Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Double Credit: Iron-fortified salt cuts anemia
A form of table salt manufactured to contain iron can fight off anemia among children living in rural North Africa and could expand the role of salt fortification around the world.
- Health & Medicine
Drug aids destruction of lymphoma cells
The drug rituximab, when added to chemotherapy, boosts survival rates in people with diffuse B-cell lymphoma, a kind of cancer.
- Anthropology
Evolutionary Shrinkage: Stone Age Homo find offers small surprise
Scientists announced the discovery of the partial skeleton of a small-bodied Homo species that inhabited an eastern Indonesian island from at least 38,000 years ago until about 18,000 years ago.
- Health & Medicine
COX-2 inhibitor pulled off market
Merck's recall of rofecoxib, a COX-2 inhibitor drug for arthritis, raises the question of whether similar drugs might also increase the risk of heart attack.
- Health & Medicine
Childhood trauma raises risk of heart disease
A childhood filled with psychological or physical tribulations contributes to one's risk of developing heart disease as an adult.
- Humans
Letters from the October 23, 2004, issue of Science News
Hand to mouth “Skin proves poor portal for arsenic in treated wood” (SN: 7/24/04, p. 62: Skin proves poor portal for arsenic in treated wood) shouldn’t make parents any less wary of allowing their children to come in contact with the chromated-copper arsenate wood structures. What children pick up on their hands from a deck […]
- Humans
From the October 20, 1934, issue
Searching New York's East River for golden treasure, enormous canyon discovered in Mexico, and new radioactive elements predicted.
- Health & Medicine
A Problem of Adhesion: More evidence of sickle-cell stickiness
Interrupted blood flow in people with sickle-cell disease might arise from stickiness inherent in the unusual red blood cells these individuals have.
- Anthropology
Chimps show skill in termite fishing
Video cameras set up in a central-African forest have recorded the sophisticated ways in which local chimpanzees catch termites for eating.
- Health & Medicine
Creepy-Crawly Care
Encouraging results from research on medical uses for maggots and leeches, coupled with recent government approval of both therapies, lend credibility to the idea that some live organisms deserve a place in the medical armamentarium.
- Health & Medicine
Nitric oxide may benefit damaged hearts
A small study in mice suggests that inhaling nitric oxide may protect against tissue damage after a heart attack.
- Health & Medicine
Teasing out tea’s heart-healthy effect
Drinking black tea makes a person's blood vessels dilate more easily, which may explain why drinking tea can protect against heart disease.
