Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Superbug: What makes one bacterium so deadly
A molecule that pierces immune cells gives some aggressive antibiotic-resistant staph bacteria their fearsome virulence.
- Health & Medicine
Canadians Advocate Boosting Vitamin D in Pregnancy
Higher vitamin D intake is recommended for pregnant women and nursing moms in Canada than for those in the United States.
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- Anthropology
Wild chimps scale branches of culture
Distinctive behaviors in wild-chimp communities point to a basic cultural capacity in these animals.
- Humans
Letters from the November 17, 2007, issue of Science News
Unequal opportunity “The Wealth of Nations” (SN: 9/1/07, p. 138) describes the difficulty of moving from exporting one product to exporting another in terms of a “distance” between various products. I would imagine, however, that a nation that already manufactures computers, for example, could easily move into calculators, but that the reverse might not be […]
- Humans
From the November 6, 1937, issue
Giant electrical generators take shape in Pittsburgh, astronomers puzzle over unusual stellar spectra, and a dinosaur ancestor from Texas visits Harvard.
- Humans
Where’s the Fire?
The National Interagency Fire Center tracks big wildfires blazing around the United States and identifies—via its InciWeb—which ones are contained, along with running totals for acres scorched so far this year. The site offers tables of multi-year fire records, interesting stats, as well as maps of current outbreaks. Go to: http://www.nifc.gov/fire_info.html
- Health & Medicine
Nongene DNA boosts AIDS risk
People with a newly discovered genetic variation are more vulnerable to HIV infection.
- Humans
Burdens of knowledge
Greater understanding of the role of genetics in human diseases presents scientists with ethical dilemmas.
- Health & Medicine
Salmonella seeks sweets
A sugarlike substance in the roots of lettuce may attract food-poisoning bacteria.
- Health & Medicine
Earache microbe shows resistance
A strain of bacterium that causes middle ear infection is resistant to all antibiotics currently approved for the ailment.
- Health & Medicine
Mother Knows All
Fragments of a fetus' genetic material that leak into a pregnant woman's bloodstream reveal details of early fetal development.
