Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Humans
Death can outdo ABCs of prevention
Abstinence and monogamy may deserve little, if any, credit for the recent drop in the proportion of Ugandans who are infected with HIV.
- Health & Medicine
The Zero Gravity Diet
Living in space punishes the body as much as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, says a new study of astronaut health and nutrition.
- Humans
Letters from the March 12, 2005, issue of Science News
Cheaters like us? The model for the emergence of a population of “cheaters” out of a population of “cooperators” described in “When Laziness Pays: Math explains how cooperation and cheating evolve” (SN: 1/15/05, p. 35) gives a fresh viewpoint on existing ecosystems—and much more. Might the evolution of asymmetric modern sex from symmetric DNA exchange […]
- Health & Medicine
Inner-brain electrode may curb depression
Deep-brain electrical stimulation has shown promise in treating severe depression.
- Anthropology
Inside view of our wee, ancient cousins
A tiny, humanlike species that inhabited an Indonesian island more than 20,000 years ago possessed a brain that shared some organizational features with Homo erectus, a large-brained human ancestor that thought in complex ways.
- Health & Medicine
Measuring HIV’s Cost: Treatment adds years, but many still miss out
Medical care for people infected with HIV has already saved about 2 million years of life in the United States, but more than 200,000 HIV-infected Americans are not benefiting from drugs that could extend their lives.
- Humans
Letters from the March 5, 2005, issue of Science News
Way-up wander? It seems interesting that undersea flows have at least one characteristic different from rivers: “While river floods on land can create natural levees a few meters tall, the levees formed by [undersea] turbidity currents can grow up to 100 m[eters] high” (“Hidden Canyons,” SN: 1/1/05, p. 9). There are several sites on Mars […]
- Health & Medicine
Beer’s Well Done Benefit
Beer may prove therapeutic for diners who prefer their meat cooked until it's well done.
- Health & Medicine
A Fishy Therapy
Shark cartilage continues to be sold to fight cancer, even though its efficacy has not been confirmed by any major U.S. trials.
- Health & Medicine
Protein may aid stroke recovery
Tests in mice have shown that erythropoietin, a red blood cell growth factor, can reverse brain damage caused by strokes.
- Archaeology
Pottery points to ‘mother culture’
The Olmec, a society that more than 3,000 years ago inhabited what is now Mexico's Gulf Coast, acted as a mother culture for communities located hundreds of miles away, according to a chemical analysis of pottery remains and local clays from ancient population sites in the area.
- Health & Medicine
Cell transplants make gains versus diabetes
Transplanting insulin-making cells from a single cadaver into people with type 1 diabetes can reverse the disease in some people.
