Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Humans
Letters from the May 8, 2004, issue of Science News
Listen carefully Perhaps Stefan Koelsch’s study should have been limited to trained musicians, rather than exclude them (“Song Sung Blue: In brain, music and language overlap,” SN: 2/28/04, p. 133: Song Sung Blue: In brain, music and language overlap). Word and visual associations in music are vigorously reinforced in movie soundtracks, cartoons, and elsewhere. But […]
- Health & Medicine
Ironing Out Some Mental Limitations
Iron deficiency can subtly compromise how well a person performs multiple challenging tasks simultaneously.
- Health & Medicine
Humidity may affect LASIK surgery
High humidity can boost the chances of needing follow-up surgery after LASIK surgery for nearsightedness.
- Health & Medicine
Delaying Dementia
The limited success of attempts to treat Alzheimer's disease with several compounds that appear able to prevent the disorder suggests that the window for derailing the development of the illness may close years before cognitive decline becomes evident.
- Humans
Mouse Mourned: Yoda dies at age 4
An age-defying laboratory mouse known as Yoda died peacefully in his cage in Ann Arbor, Mich., on April 22, at the age of 4 years and 12 days.
- Health & Medicine
Unsettling Association: Dental X rays linked to low-birth-weight babies
Getting dental X rays while pregnant might increase a woman's risk of giving birth to a low-birth-weight baby.
- Health & Medicine
Tea Yields Prostate Benefits
Tea drinking appears to seed the body with compounds that retard the growth of prostate cancer.
- Archaeology
Stone Age Combustion: Fire use proposed at ancient Israeli site
A Stone Age site in Israel contains the oldest evidence of controlled fire use in Asia or Europe, from around 750,000 years ago, a research team reports.
- Health & Medicine
Exercise boosts sugar’s taste
Studies in runners and in animals indicate that exercise increases an individual's sensitivity to sweetness.
- Health & Medicine
Proteins mark ALS
Scientists reported finding what appears to be the first diagnostic test for Lou Gehrig's disease, potentially shaving a year off of when targeted treatment for the disease can begin.
- Humans
From the April 28, 1934, issue
An ancient crocodile, how loudness affects pitch, and observing the sun's corona.
- Humans
Messing Around with Music
San Francisco’s Exploratorium offers an entertaining, multimedia excursion into the science of music. Visit a virtual kitchen to sample some appliance sounds. Use video of a step dancer to compose music. Discover how various cultures around the world create musical instruments out of everyday objects. Try out a sound mixer and much more. Go to: […]
