Touch: Cancer cells spur vessel formation through contact
Some tumor cells use a newfound mechanism to prompt neighboring cells into forming blood vessels that then nourish the cancer.
- Health & Medicine
A problem at hand for catchers
A young professional baseball catcher, who may receive more than 100 pitches per game thrown at more than 90 miles per hour, may be virtually certain to develop circulatory abnormalities in his catching hand.
