Humans
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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
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Health & MedicineCord Blood to the Rescue: Infusions help babies with Hurler’s syndrome
Umbilical cord blood transplants boost overall health and survival in patients with the rare hereditary condition called Hurler's syndrome.
By Nathan Seppa -
HumansA National Science Museum
If you can’t make it to Washington, D.C., to visit the recently opened Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences, check out the museum’s online exhibits. Explore how DNA analysis can catch criminals and stop epidemics, witness the potential effects of global warming, and glimpse the frontiers of scientific research. Go to: […]
By Science News -
HumansLetters 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 […]
By Science News -
Health & MedicineIroning Out Some Mental Limitations
Iron deficiency can subtly compromise how well a person performs multiple challenging tasks simultaneously.
By Janet Raloff -
Health & MedicineHumidity may affect LASIK surgery
High humidity can boost the chances of needing follow-up surgery after LASIK surgery for nearsightedness.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicineDelaying 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.
By Ben Harder -
HumansMouse 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.
By Ben Harder -
Health & MedicineUnsettling 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.
By Nathan Seppa -
Health & MedicineTea Yields Prostate Benefits
Tea drinking appears to seed the body with compounds that retard the growth of prostate cancer.
By Janet Raloff -
ArchaeologyStone 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.
By Bruce Bower -
Health & MedicineExercise boosts sugar’s taste
Studies in runners and in animals indicate that exercise increases an individual's sensitivity to sweetness.
By Janet Raloff -
Health & MedicineProteins 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.
By Janet Raloff