Humans
Sign up for our newsletter
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Earth
Severe heat and cold top list of deadly natural hazards
Data compilation by region, type of hazards shows deaths from more frequent events accumulate into significant numbers. Lightning strikes also high on the list.
- Earth
Improved Cars: Chu on It
Hey Detroit: Lighten up, the incoming Energy Secretary recommends.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Dual therapy best for nasty prostate cancer
Dual therapy that adds radiation to medication for aggressive prostate cancer yields better survival and fewer signs of relapse than drugs alone, a large Scandinavian clinical trial finds.
By Nathan Seppa - Tech
Holiday Gifts: Blog Sites
Sample other blogs and let us know of notables that we missed that are also worth sharing.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Potentially potent chemo target in sight
A fruit fly protein that helps control cell differentiation may be a powerful target for stopping human cancers.
- Health & Medicine
Breast cancer costs poor people more
Out-of-pocket costs of breast cancer hit poor individuals the hardest.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Soy compound revs up cancer fighter in healthy tissue
A lab study of healthy breast tissue cells shows increases in the tumor suppressor protein PTEN in the presence of soy isoflavone genistein, a compound believed to fight breast cancer.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Breast density signals tamoxifen’s effectiveness
Decreasing breast density signals the drug tamoxifen is working in women at risk of developing breast cancer.
By Nathan Seppa - Archaeology
Tools with handles even more ancient
An analysis of stone tools excavated at a Syrian site indicates that, around 70,000 years ago, Neandertals used a tarlike adhesive to affix sharpened items to handles.
By Bruce Bower - Chemistry
Of Presidents and Nobels
It appears Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will soon have produced two Nobel laureates to offer White House counsel and directives on science policy.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Stronger role for a breast cancer drug
Going beyond its original role as an add-on for chemotherapy, the breast cancer drug lapatinib, when taken with another kind of frontline drug, may find use for patients with the HER2-positive form of the cancer.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
Gene could drive species separation
Newly identified fruit fly gene provides evidence for “cheating genes” that may cause species schisms