Humans
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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
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		Health & MedicineCan Chocolate Fight Diabetes, Too?
Consuming flavonoid-rich dark chocolate could not only lower blood pressure and cholesterol but also improve the body's processing of sugar.
By Ben Harder - 			
			
		Health & MedicineNew Carrier: Common tick implicated in spread of fever
The brown dog tick is capable of spreading the bacterium that causes Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
By Nathan Seppa - 			
			
		Health & MedicineSun Struck: Data suggest skin cancer epidemic looms
The incidence of non-melanoma skin cancers in young adults is mushrooming, possibly heralding an epidemic in follow-up cancers during the coming decades.
By Janet Raloff - 			
			
		HumansLetters from the August 13, 2005, issue of Science News
Bay listen It was interesting to read of processing mundane noise to produce an ultrasound image of the geology of Los Angeles (“Seismic noise can yield maps of Earth’s crust,” SN: 6/11/05, p. 382). A big question in the state is the deep structure of San Francisco Bay. Clearly, the bay and the valleys extending […]
By Science News - 			
			
		Health & MedicineAfter terror, moms’ stress affects kids
Infants born to women who developed posttraumatic stress disorder during pregnancy have unusually low concentrations of the hormone cortisol.
By Ben Harder - 			
			
		Health & MedicineSiccing Fungi on Malaria
Two independent research teams have found that fungi can kill mosquitoes or reduce the efficiency with which they transmit the malaria parasite.
By Ben Harder - 			
			
		HumansFrom the August 3, 1935, issue
Testing model zeppelins and defending quantum theory.
By Science News - 			
			
		HumansSpace Woes: NASA programs reel from shuttle problems
Technological problems for NASA's space shuttle Discovery, such as falling foam and dangling insulation, are causing safety worries and throwing a crimp into the U.S. space program.
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		Health & MedicineVirus Attack on Cancer: Heat makes neglected technology work better
Adding heat sensitizes tumor cells to the effects of a genetically modified virus, which then can kill them.
By Nathan Seppa - 			
			
		Health & MedicineFrom Famine, Schizophrenia: Starvation gives birth to personality disorder
Women who go severely hungry during early pregnancy face twice the normal risk of having a child who develops schizophrenia in adulthood.
By Ben Harder - 			
			
		HumansLetters from the August 6, 2005, issue of Science News
Empty threat? “Empty Nets: Fisheries may be crippling themselves by targeting the big ones” (SN: 6/4/05, p. 360) reads as if there is something to be alarmed about. By selectively catching large fish, we have reduced “the mean size [of food fish to] one-fifth of what it was.” This is not cause for alarm. It […]
By Science News - 			
			
		Health & MedicineComing Soon—Broccoli and Peach ‘Seaweeds’
California researchers are developing fruit- and vegetable-based surrogates for a paperlike seaweed product, typically used in sushi, to brighten foods and infuse them with all-natural nutrients.
By Janet Raloff