Humans
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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Promising HIV gel fails in latest trial
Halted in trials, an anti-HIV gel is ineffective, but may not add to risk of infection, as previously thought.
- Archaeology
Greeks followed a celestial Olympics
A Greek gadget discovered more than a century ago in a 2,100-year-old shipwreck not only tracked the motion of heavenly bodies and predicted eclipses, but also functioned as a sophisticated calendar and mapped the four-year cycle of the ancient Greek Olympics.
By Ron Cowen - Health & Medicine
Costly Health Care Mistakes
Medical malpractice that many of us won’t recognize as such — or be able to prove — remains too high.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Calcium’s possible role in Alzheimer’s
A new study in mice finds that plaques associated with Alzheimer’s wreak havoc on calcium’s role in cell signaling.
- Earth
EPA Gagged
Federal officials have been told not to talk freely to the press or others who might ask questions EPA doesn't want to answer.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
To catch a cheat
Drug test cheaters find quick fixes on the Web, but toxicologists aren’t so easily fooled.
- Health & Medicine
This trans fat is vindicated
Featured blog: FDA accords some trans fats a "generally regarded as safe" designation.
By Janet Raloff - Health & Medicine
Statins versus dementia
Statins, developed to fight cholesterol, may also prevent some dementia, a study of older Hispanics finds.
By Nathan Seppa - Health & Medicine
A chink in flu’s armor
Finding the shape of a protein that enables the flu virus to replicate points to ways to combat the disease.
- Psychology
Core calculations
Number words may serve as mental tools for expanding on basic, nonverbal numerical knowledge rather than as determinants of such knowledge.
By Bruce Bower - Chemistry
Oil magnets
Featured blog: Nanomagnets and wires point to a potentially better mousetrap — or crude trap — for dealing with oil spills.
By Janet Raloff - Humans
Toddlers triumphant
In new studies, toddlers display dramatic advances in object recognition that may underlie verbal and symbolic achievements.
By Bruce Bower