Humans

Archaeology

Art on the Rocks: Dating ancient paintings in the caves of Borneo

By dating the mineral deposits on top of cave paintings in Borneo, archaeologists have pushed back the date of earliest human habitation on the island by at least 5,000 years.

Health & Medicine

Double Shot: Anthrax vaccine gets makeover

An experimental anthrax vaccine appears to spur production of antibodies that stop the bacterium and disable the anthrax toxin at the same time.

Humans

From the September 2, 1933, issue

URN PATTERNS EXISTED LONG BEFORE URNS WERE MADE Urns, whether for flowers or for funeral ashes, have always had much the same pattern; so much so, that the shape immediately and automatically evokes the name. But that shape existed on the earth long before the earliest neolithic potter smoothed out the walls of the first […]

Health & Medicine

Better Bones: Women benefit from low dose of estrogen

Ultralow doses of estrogen and progesterone given to postmenopausal women boost bone density compared with placebos, without causing the adverse effects seen in some women who get larger doses of these hormones.

Health & Medicine

Old polio vaccine free of HIV, SIV

Three laboratories analyzing remaining samples of polio vaccine used in the late 1950s find that none contains any human or simian immunodeficiency virus, or chimpanzee DNA—making polio vaccine unlikely to be the cause of the initial HIV outbreak in central Africa.

Health & Medicine

Stem-cell transplant works on lupus

Severe lupus can be reversed with a transplant of the patient's own bone marrow stem cells, after they're allowed to mature outside the body, and medication that neutralizes self-attacking immune cells.

Health & Medicine

Fighting cancer from the cabbage patch

Extracts of foods belonging to the cabbage family can block the action of estrogen, a hormone that fuels many cancers.

Health & Medicine

Nerves in heart show damage in Parkinson’s

Some patients with Parkinson's disease also have destruction of nerve terminals in the heart that affects blood pressure.

Health & Medicine

Cells profilerate in magnetic fields

Magnetic fields such as those found within a few feet of outdoor electric-power lines could make cells that are vulnerable to cancer behave like tumors.

Humans

Remembering Linus Pauling

Linus Pauling won the 1962 Nobel prize in chemistry for his research into the nature of chemical bonding and later won the Nobel peace prize and promoted the health benefits of vitamin C. This National Library of Medicine Web site highlights Pauling’s achievements and offers access to parts of a large collection of his personal […]

Humans

From the August 26, 1933, issue

AN APE FOR A BABY SISTER If it is not possible or desirable to bring up the young human removed from human surroundings–why not test the effects of civilization in the reverse matter? Why not bring up an ape infant in a human home–place him in a human babys bed, dress him in infants clothes, […]

Health & Medicine

Prenatal Cares: Popular painkillers linked to miscarriage

A new study finds that pregnant women taking nonprescription painkillers such as ibuprofen and aspirin have a higher risk of miscarriage.