Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Troubled Hearts: Antibiotic might fend off second attack
An antibiotic might protect people with heart disease from future coronary events, according to the results of a small-scale trial.
- Health & Medicine
Stem Cell Success: Mice fuel debate on embryo cloning
In mouse studies, scientists have used a technique called therapeutic cloning to create personalized replacement tissue.
- Health & Medicine
Eight hours of sleep may not be so great
Sleeping 8 to 9 hours a night doesn't necessarily translate into a longer life.
- Health & Medicine
Alzheimer’s disease vaccine abandoned
Safety concerns forced the shelving of tests of an experimental vaccine for Alzheimer's disease.
- Health & Medicine
Lack of nutrient turns flu nasty
A dietary deficiency in selenium, an essential trace mineral, may cause a usually harmless strain of the flu to mutate into a virulent pathogen.
- Health & Medicine
New human virus tied to obesity
Researchers have identified the second member of a class of human viruses that may increase people's susceptibility to obesity.
- Health & Medicine
Fibroid Maladies
Every year, roughly 200,000 women in the United States get a hysterectomy–surgical removal of the uterus–to alleviate the pain and pressure of uterine fibroids. These noncancerous growths affect millions of women in child-bearing years. A good source of information on symptoms, treatments, surgical options, and possible causes is found at this site, compiled by the […]
- Health & Medicine
Two steps forward, one step back
Just a few days after the National Institutes of Health announced it was canceling a large AIDS-vaccine trial, researchers reported preliminary results from a new vaccine that appears safe.
- Health & Medicine
New drugs help battle HIV
Three potential drugs in development rely on novel tactics for attacking the virus that causes AIDS.
- Health & Medicine
Genes predict allergies to drug
Genetic differences among people infected with HIV might help identify the 5 percent of patients who will suffer allergic reactions when given the antiretroviral drug abacavir.
- Health & Medicine
Is HAART hard on the heart?
Two studies came to opposite conclusions on whether multiple-drug regimens known as highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for people with AIDS also contribute to heart trouble.
- Anthropology
DNA Diaspora: Humanity may share tangled genetic roots
A controversial new genetic analysis concludes that Homo sapiens evolved by expanding out of Africa in multiple waves beginning at least 600,000 years ago and then interbreeding, rather than totally replacing close relatives such as the Neandertals.
