Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Humans
Jonathan Eberhart (1942–2003)
After chronicling space science and exploration for 3 decades on behalf of Science News, Jonathan Eberhart died last week from complications of multiple sclerosis.
- Health & Medicine
Mixed Results: AIDS vaccine falters in whites, may help blacks
In its first large test, an AIDS vaccine has failed to shield an at-risk population from acquiring AIDS.
- Anthropology
Pieces of a Disputed Past: Fossil finds enter row over humanity’s roots
Two new fossil discoveries have fueled scientific debates about the evolutionary status of a pair of species traditionally considered to have been our direct ancestors, Homo habilis and Homo erectus.
- Health & Medicine
HIV in breast milk can be drug resistant
HIV-positive women who receive the drug nevirapine during pregnancy often have HIV that is resistant to the drug in their breast milk after they give birth.
- Health & Medicine
Designer RNA stalls hepatitis in mice
Using strips of synthetic RNA that interfere with normal gene action, scientists working with mice have stopped the progression of hepatitis.
- Health & Medicine
Stress and sleepless nights
Insomnia is associated with increases in stress hormones, boosts that persist all day and night.
- Health & Medicine
Gene causes body-fat disorder
A gene linked to a form of muscular dystrophy also causes a disease that deposits fat unevenly after puberty.
- Health & Medicine
Hormone treats autoimmune disease
A medication combining the drug prasterone and hormone dehydroepiandrosterone, or DHEA, stabilizes or improves symptoms of lupus.
- Humans
From the February 25, 1933, issue
ADAM AND EVE IN THE OLDEST CITY In the oldest city that archaeologists have ever explored they have dug up “Adam and Eve” and the serpent. There they are, the figures of a man and a woman, which have been stamped on clay with a seal. They are a dejected human pair, bent, and stumbling […]
- Health & Medicine
Full Pipeline: Success of experimental AIDS drugs offers promise of future therapies
Three experimental drugs—a monoclonal antibody, a protease inhibitor, and a fusion inhibitor—performed well in early tests on AIDS patients.
- Anthropology
Evolution’s DNA Fusion: Hybrid gene forms clue to human, ape origins
A gene of mixed evolutionary pedigree may have transformed mammalian reproduction, leading to the evolution of apes and humans.
- Health & Medicine
Hold the Phone? Radiation from cell phones hurts rats’ brains
A single 2-hour exposure to the microwaves emitted by some cell phones kills brain cells in rats.
