Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Early C-sections pose risks
Babies delivered by elective cesarean section just a week or two before 39 weeks of gestation face increased risk of respiratory and other complications.
- Health & Medicine
Parkinson’s brain surgery works in older patients, too
A surgery in which two tiny electrodes are placed in the brain improves the quality of life of patients with Parkinson’s disease, including older patients, and seems to have only short-term side effects.
- Health & Medicine
Bone-growth drugs may increase jaw disease risk
New study finds link between common drug and jawbone death.
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- Humans
Stone Age tools go south
Diamond-mining pits have yielded stone artifacts old enough to suggest that hand axe production started 1.6 million years ago in southern Africa, not just in eastern Africa.
- Health & Medicine
Fewer dopamine receptors makes for risky business
Brain-scanning study in people sees link between personality, dopamine system.
- Health & Medicine
Disturbed sleep tied to Parkinson’s risk
People who have a disorder that causes them to thrash and kick during sleep face a high risk of developing Parkinson’s disease or other neurodegenerative disorders.
- Health & Medicine
New embryonic stem cells ratted out
Overcoming obstacles, scientists have created stable embryonic stem cells from rats. Researchers hope their method will prove useful as a general recipe for isolating stem cells from other mammals.
- Health & Medicine
Hot clock key to fruit fly’s global spread
A temperature-sensitive switch in a fruit fly’s biological clock means some species can survive in a wide range of climates while others are stuck on the equator.
- Health & Medicine
Sense for morphine has gender gap
Female rats have fewer brain receptors that sense morphine, making the drug less effective. The work points to the need for more research on why medicine potency can vary among people.
- Health & Medicine
Experimental drug fends off emphysema in mice
Mice exposed to cigarette smoke and then ed the drug and fended of emphysema, suggesting the edible drug might help ex-smokers.
- Health & Medicine
Body & Brain: Science news of the year, 2008
Science News writers and editors looked back at the past year's stories and selected a handful as the year's most interesting and important in Body & Brain. Follow hotlinks to the full, original stories.
