Humans

  1. Health & Medicine

    DNA vaccine for measles shows promise

    A measles vaccine consisting of just a couple of DNA strands proves effective in monkeys, possibly presenting an alternative or complementary vaccine for the standard immunization now used worldwide.

    By Nathan Seppa
  2. Health & Medicine

    Diet Tip—Close Your Eyes

    How many times has your resolve to eat prudently been sabotaged by the sight of a buffet table, Mom’s Thanksgiving specialties, or pastries on the dessert cart? Just because a plate is full of food doesn’t mean one has to finish it all. For many of us, new data show, listening to the way our […]

    By Janet Raloff
  3. Humans

    From the February 4, 1933, issue

    SUPERLATIVE SPLENDOR REVEALED BY EXCAVATIONS IN PERSIA Eastern magnificence that surrounded Persian emperors 2,500 years ago is revealed by excavations at Persepolis. Palaces of the kings are being brought to light there by Dr. Ernest Herzfeld excavating for the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. The sculptured walls arouse comparisons with glories of one […]

    By Science News
  4. Humans

    Talent Found: Top science students chosen in 62nd annual competition

    Forty wunderkinder, named as finalists in the annual Intel Science Talent Search, will collect $530,000 in scholarships for original research in science, mathematics, and engineering.

    By Ben Harder
  5. Health & Medicine

    Rackets and Radicals: Noise may cause gene damage in heart

    Exposure to loud, continuous sound can scatter free radicals within heart tissue and cause injury to cells' DNA even after the din subsides, new animal research suggests.

    By Ben Harder
  6. Anthropology

    Dairying Pioneers: Milk ran deep in prehistoric England

    Chemical analyses of prehistoric pot fragments indicate that English farmers milked livestock beginning around 6,000 years ago, providing the earliest confirmed evidence of dairying anywhere in the world.

    By Bruce Bower
  7. Health & Medicine

    Dietary Inflation

    “Finish what’s on your plate!” Thus has a multitude of well-intentioned moms exhorted millions of children, in an attempt to ensure good nutrition. Unfortunately, dieticians now find, too many grownups still feel compelled to empty their plates–even when those plates contain substantially more calories than our bodies need. Add to that the fact that modern […]

    By Janet Raloff
  8. Humans

    From the July 5, 1930, issue

    POWER PLANT SENTINELS When hundreds of thousands of horsepower traveling with the speed of lightning are instantly halted, you may be sure there will be a grand disturbance. And there is, but all the fuss is confined in steel tanks 25 feet tall and 10 feet wide, filled with oil. Two such tanks are shown […]

    By Science News
  9. Humans

    From the January 28, 1933, issue

    COMET PRINTS The dark, oblong areas pictured on the front cover are all that remain of a pre–Ice Age collision of cosmical magnitude, the smattering of a part of what is now the southeastern United States with fragments of a comet. This is the belief of Profs. F.A. Melton and William Schriever of the University […]

    By Science News
  10. Health & Medicine

    As population ages, flu takes deadly turn

    The annual U.S. toll of influenza has risen dramatically since the late 1970s, in part because of the advancing age of the population.

    By Ben Harder
  11. Health & Medicine

    Clot promoter cuts surgical bleeding

    A clot-promoting protein known as recombinant activated factor VII might offer a new way to staunch demand for blood transfusions.

    By Ben Harder
  12. Health & Medicine

    Lifestyle can prevent diabetes…maybe

    Losing weight and exercising more can help ward off diabetes—but other research suggests that it's hard to get people to make such lifestyle changes.

    By Damaris Christensen