Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Something in the air may cause lung damage in troops
Unexplained breathing problems in soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan come from deposits that damage tiny passages in the lungs.
- Humans
Mirror system gets an assist
Study finds two brain systems are surprisingly active when an amputee observes a task she can’t perform.
- Psychology
Narcissists need no reality check
Masters of vanity know they’re arrogant and disliked, but see own bigheadedness as justified.
- Humans
Crime’s digital past
Computer science makes history, gleaning new findings from centuries' worth of transcripts from a Victorian-era courthouse.
- Health & Medicine
Residents of the brain
It's a zoo in there: Scientists turn up startling diversity among neurons.
- Tech
Airports’ leaden fallout may taint some kids
People who live below the flight path of piston-engine aircraft — or downwind of airports serving such small planes — are exposed to lead from aviation fuel. A new study now links an airport’s proximity to somewhat elevated blood-lead levels in children from area homes.
- Math
Varying efficacy of HIV drug cocktails explained
Steepness of slope in dose-response curve tips off researchers to importance of timing in virus’s life cycle.
- Humans
Young minds at risk from secondhand smoke
Children exposed to secondhand smoke at home are at least twice as likely to develop a neurobehavioral disorder as are kids in smokefree homes, a new study finds. And roughly 6 percent of U.S. children — some 4.8 million — encounter smoke at home.
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- Humans
Metal water bottles may leach BPA
Consumers who switched from polycarbonate-plastic water bottles to metal ones in hopes of avoiding the risk that bisphenol A will leach into their beverages aren’t necessarily any better off, a new study finds. Some metal water bottles leach even more BPA — an estrogen-mimicking pollutant — than do ones made from the now-pariah plastic.
- Chemistry
Fats stimulate binge eating
Much like marijuana, fatty foods can spur overeating, a study in rats shows. The new finding also suggests possible therapies to combat the munchies.
- Health & Medicine
Body & Brain
A good massage can help, plus bed nets for babies, sugar counteracts fish and more in this week's news.
