Humans
- Health & Medicine
Enzyme fighter works as well as tamoxifen
The drug anastrozole generally works as well in fighting advanced breast cancer as better-known tamoxifen, and even surpasses it in certain patients.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Fragile X protein reveals its RNA partners
The master gene behind fragile X syndrome—the most common inherited form of mental retardation—encodes a protein that binds to strands of messenger RNA.
By John Travis - Health & Medicine
Things Just Mesh
Researching are studying ways to make stents, which prop open arteries, even better at keeping these channels open.
- Health & Medicine
Genomes of dangerous bacteria exposed
Researchers unveiled the genomes of bacteria that cause severe food poisoning, typhoid fever, and the plague that devastated the Middle Ages.
By John Travis - Health & Medicine
Cancer drugs may thwart Huntington’s
Drugs developed to fight cancer could also be effective against Huntington's disease and several related neurodegenerative conditions.
By John Travis - Health & Medicine
Decaf May Not Always Be Best
Each morning, across America, women rev up their engines by downing a cup of caffeine-rich coffee. A few buck the trend, preparing instead a cup of tea. And some of the more health conscious choose a decaf brew. But for the vast majority, no morning beverage offers the appeal of a strong cup of regular […]
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Heart pump extends patients’ survival
Patients who have an implanted device to help the heart pump blood have a higher survival rate than patients getting only heart medication.
By Nathan Seppa - Archaeology
Farmers took fast track in settling Europe
A review of radiocarbon evidence indicates that farming groups colonized southern Europe over no more than 100 to 200 years, beginning around 7,400 years ago.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
Cholesterol enables nerve cells to connect
Neurons form connections with each other using cholesterol supplied by other brain cells called glia.
By John Travis - Health & Medicine
The Science of Secretin
The discovery that a gut hormone also exists in the brain may shed light on the origins of autism.
By John Travis - Health & Medicine
Reducing blood pressure in the lungs
A new drug seems to help reduce abnormally high blood pressure in the lungs, a condition that can trigger heart failure.
- Health & Medicine
Seizures and reproductive ills linked
Abnormal electrical signaling in the brains of women with epilepsy may alter sex hormone cycling and explain why epileptic women seem to have a higher rate of reproductive disorders than do other women.