Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Archaeology
Stones of Contention: Tiny Homo species tied to ancient tool tradition
Controversial new discoveries suggest that our half-size evolutionary cousins who lived on the Indonesian island of Flores as recently as 12,000 years ago carried on a stone-toolmaking tradition passed down from the island's original colonizers more than 700,000 years ago.
- Humans
Letters from the June 3, 2006, issue of Science News
Latitude adjustments “Shafts of snow sculpted by sun” (SN: 4/1/06, p. 206) doesn’t say that penitentes appear only in the Andes, nor does it say in what part of the Andes they appear. Does the formation of penitentes require that the sun be nearly directly overhead for part of the day? Can penitentes form only […]
- Health & Medicine
At iconic Asian temple, monkeys harbor viruses
Temple sites in South and Southeast Asia that offer refuge to monkeys also shelter monkey viruses.
- Health & Medicine
Common drugs offer some hot flash relief
Antidepressants and some other prescription drugs reduce the number of hot flashes that many women experience during menopause.
- Archaeology
Jarring clues to Tut’s white wine
Chemical analyses of residue from jars found in King Tutankhamen's tomb have yielded the first evidence of white wine in ancient Egypt.
- Health & Medicine
Blood, Iron, and Gray Hair
Recent findings show that anemia is exceedingly common in elderly people and link the condition to severe health problems, including accelerated physical and mental decline and a shorter life span.
- Humans
Letters from the May 27, 2006, issue of Science News
Dig it or don’t I am rather surprised at all the attention this find is getting (“Out of the Shadows: Not all early mammals were shy and retiring,” SN: 3/18/06, p. 173). Some would think that these mammals caused the downfall of the dinosaurs, but the fossil record suggests a very different scenario. There is […]
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- Health & Medicine
For the Birds: New vaccines protect chickens from avian flu
By piggybacking components of strains of avian-influenza virus onto an existing poultry vaccine, scientists have created experimental vaccines that can prevent bird flu in chickens.
- Health & Medicine
Open Water, Open Mouths: Scuba divers face infection risks
A new study takes a stab at quantifying the risks that waterborne bacteria and viruses pose to scuba divers.
- Health & Medicine
Prescription stimulants are big on campus
Nearly 1 in 10 students at a New England college admits to using prescription stimulants without authorization.
- Health & Medicine
Hookworms hitched rides with nomads
Horseback-riding herders known as Scythians once traveled far and wide across Eurasia, and their remains contain the parasites to prove it.
