News
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Thinking the Hurt Away: Expectations hitch ride on pain’s brain pathway
Positive thinking exerts a calming effect on pain-related brain areas, yielding a substantial reduction in the actual perception of pain, a brain-scan investigation suggests.
- Humans
Hurricane provisions
We at Science News express our strong concern and extend our deepest sympathy to those who are suffering through the ongoing ordeal caused by Hurricane Katrina.
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Dead Tired: Weary doctors function as if intoxicated
After a month of long hours of challenging work, fatigued physicians show impairments in driving and other tasks requiring constant attention and quick reactions.
- Health & Medicine
Critical for Coating: Protein directs nerve-sheath construction
A protein produced by nerve cells is essential for the manufacture of myelin, the fatty sheath surrounding nerve fibers.
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***Notice to Subscribers in Areas Affected by Hurricane Katrina***
The U.S. Postal Service has asked magazine publishers to suspend subscription mailings to areas that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Science News subscribers in those areas won't be charged for issues that are withheld, and their subscriptions will be extended. Mailings will resume upon notification by the USPS that delivery is reinstated.
- Earth
Cancer-fighting e-mails
A new federal service, offered jointly by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Weather Service, will notify individuals, via e-mail, when the sun's cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation is forecast to be unusually high.
- Health & Medicine
Rooting out hidden HIV
A drug called valproic acid, used in combination with other medications, can ferret out HIV that is lying dormant in cells.
- Planetary Science
Satellites could detect quakes on Venus
Strong seismic activity on Venus could cause brief but detectable temperature increases high in that planet's atmosphere.
- Tech
Body-fluid battery
A battery that's activated by body fluids such as saliva or urine may one day power devices ranging from disposable home health-care testing kits to emergency radio transmitters that turn on with a lick.
- Health & Medicine
Protein fingered in rare psychosis
A protein is pivotal in bringing on the psychotic attacks that beset people with porphyria, a rare inherited disease.
- Animals
Bumblebee 007: Bees can spy on others’ flower choices
Bumblebees that watched their neighbors feast on unusual flowers often later checked out the same kinds of blossoms themselves, a behavior that amounts to social learning.
- Health & Medicine
A New Role for Statin Drugs? Cholesterol fighters may reduce deaths soon after heart attacks
Statin drugs given within 24 hours of a heart attack improve a patient's chance of surviving.
