Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Humans

    Letters from the August 21, 2004, issue of Science News

    Complex issue When cyanobacteria and plants transfer electrons photosynthetically, light is absorbed not by their photosynthetic proteins but by chlorophylls (“Protein Power: Solar cell produces electricity from spinach and bacterial proteins,” SN: 6/5/04, p. 355: Protein Power: Solar cell produces electricity from spinach and bacterial proteins). Some of these proteins indeed participate in electron flow, […]

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  2. Humans

    From the August 11, 1934, issue

    Ruins of magnificent Assyrian palace uncovered, termites need fungus to thrive, and Homo sapiens thought to be 10 million years old.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    Joint Effort: Bacteria in yogurt combat arthritis in rats

    Yogurt containing certain types of live bacteria may help prevent or treat arthritis.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Curbing Allergy to Insect Venom: Therapy stops reactions to stings years later

    Some children don't outgrow an allergy to insect stings, but immunizations against such allergies can protect them into adulthood.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Cancer cells on the move

    A new study suggests how a gene recently linked to liver, skin, and pancreatic cancer also causes an often-deadly form of breast cancer.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Boldly into the breech controversy

    Addressing a long-simmering controversy, a large new study has shown that in pregnancies where the baby has positioned itself to emerge feet or buttocks first, the delivery safest for the mother and child is a planned cesarean section rather than a vaginal birth.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    A vaccine to help ex-smokers

    By generating antibodies that neutralize nicotine, a vaccine could keep ex-smokers from getting the nicotine high that drives many of them back to their bad habit.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Caffeine may ward off Parkinson’s

    Scientists may have found an explanation for why coffee drinking prevents Parkinson's disease.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Sputum Test May Predict Lung Cancer

    By zeroing in on aberrations in two cancer-fighting genes, researchers have found a marker for cancer risk that could help doctors screen people for signs of lung cancer early enough for treatment to be effective.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Old-fashioned circumcision can spread herpes

    Boys whose ritual circumcisions involve an ancient, and now rare, practice may acquire herpes during the operation.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Severe sweating treated with Botox

    A new treatment has been approved for excessive sweating, or hyperhidrosis, which is surprisingly common.

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  12. Humans

    Letters from the August 14, 2004, issue of Science News

    It’s a groove thing I don’t want to downplay genuine discovery, but your story about optically reading old records left me a little underwhelmed (“Groovy Pictures: Extracting sound from images of old audio recordings,” SN: 5/29/04, p. 339: Groovy Pictures: Extracting sound from images of old audio recordings). The optical playing of records has been […]

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