Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Health & Medicine

    Fetal cells pop up in mom’s thyroid

    A woman's thyroid gland contains male cells, suggesting that cells from her son passed into her when he was a fetus.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Gene helps alcohol help the heart

    A genetic study indicates that moderate consumption of alcohol helps keep the heart healthy.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    Pill boosts cancer risk in some women

    Women who took oral contraceptives before 1975, and whose mother or sister had breast cancer between 1944 and 1952, have triple the likelihood of getting breast cancer as compared with similar women who didn't take the pill.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Interferon delays multiple sclerosis

    In some people who show early-warning signs of multiple sclerosis, the drug interferon-beta-1a seems to delay or even prevent the disease from becoming full-blown.

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  5. Archaeology

    Agriculture’s roots go tropical

    Tropical-forest dwellers in Central America may have cultivated manioc and other root crops as many as 7,000 years ago.

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  6. Archaeology

    Early farmers crop up in Jordan

    An ancient site discovered in southern Jordan dating back more than 9,000 years may help to illuminate the origins of farming in the Middle East.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Study bolsters head injury, Alzheimer’s link

    Veterans who suffered a moderate or severe concussion during World War II face a heightened risk of Alzheimer's disease when they reach old age.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    When It’s No Longer Baby Fat

    Increasingly, children are plump by the time they enter school, and they get fatter as they grow.

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  9. Humans

    From the April 14, 1934, issue

    Yawning spells, disagreeable alcohols from anaerobic respiration, and how antibodies protect adults from disease.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Categorizing Cancers: Gene activity predicts leukemia outcome

    By dividing acute myeloid leukemia into subtypes on the basis of which genes are abnormally active in a given patient, doctors may be able to predict outcomes and make better treatment decisions.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Slimmer Ticks, Less Disease: Tick-semen protein is potential vaccine

    An antitick vaccine using a protein that causes female ticks to engorge on blood may control tick populations, a new study suggests.

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  12. Humans

    Letters from the April 17, 2004, issue of Science News

    Sphere criticism In “Candy Science: M&Ms pack more tightly than spheres” (SN: 2/14/04, p. 102: Candy Science: M&Ms pack more tightly than spheres), I read that an orb of a given size, when slightly flattened, will pack more densely than when perfectly round. No kidding? Do you suppose if we were to crush cars into […]

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