Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Don’t Expect Too Much of Soy
Two new studies find soy isn't an effective hormone-replacement alternative for postmenopausal women.
- Anthropology
Living Long in the Tooth: Grandparents may have rocked late Stone Age
A new analysis of fossil teeth indicates that the number of people surviving long enough to become grandparents dramatically increased about 30,000 years ago.
- Archaeology
Mexican murals store magnetic data
Tiny magnetic particles in the pigments of some Mexican murals recorded the direction of Earth's magnetic field when the paint dried.
- Health & Medicine
Protective enzyme has a downside: Asthma
The abnormal production of a parasite-fighting enzyme contributes to asthma.
- Archaeology
Rat DNA points to Pacific migrations
An analysis of mitochondrial DNA from Pacific rats supports a theory that ancestors of today's Polynesians migrated from Southeast Asia to a string of South Pacific islands in at least two separate dispersals.
- Health & Medicine
Caloric threats from sugarfree drinks?
Regularly downing sweet drinks or sugar substitutes may foster overeating by reprogramming an individual's ability to judge a snack's caloric impact.
- Health & Medicine
Medical Advice
Looking for medical advice? Medicine On-Line is one place to go. The site covers topics ranging from vaccines to snake bites to white-coat hypertension (the tendency for a patient’s blood pressure to rise in the presence of a doctor). Affiliated with the International Journal of Medicine, Medicine On-Line taps the knowledge and experience of physicians […]
- Humans
Letters from the July 10, 2004, issue of Science News
Language of music The study by Hyde and Peretz about people inept at all things musical (“Brain roots of music depreciation,” SN: 5/8/04, p. 302: Brain roots of music depreciation) made me think of my spouse of 20 years. In addition to a lifetime of utter tone deafness, he also nearly didn’t receive his graduate […]
- Humans
From the June 30, 1934, issue
A beetle's eye view of George Washington, cosmic rays, and visualizing air currents around airplanes.
- Anthropology
Erectus Experiment: Fossil find expands Stone Age anatomy
A 930,000-year-old fossil cranium found in Africa widens the anatomical spectrum of Stone Age human ancestors and expands debate over how they evolved.
- Health & Medicine
Before the Booze: Cactus extract dulls hangovers
An inflammation-fighting plant extract, taken hours before consuming alcohol, appears to suppress some of the symptoms brought on by a bout of heavy drinking.
- Health & Medicine
SARS Control: First nasal vaccine effective in monkeys
An experimental SARS vaccine, tested in monkeys, can be administered directly to the respiratory tract and requires only a single dose to confer immunity.
