Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Double Dose: Two ways to boost kidney-transplant viability
By evaluating kidneys obtained for transplant from older people—then culling the worn-out organs—scientists can identify kidneys likely to last longer in their new hosts, especially when implanted in pairs.
- Humans
Letters from the January 28, 2006, issue of Science News
Oil-for-food exchange Several decades ago, I heard of the anecdotal correlation between the rise of hydrogenated oils in our foods and the rise of colon cancer. The Swedish study that correlated high dairy-fat intake with lower risk of colon cancer (“Dairy fats cut colon cancer risk,” SN: 11/19/05, p. 333) might be reexamined to see […]
- Health & Medicine
Old idea fights ovarian cancer
Delivering chemotherapy directly into the abdomen improves survival in women with advanced ovarian cancer.
- Humans
New law to limit politicized science
A new law prohibits three federal agencies from knowingly disseminating bad data and bans application of any political litmus test to experts under consideration as advisers.
- Anthropology
India cultivated homegrown farmers
A new analysis of Y chromosome structure supports the view that around 10,000 years ago, people living in what's now India took up farming rather than giving way to foreigners who brought agriculture into South Asia.
- Humans
From the January 18, 1936, issue
A small model of a large telescope, pain relief for angina, and the lightest solid ever known.
- Health & Medicine
Defenses Down: Mutation boosts West Nile risk
A genetic mutation has been identified that increases a person's susceptibility to West Nile virus.
- Health & Medicine
Caffeinated Liver Defense
Caffeinated beverages appear to protect beleaguered livers.
- Humans
Letters from the January 21, 2006, issue of Science News
D. Durda, FIAAA/B612 Foundation Push, pull, zap, drench I’m surprised that NASA envisions an absurdly massive, nuclear-powered “gravitational tug” to avoid “the biggest problem” of a contact-tug’s need to “fir[e] its rocket engine only at specific times” to compensate for an asteroid’s rotation (“Protecting Earth: Gravitational tractor could lure asteroids off course,” SN: 11/12/05, p. […]
- Archaeology
Getting a read on early Maya writing
Excavators of a pyramid in northeastern Guatemala announced the discovery of the earliest known Maya writing.
- Health & Medicine
In Pixels and in Health
By simulating individual cells and their behavior inside the human body using a computer technique called agent-based modeling, scientists are gaining new insight into disease progression.
- Health & Medicine
Cancer and Soft Drinks? Oops, Never Mind
When it comes to cancer, soft drinks are not the villains implied by recent news accounts.
