Humans

  1. Health & Medicine

    Tuesday Can Be Fat, but Weekends Are More Fattening

    Unsuccessful weight watchers are well aware that the winter holiday season can bestow, besides gifts, a few extra pounds. But according to Barry M. Popkin of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, people seem to approach every weekend as a holiday: They eat and drink too much. For the average adult in the […]

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Viruses, but not bacteria, tied to mental decline

    Past infection by multiple common viruses may contribute to cognitive decline in some elderly people.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    Drug reduces risks for dialysis patients

    Kidney-dialysis patients getting the vitamin D drug paricalcitol survive longer than those getting a similar medication called calcitriol.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Predicting Prostate Cancer’s Moves

    To guide treatment decisions in individual cases of prostate cancer, medical researchers are using gene-expression profiling and other novel techniques to develop better predictive markers of how a given tumor will behave.

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  5. Humans

    From the August 19, 1933, issue

    CONSTRUCTION BEGUN ON 80-INCH TEXAS TELESCOPE The giant 80-inch reflecting telescope that will spy upon the stars from McDonald Observatory, to be erected on a peak of Davis Mountains, Texas, is now under construction. A contract for the telescope has been approved by the University of Texas board of regents, and Warner and Swasey Company […]

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  6. Humans

    Small World After All: Short e-mail chains reach targets worldwide

    A large-scale study of e-mail users has borne out the notion that one person on the planet can reach any other person through a chain of about six social ties.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Brawny Brains: Creatine pills may aid memory and cognition

    The popular muscle-building supplement creatine can boost performance on mental tests.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Switching Off Pain: Modeling relief on the action of marijuana

    A new drug, tested in rats, blocks pain caused when the nervous system goes awry without producing unwanted side effects.

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  9. Humans

    In Search of a Scientific Revolution

    A year after self-publishing a best-selling book in which he proposes a new framework for doing science, Stephen Wolfram is taking new steps to transform science.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Blood Sugar Fix

    A new class of experimental drugs that mimic the actions of the hormone glucagon-like peptide 1 shows benefits against type 2, or adult-onset, diabetes.

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  11. Humans

    From the August 12, 1933, issue

    CONTINENTAL LIGHTHOUSE This is a moonlight photograph of the 400-watt electric lamp on the top of Mt. Washington. When flashed recently in visibility tests conducted by the Mt. Washington Polar Year observers, it was noticed as far away as Boothbay Harbor, Maine, 95 miles distant, and at many other points in New England. Current for […]

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  12. Humans

    Alexandria’s Library

    The Library of Alexandria was one of the wonders of the ancient world. Egypt has now rebuilt the library as the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, housed in a new complex in Alexandria. The Web site includes a history of the ancient library, a photo tour of the new facility, links to archaeological investigations of Alexandria, and other […]

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