Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
What’s the Beef?
Beef certified as Angus may not always be as tender as consumers expect.
- Health & Medicine
HIV drugs may stop cervical disease
A drug combination given to people with HIV, the AIDS virus, helps knock out precancerous cervical lesions in some women.
- Humans
Letters from the August 7, 2004, issue of Science News
Pot shots Regarding “Pot on the Spot: Marijuana’s risks become blurrier” (SN: 5/22/04, p. 323: Pot on the Spot: Marijuana’s risks become blurrier), it seems to me that the stronger the social pressure against using marijuana in a culture, the more likely it will be that those who use it will be troubled, antisocial, or […]
- Health & Medicine
Got Diabetes? Try Ditching Caffeine
New studies indicate that caffeine impairs the body's ability to use insulin and regulate blood sugar—potentially serious problems for people with diabetes.
- Health & Medicine
Swallowed a Fly: Insects may spread foodborne microbe to chickens
Flies sucked through the ventilation ports of industrial chicken coops may spread the pathogen Campylobacter jejuni, which can ultimately sicken people who eat undercooked chicken.
- Health & Medicine
Gene Delivery: Mouse study shows new therapy may reverse muscular dystrophy
A single defective gene causes muscular dystrophy, and researchers have now found a way to deliver a working copy of that gene to the entire muscular system in mice.
- Health & Medicine
Stopping Alzheimer’s: Antibody thwarts disease in mice
Antibodies against amyloid protein, which gums up the brains of Alzheimer's patients, reverse a form of the disease in mice.
- Humans
Where Ph.D.s pay off
Salaries for full-time scientists and engineers in the United States have generally outpaced inflation, but academic researchers tend to earn substantially less than their counterparts in industry and government.
- Humans
Title IX: Women are catching up, but . . .
Though a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in academic settings has fostered women's participation in science, they still lag behind men in salaries and research opportunities.
- Health & Medicine
Computers read mammograms to detect breast cancer
Mammogram–scanning computers can help radiologists detect breast cancers that would otherwise escape diagnosis.
- Humans
From the July 28, 1934, issue
Swamp dinosaur fossils found in Wyoming, secrets of famous violin makers revealed, and a cancer-causing virus.
- Health & Medicine
Prion Proof? Evidence grows for mad cow protein
Misfolded proteins known as prions can cause disease when injected into the brains of genetically engineered mice.
