Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
The Risks in Sweet Solutions to Young Thirsts
Babies seem to be born with a sweet tooth–one that many adults retain. However, parents and caregivers who indulge a child’s appetite for sugary drinks may be fostering cavities in their children’s teeth, a new study finds. Sugary beverages, especially soda pop, caused more cavities than juice or juice-containing drinks did. That idea may seem […]
- Humans
From the September 23, 1933, issue
LEAFY SUCCULENTS SOLVE PROBLEM SET BY DESERT Desert plants have a particularly hard problem to solve, set by that old Sphinx, the desert itself, and if they fail to solve it, the penalty is the same as that exacted in the old Greek myth–they must die. They must spread a sufficient chlorophyll surface to the […]
- Health & Medicine
Early Warning? Spinal fluid may signal Alzheimer’s presence
Spinal-fluid concentrations of two compounds already linked to the disease may reveal whether a person has Alzheimer's disease.
- Humans
From the September 16, 1933, issue
HERDS OF WILD ASSES STILL ROAM MONGOLIAN PLAINS Wild asses, which still roam the vast plains of Mongolia in great herds, are marvels of speed and endurance, according to Roy Chapman Andrews of the American Museum of Natural History, who has hunted and photographed them in the course of his many years of scientific exploration […]
- Health & Medicine
To Your Health?
Doctors are divided on whether the value of screening the torso with X-rays to find symptomless disease outweighs the costs.
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- Health & Medicine
Insulin inaction may hurt even nondiabetics
Flawed insulin activity may lead to blood changes that foster atherosclerosis, even in people who don't have diabetes.
- Health & Medicine
Gene Tied to Heightened Diabetes Risk
People with three particular variations within the gene that encodes the protein calpain-10 face triple the risk of getting type II diabetes.
- Health & Medicine
Another Green That Might Prevent Breast Cancer
Many studies have indicated that diets high in produce–including broccoli and other veggies–may lower a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer. Now, California researchers report data suggesting that drinking green tea does the same thing. Bad news for women who–like me–prefer black tea: The study failed to identify a similar advantage from such brews, much […]
- Health & Medicine
Paper Chased: Cancer-vaccine study is retracted
Researchers in Germany have retracted a paper that reported promising results for a vaccine that elicited immune responses against cancer cells.
- Health & Medicine
Sweet Relief: Comfort food calms, with weighty effect
Chronic stress might drive people to consume comfort foods that can soothe the brain.
- Health & Medicine
Damage Patrol: Enzyme may reveal cancer susceptibility
People with lung cancer show less DNA-repair activity by a certain enzyme than people without the disease do.
