Humans
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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Cinnamon Cleans the Breath
Cinnamon can kill oral bacteria, including germs responsible for a chemical that imparts the rotten-egg smell to the breath.
By Janet Raloff - Humans
From the May 19, 1934, issue
Preparing for a stratospheric ascent, the great dust storm of 1934, and the invention of the electron microscope.
By Science News - Humans
Young Talent on Display: Tomorrow’s scientists and engineers win recognition, rewards
The three top winners of the 2004 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair hail from high schools on different continents.
By Ben Harder - Humans
Letters from the May 22, 2004, issue of Science News
Further options “Surgical Option: Hysterectomy may top drugs for women with heavy bleeding” (SN: 3/27/04, p. 196: Surgical Option: Hysterectomy may top drugs for women with heavy bleeding) doesn’t mention that 13 to 20 percent of women with heavy menstrual periods have a common but often undiagnosed bleeding disorder called von Willebrand disease. Because this […]
By Science News - Archaeology
Guatemalan sites yield Maya insights
Excavations at three archaeological sites in Guatemala have provided new insights into both the early and late stages of ancient Maya civilization.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
Herbal erection pills may be spiked
Some pills marketed as herbal remedies for erectile dysfunction contain drugs that should be available only by prescription.
By Ben Harder - Anthropology
Humanity’s Strange Face
New fossil finds in a Romanian cave fuel controversy over whether different, closely related species interbred on the evolutionary path that led to people.
By Bruce Bower - Humans
Letters from the May 15, 2004, issue of Science News
Drug benefits There are added benefits to methotrexate and etanercept for rheumatoid arthritis patients, such as myself (“Two arthritis drugs work best in tandem,” SN: 3/13/04, p. 174: Two arthritis drugs work best in tandem). After a recent major flare-up, my rheumatologist put me on that therapy. Many people don’t realize that along with inflammation […]
By Science News - Health & Medicine
Bad Break: Homocysteine may weaken bones
Elderly people with elevated concentrations of the amino acid homocysteine in their blood are more likely to break bones than are people with low amounts.
By Nathan Seppa - Humans
Plan B ruling is prescription for controversy
Contravening a recent recommendation from one of its advisory panels, the Food and Drug Administration denied an application to make the emergency contraceptive known as Plan B available without a doctor's prescription.
By Ben Harder - Health & Medicine
Nanoparticles could mark spots for surgery
A new molecule studded with magnetically active ions may soon help surgeons extract, with minimal cutting, lymph nodes likely to harbor cancer.
By Ben Harder - Humans
Historical chemistry library wows scholars
A new library in Philadelphia is home to one of the world's most extensive and valuable collections of historical chemistry texts.