Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Coffee perks up memory and balance in geriatric animals
Millions of Americans start their day with a cup of coffee and then reach for refills when their energy or attention flags. But new research in rats suggests that for the aging brain, coffee may serve as more than a mere stimulant. It can boost memory and the signaling essential to motor coordination.
- Health & Medicine
Diet and behavior changes may slow Alzheimer’s
A new study in dogs finds that antioxidants and enriched lifestyle can ward off symptoms, and suggests brain plaques may not be the cause of the disease.
- Health & Medicine
Separating wheat from chaff in celiac disease
Three partial proteins may trigger the T cell immune reactions that cause the symptoms of this intestinal ailment, new research shows.
- Health & Medicine
Good vibrations: A greener way to pasteurize milk
Many people like the taste of raw – as in unpasteurized – milk. The problem, of course, is that germs may infect raw milk, so food safety regulations require that commercial producers heat-treat their milk. But food scientists at Louisiana State University think they’ve stumbled onto a tastier way to sterilize milk. They bombard it with sound waves.
- Tech
Nano-scale additives fight food pathogens
Nano products are all the rage, even in food science. Here at the Institute of Food Technologists’ annual meeting, on July 18, scientists described dramatic success in fighting food-poisoning bacteria by doctoring foods or their packaging with microbe-killing nanoparticles – sometimes along with natural anti-bacterial agents.
- Health & Medicine
Taking some of the doubt out of IVF
Testing shows that a complex array of factors can be used to calculate the probability of in vitro fertilization success better than just using woman’s age as a guidepost.
- Health & Medicine
Gel shows promise against HIV
Scientists have developed the first topical treatment that can prevent HIV infection among women.
- Agriculture
Germs eyed to make foods safer
Adding viruses to foods doesn’t sound appetizing, much less healthy. But it’s a stratagem being explored to knock some of the more virulent food poisoning bacteria out of the U.S. food supply. Scientists described data supporting the tactic July 18 at the Institute of Food Technologists’ annual meeting in Chicago.
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- Psychology
DNA variant may make heavy boozing a team sport
People who inherit a particular gene variant may find it more appealing to drink a lot of alcohol when they see others doing so.
- Health & Medicine
Genetics may underlie some kidney failure in blacks
Gene variants that offer protection against African sleeping sickness may also put carriers at renal risk, a new study finds.
- Health & Medicine
Everyone poops his or her own viruses
The viral denizens of a person’s intestines are unique and don’t change much over time, a study suggests.
