Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Humans
Letters from the June 5, 2004, issue of Science News
Blackened reputation Again, humans are implicated in the promotion and distribution of our own misery (“Medieval cure-all may actually have spread disease,” SN: 4/3/04, p. 222: Medieval cure-all may actually have spread disease). However, if bitumen was wrongly credited with darkening the skin of mummified remains, what caused it? Robert FizekNewton, Mass. The coating on […]
- Humans
Simple water filter can nail arsenic
Field tests suggest that people who live in areas with arsenic-tainted aquifers may be able to purify their drinking water by passing it through a low-tech, low-cost filter that includes a bed of iron nails.
- Health & Medicine
Breast milk may lower cholesterol
Feeding a newborn baby breast milk instead of formula during the first month of life improves the child's cholesterol readings later on.
- Health & Medicine
Cardiovascular Showdown—Chocolate vs. Coffee
Chocolate appears to be good for your arteries, whereas coffee—or at least its caffeine—does damage.
- Humans
From the May 26, 1934, issue
Extracting bromine from the sea, a new treatment for cancer, and a novel altimeter.
- Humans
Letters from the May 29, 2004, issue of Science News
Judging by science “Forensics on Trial” (SN: 3/27/04, p. 202: Forensics on Trial) was an eye-opener. Our courts may be accepting many analytical techniques that haven’t been adequately validated. We should be careful, especially where the death penalty is involved, not to be guilty of hubris in the application of scientific knowledge. Bob SauerPrinceton, Mass. […]
- Humans
Famous Engineers
Did you know that Scott Adams, cartoonist and creator of Dilbert, has an engineering background? Others who have been engineers or have an engineering background include astronaut Neil Armstrong, first man to walk on the moon, as well as film director Alfred Hitchcock, former Dallas football coach Tom Landry, and television talk show host Montel […]
- Humans
Travels with the War Goddess
A botany expedition to Samoa turns out to be as much about the people as about the plants.
- Health & Medicine
Cutting blood supply to kill off fat
Killing the blood vessels that sustain fat tissue causes obese mice to lose weight.
- Health & Medicine
Estrogen loss induces lung disease in mice
Estrogen loss hampers lung function in mice by sabotaging the alveoli, the tiny sacs that deliver oxygen-rich air to the bloodstream.
- Health & Medicine
Folate enrichment pays baby dividends
The federally mandated fortification of grain-based foods with folic acid has led to a 25 percent drop in the rate of potentially life-threatening neural tube birth defects.
- Anthropology
Out on a Limb
The science of body development may make kindling out of evolutionary trees.
