Humans
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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Breast milk may harbor cancer clues
Analysis could provide a noninvasive means for testing risk in women, an early-stage study shows.
By Nathan Seppa - Humans
Record ‘Arctic’ ozone minimum expands beyond Arctic
In mid-March, our online story about the thinning of stratospheric ozone over the Arctic noted that conditions appeared primed for regional ozone losses to post an all-time record. On April 5, World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Michel Jarraud announced that Arctic ozone had indeed suffered an unprecedented thinning. And these air masses are on the move to mid-latitudes.
By Janet Raloff - Humans
Brain’s mirror system loves the robot
Experiments that shed light on how the "monkey see, monkey do" part works may suggest why we feel sad for Wall-E.
- Health & Medicine
Heart drug may fight prostate cancer
Digitalis inhibits the common malignancy in lab tests, and long-term users are less likely to develop the disease, a study shows.
By Nathan Seppa - Humans
Humans
Money can buy happiness if you know what you're doing, plus argumentative kids and good gifts in this week's news.
By Science News - Humans
Rising seas made China’s ancient mariners
Ancient environmental changes produced a maritime culture that colonized Taiwan 5,000 years ago, archaeologists contend.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
Body & Brain
Thank your mom for your big brain, plus contagious itching and phobia therapy in this week’s news.
By Science News - Humans
Hidden dalliance revealed by X-rays
A high-tech analysis uncovers a 19th century painter’s do-over.
- Life
Great-grandpa’s genes gone, effects stay
Removing an obesity-preventing scrap of DNA from a mouse lineage doesn’t prevent descendants from reaping its slimming benefits for generations.
- Humans
Just breathing in Iraq can be hazardous
Poor air quality is an added danger for troops, testing indicates.
- Health & Medicine
New drug boosts hepatitis C treatments
An experimental medication has cleared a major hurdle and seems poised for FDA approval, two studies show.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Worms live longer with thioflavin T
A dye commonly used by Alzheimer’s disease researchers to spot misshapen proteins gives lab nematodes longer lives, scientists say.