Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
A vaccine for cervical cancer
A vaccine against human papillomavirus, which causes cervical cancer, has proved 94 percent effective in preventing the virus from infecting women.
- Humans
Letters from the November 13, 2004, issue of Science News
The direct approach “An Exploitable Mutation: Defect might make some lung cancers treatable” (SN: 9/11/04, p. 164: An Exploitable Mutation: Defect might make some lung cancers treatable) may have missed a “magic bullet” that would be effective against many forms of cancer. The researchers concentrate on a drug that blocks a mutated form of the […]
- Humans
From the November 10, 1934, issue
Largest steel frame house, a new instrument to map the ocean bottom, and a new, faster-acting anesthetic.
- Health & Medicine
Vaccine Stretch: Smaller dose packs punch against flu
A fraction of the standard dose of flu vaccine appears to grant people immunity to influenza if injected into the skin rather than in the muscle of the upper arm.
- Health & Medicine
Uranium, the newest ‘hormone’
Animal experiments indicate that waterborne uranium can mimic the activity of estrogen, a female sex hormone.
- Health & Medicine
Heavy traffic may trigger heart attacks
Exposure to traffic can dramatically increase a person's risk of having a heart attack soon afterward.
- Health & Medicine
Vegetable Soup Fights Cell Damage
A study in which volunteers ate vegetable soup every day for two weeks points to benefits of vitamin C beyond its role as an antioxidant.
- Health & Medicine
Assault on Autism
A shift in scientific thinking about what causes autism is prompting a closer look at potential environmental factors.
- Health & Medicine
Marker signals esophageal cancer
Silencing of the gene that encodes the cancer-suppressing protein APC is common in people with esophageal cancer, suggesting that physicians might use this genetic abnormality as a marker for the disease.
- Health & Medicine
Is penicillin-allergy rate overstated?
A study finds that 20 of 21 people who reported having a penicillin allergy when filling out paperwork during a hospital visit in fact don't have one, suggesting that the prevalence of this allergy is overstated.
- Health & Medicine
Weight Matters, Even in the Womb
Status at birth can foreshadow illnesses decades later.
- Humans
Letters from the November 6, 2004, issue of Science News
Another view I suggest that world maps with countries colored by some statistical feature often would be more useful if done on a cartogram that is a compromise between population and size of countries, rather than on a map with a simple Mercator projection (“A Better Distorted View,” SN: 8/28/04, p. 136: A Better Distorted […]
