Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Humans
From the July 22, 1933, issue
PERKINS OBSERVATORY 69-INCH MIRROR IS THIRD LARGEST Third largest in the world and the first all-American giant telescope, the 69-inch telescope of Perkins Observatory of Ohio Wesleyan University is now in operation. When its mirror was being placed in position just after being coated with silver, the unusual photograph on this weeks cover was taken. […]
- Health & Medicine
Keeping breathing steady and safe
Scientists may have found a way to avoid the lowered breathing rate that comes from treatment with morphine or other opiate-based narcotics and anesthetics.
- Health & Medicine
Metal’s Mayhem: Cadmium mimics estrogen’s effects, thwarts DNA repair
Cadmium causes endocrine disruption by mimicking estrogen in rats and also thwarts routine DNA repair, causing mutations, two studies show.
- Health & Medicine
Split Ends: Cancers follow shrinkage of chromosomes’ tips
Genetic tabs called telomeres, which normally protect the ends of chromosomes, become undersized in many tissues that later turn cancerous, new studies in people show.
- Health & Medicine
No Hiding Most Trans Fats
The current federal food-labeling law requires that manufacturers identify the major nutrients in processed foods, including total fat. Moreover, the law mandates that the “Nutrition Facts” section of each label separately list nutrients that can pose significant health risks, such as saturated fats. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration announced that beginning in 2006, […]
- Health & Medicine
Viral protein could help liver therapy
Researchers have developed a method of delivering gene therapies to targeted cells that makes use of viral proteins rather than whole virus particles.
- Anthropology
Lucy’s kind takes humanlike turn
A new analysis of fossils from a more than 3-million-year-old species in the human evolutionary family reveals that the males were only moderately larger than the females, a finding that has implications for ancient social behavior.
- Humans
From the July 15, 1933, issue
LIVELY YOUNG MARMOSETS SURVIVE IN CAPTIVITY Two lively, chattering young marmosets are growing up in San Francisco without the slightest notion of what “rare specimens” they are. They have a very great distinction of surviving birth in captivity. Naturalists say that this type of New World monkey is often born in captivity but usually the […]
- Health & Medicine
DNA Differences Add Risk: Altered genes show up in Lou Gehrig’s disease
People with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are more likely than healthy people to have certain variations in the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene, suggesting variant VEGF contributes to the disease.
- Health & Medicine
Cholesterol Medicine for Eggs?
Five years ago, a small natural-products company made waves when it marketed Cholestin, a cholesterol-lowering herbal product. The capsules contained a material made from rice fermented by a certain type of yeast. Though new to U.S. consumers, this dried version of so-called red-yeast rice has for centuries been a Chinese food coloring and herbal remedy […]
- Humans
From the July 8, 1933, issue
THE NYMPHS’ FLOWER Serene, cool, immaculate, the water lily floats beneath the summer sun, where the big flat drops of water shine like silver coins on the round, flat leaves. The water lily has been the delight of poets of all ages and peoples. Of moralists, too, who like to reflect that all that superb […]
- Humans
Udder Beauty
Sophisticated screening of livestock championship winners may become as common as urine tests of Olympic athletes.
