Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Humans
Butting out together
Cigarette smokers who know one another tend to kick the habit all at once, highlighting the importance of social forces in smoking-cessation treatment.
- Health & Medicine
Trust again
The ability to trust others even after violations of trust is regulated by the hormone oxytocin.
- Health & Medicine
Nonstick toxicity
By mimicking the action of estrogen, a widely used nonstick chemical promotes cancer development in animals.
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- Chemistry
Help the Climate: Empty the Fridge
Yesterday, I reported that in hopes of slowing down global warming, some nations were interested in strengthening the Montreal Protocol – a United Nations treaty to curb releases of chemicals that endanger stratospheric ozone. But I didn’t really get into what they had up their sleeves. It turns out they want signatory nations to eliminate […]
- Tech
I, computer
Bacteria that can "flip pancakes" with their DNA are the first microbes engineered to be living computers.
- Health & Medicine
Itchy and scratchy
People with a close relative who has had shingles face a heightened risk of getting the skin disease, and should probably be first in line to get the vaccine.
- Climate
When Is a Consensus on Climate Not a Consensus?
A protein chemist reported he had assembled a list of more than 30,000 scientists who challenge the idea that human releases of greenhouse gases are warming Earth's climate.
- Chemistry
Freon’s Cool Link to Climate
Quick: What’s the name of the big UN global climate treaty? If you said the Kyoto Protocol – you’d be wrong. Because it’s a trick question. Although the Kyoto Protocol is indeed the treaty developed to address the issue of arresting global warming and the climate perturbations that will be spawned by such a growing […]
- Life
Sepsis buster
The Ashwell receptor, a sugar-binding protein on liver cells, helps fight sepsis by clearing blood-clotting factors. The discovery clears up years of mystery surrounding the receptor’s function.
- Humans
ISEF winners announced
More than 1,500 young scientists flexed their mental muscles this week at the world's largest high-school science competition.
