Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Sauna use among dads linked to tumors in children
Men who expose themselves to excessive heat in the weeks before they conceive children may place their future offspring at unnecessary risk of brain cancer.
- Humans
Mutant Maps
Struck by an analogy between genetic mutations and flaws in antique printed documents, a biologist has devised a method to analyze such flaws to pinpoint publication dates of rare, undated documents.
- Humans
Letters from the August 26, 2006, issue of Science News
Dust to dust In “Not a planet?” (SN: 6/17/06, p. 382), Alycia Weinberger says, “The discovery of a disk around the planetary-mass companion to 2M1207 should be a bit of a relief to planet-formation theorists” because it casts doubt on the object being a planet. But wouldn’t our early solar system have been composed of […]
- Health & Medicine
How to Wash Up in the Wilderness
Many campers who wash their dishes in the wilderness use methods that don't consistently remove all bacteria.
- Humans
From the August 15, 1936, issue
Art fit for a king, healing wounds, and cops and robbers in the blood.
- Health & Medicine
Origins of Ache: Immune proteins may yield chronic-pain clues
People with chronic pain that has no underlying disease have low concentrations of proteins in the cytokine family that restrain inflammation.
- Anthropology
Evolution’s DNA Difference: Noncoding gene tied to origin of human brain
Investigators have discovered a gene that shows signs of having evolved rapidly in people and of having made a substantial contribution to the emergence of a uniquely human brain.
- Health & Medicine
Fewer Drugs, Same Outcome: Simpler HIV regimens are effective
In two studies, AIDS clinicians found that standard three-drug regimens fight HIV as well as four-drug treatments do, and that a single drug might maintain a patient's health once the virus is suppressed.
- Health & Medicine
The Screen Team
New and experimental methods of screening for colorectal cancer that patients find less unpleasant than current tests could take a bite out of the malignancy's toll.
- Humans
Letters from the August 19, 2006, issue of Science News
Aye carumba Math isn’t the only science that makes it into The Simpsons (“Springfield Theory,” SN: 6/10/06, p. 360). In one episode a few years ago, a meteorite landed near Bart. He picked it up and put it in his pocket. Although most people are under the impression that meteorites are extremely hot, they’re not. […]
- Health & Medicine
Juice May Slow Prostate Cancer Growth (with recipe)
Compounds in pomegranate juice show promise in curbing the growth of prostate cancer.
- Humans
From the August 8, 1936, issue
Phosphorus for agriculture, dirtless gardening, and the spectroscopic analysis of blood.
