Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Health & Medicine

    Phage Attack: Antibacterial virus might suppress cholera

    Bacteria-attacking viruses that infect bacteria hold cholera bacteria in check throughout most of the year except during the rainy season when these viruses become diluted.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Not to Your Health: New mechanism proposed for alcohol-related tumors

    New findings suggest that alcohol encourages blood vessels to invade tumors, supplying nutrients that promote tumor growth.

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  3. Humans

    Letters from the January 15, 2005, issue of Science News

    Maybe a smoky card game I’m a veterinarian, and, here in west Texas, we see a high occurrence of parvovirus infection in young dogs. It destroys the intestinal villi, allowing gastrointestinal bacteria and their toxins to enter the bloodstream (“Nicotine’s Good Side: Substance curbs sepsis in mice,” SN: 11/6/04, p. 291). I would be very […]

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Antibiotics could save nerves

    Penicillin and its family of related antibiotics may prevent the type of nerve damage that occurs in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other diseases.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Palm-Nut Problem

    The ancient custom of chewing areca nuts is getting more popular as young Asians take up the habit, but betel-nut chewing has been linked to several types of oral cancer.

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  6. Humans

    Letters from the January 8, 2005, issue of Science News

    Below the surface I would suggest that the Italian hydrologists cited in “Fighting Water with Water: To lift the city, pump the sea beneath Venice” (SN: 10/30/04, p. 277: Fighting Water with Water: To lift the city, pump the sea beneath Venice) consider the law of unintended consequences. Similar actions begun in 1978 at an […]

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  7. Humans

    From the January 5, 1935, issue

    Karl T. Compton, Einstein explains relativity theory, and controlling cancer cells.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Bad Combo? Some antidepressants may hamper breast cancer drug

    Certain widely used antidepressants and a woman's own genes might diminish the effect of tamoxifen, a frontline breast cancer drug.

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  9. Anthropology

    Temples of Boom: Ancient Hawaiians took fast road to statehood

    A boom in temple construction on two Hawaiian islands around 400 years ago marked the surprisingly rapid formation of an early political state.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Beat Generation: Genetically modified stem cells repair heart

    Tissue engineers have for the first time used genetically modified human stem cells to repair damaged hearts in guinea pigs.

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  11. Humans

    Helping patients decipher options

    Scientific publishers and research organizations are preparing to launch a Web site that will make new research findings available to the public in an easy-to-understand context.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Food Colorings

    Many deeply hued plant pigments appear to offer health benefits, from fighting heart disease and obesity to preserving memory.

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