Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Gene licensing stifles R&D
Making research findings private property can stymie innovation down the road, a new study finds.
- Health & Medicine
Drumming up anthrax
Mention anthrax and about the last thing that comes to mind is whether there’s a drum in the room. Yet tom-toms — or at least the stretched animal hides on their heads — can sometimes spew toxic anthrax spores into the air. Indeed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently highlighted the case of a previously healthy 24-year-old woman who nearly died, last December, after attending a “drumming circle” in New Hampshire.
- Health & Medicine
Beneficial bacteria may protect babies from HIV
No one argues that when it comes to feeding baby, mom’s milk is best. But mothers infected with HIV, the AIDS virus, face a dilemma: Because some of their virus can be shed in breast milk, babies risk becoming infected as they drink it. Two research teams are now investigating a germ-warfare strategy to treat such vulnerable infants.
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- Health & Medicine
Brain has emotional sense
Scientists have found regions that may be involved in storing the sights, smells, and sounds of emotional memories.
- Humans
World of proteincraft
Players compete to solve scientific puzzles in an online computer game.
- Health & Medicine
Violent dreams may predict illness in advance
A sleep disorder can precede neurodegenerative disease by decades.
- Chemistry
Receipts a large — and largely ignored — source of BPA
A host of small studies raises a big alarm about exposure to a hormone-mimicking chemical.
- Health & Medicine
Gut bacteria reflect dietary differences
A comparison of African and European children concludes that high-fiber, low-fat diets cultivate healthier intestinal microflora.
- Tech
Cashiers may face special risks from BPA
“People working at places that use thermal paper can have continual contact with bisphenol A. And if they knew, I think they would be horrified,” notes Koni Grob, an analytical chemist with an official government food laboratory in Zurich, Switzerland. He’s describing the thermal paper commonly used throughout Europe and North America to print store receipts.
- Climate
EPA rejects climate-change deniers’ petitions
A number of people challenge that climate change is real, that it's due to greenhouse gases released by human activities and that it's a threat to human health and the environment. On July 29, the Environmental Protection Agency formally rejected those claims as it turned down 10 petitions asking the Obama administration to reconsider EPA’s “endangerment finding.”
- Psychology
Sadness response strengthens with age
Older people reacted more strongly to sad scenes than twentysomethings did in a recent study of emotional receptivity.
