Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- 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.
- Health & Medicine
Big meals boost heart attack risk
Unusually heavy meals boost a person's chance of developing a heart attack, at least among those people who already have risk factors for heart disease.
- Health & Medicine
It’s that time. . .for heart attacks?
A small study of young women already at high risk of having a heart attack suggests that heart attacks are most frequent when estrogen levels are low, soon after a woman's period begins.
- Health & Medicine
New role for cholesterol-lowering drugs
Drugs that lower cholesterol benefit patients who have just had a heart attack or chest pains, regardless of the patient's initial cholesterol levels.
- Health & Medicine
Does vitamin A aid learning?
A lack of Vitamin A may cause learning and memory problems, albeit potentially reversible ones.
- Health & Medicine
Old antibiotic takes on Alzheimer’s
An antibiotic that binds copper and zinc may prevent brain deposits that cause Alzheimer's disease.
