Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Archaeology
How agriculture ground to a start
A major advance in agriculture occurred around 11,000 years ago, when western Asians began to walk through patches of wild barley and wheat and scoop handfuls of ripened grains off the ground, a report suggests.
- Humans
Letters from the Feb. 28, 2004, issue of Science News
It’s tough in there In the arts, we say that material, such as paper, that deteriorates readily because of its composition (“News That’s Fit to Print—and Preserve,” SN: 1/10/04, p. 24: News That’s Fit to Print—and Preserve) has “internal vice.” I suppose that could be said of newspapers on several grounds. Lawrence Wallin Santa Barbara, […]
- Health & Medicine
Inflammatory Fat
Immune system cells may underlie much of the disease-provoking injury in obese individuals that has been linked to their excess fat.
- Health & Medicine
Putting the brakes on toxic shock
Scientists have discovered the cascade of molecular events that underpins many cases of toxic shock syndrome.
- Health & Medicine
Some T cells may be a fetus’ best friend
While pregnant, mice overproduce a kind of T cell that reins in other immune cells that might target the fetus.
- Health & Medicine
Pill Puzzle: Do antibiotics increase breast cancer risk?
A new study links antibiotic use to breast cancer, although it's not clear the drugs cause the disease.
- Health & Medicine
Drug Racing: Gene tied to HIV-drug response
A genetic mutation more common in blacks than in whites increases the odds that people taking a common HIV medicine will suffer side effects that lead them to halt treatment.
- Humans
From the February 17, 1934, issue
First flight over Mt. Everest, blood tests link American Indians to Siberian tribes, and the discovery of the positron.
- Humans
Letters from the Feb. 21, 2004, issue of Science News
Thin skin I find the language of “Thin Skin” (SN: 1/3/04, p.11: Thin Skin) to be judgmental and unscientific. For example, “desert pavement and their biota are wounded by human activity” is neither artistic nor scientific. Such narrow, biased views of ecology have no place in a scientific journal. Boone MoraGarden Valley, Calif. Out with […]
- Humans
From the February 10, 1934, issue
alt=”Click to view larger image”> CZAR’S BOOKS, RARE COSTUMES COME TO PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM Rare archaeological books from the private library of the late Russian czar and Russian peasant costumes centuries old have been received by the University of Pennsylvania Museum. About 125 of the czar’s books, mostly archaeological works, have come to the museum by […]
- Humans
Letters from the Feb. 14, 2004, issue of Science News
Revealing words “Bookish Math: Statistical tests are unraveling knotty literary mysteries” (SN: 12/20&27/03, p. 392: Bookish Math) skipped one of the most significant methods for analyzing text for authorship. On March 11, 1887, Thomas Corwin Mendenhall reported in Science a straightforward method of plotting word length versus frequency. The beauty of this method is that […]
- Anthropology
Some Primates’ Sheltered Lives: Baboons, chimps enter the realm of cave
In separate studies, researchers have gathered the first systematic evidence showing that baboons and chimpanzees regularly use caves, a behavior many anthropologists have attributed only to people and our direct ancestors.
