Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Linking stress and senility
A gene that's active in the brain may help explain why emotional stress seems to increase a person's likelihood of getting Alzheimer's disease.
- Humans
Letters from the July 7, 2007, issue of Science News
Hex sine? The NASA researchers baffled by the hexagonal shape in Saturn’s soupy atmosphere at its northern pole (“A hexagon on the ringed planet,” SN: 4/28/07, p. 269) should read “As waters part, polygons appear” (SN: 6/3/06, p. 348). It is worth investigating whether there is a similar phenomenon—I still suspect some sort of standing […]
- Health & Medicine
Restoring Scents
Experimental treatments may activate the sense of smell in people who can detect few or no odors.
- Health & Medicine
Infectious Foie Gras?
Foie gras contains misfolded proteins that, when given to mice, trigger disease.
- Humans
Bad Science
Ben Goldacre, M.D., a columnist for the British newspaper The Guardian, looks at science and medicine through a skeptical lens in this popular blog. Go to: http://www.badscience.net
- Humans
From the June 26, 1937, issue
Fur fashions from Ethiopian monkeys, the Big Bang as the source of cosmic rays, and ensuring airline pilots get enough oxygen.
- Anthropology
Ape Aid: Chimps share altruistic capacity with people
Chimpanzees, as well as 18-month-old children, will assist strangers even when getting no personal reward, suggesting that human altruism has deep evolutionary roots.
- Health & Medicine
Immune Abuse: Methamphetamine is linked to cardiac damage
The illicit drug methamphetamine alters immune proteins unleashed in the body, possibly explaining why some longtime methamphetamine abusers suffer heart problems.
- Health & Medicine
Alcohol Answer? Drinks lower glucose to protect heart
Moderate consumption of beer, wine, or gin lowers blood glucose, perhaps helping to stave off type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
- Health & Medicine
Nerves are key to longevity effect
The life-extending effect that some animals get from calorie-restricted diets may depend on signals from the brain.
- Humans
Summer Reading
The staff of Science News presents wide-ranging recommendations of books for readers to pack for their summer vacations.
- Humans
Letters from the June 30, 2007, issue of Science News
Hot and cold on the topic No mention was made in “In the Zone: Extrasolar planet with the potential for life” (SN: 4/28/07, p. 259) of the possibility that, being so close to its star and having a 13-day orbital period, the planet would keep the same surface to the star. Having one side baked […]
