Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Humans

    From the September 2, 1933, issue

    URN PATTERNS EXISTED LONG BEFORE URNS WERE MADE Urns, whether for flowers or for funeral ashes, have always had much the same pattern; so much so, that the shape immediately and automatically evokes the name. But that shape existed on the earth long before the earliest neolithic potter smoothed out the walls of the first […]

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Better Bones: Women benefit from low dose of estrogen

    Ultralow doses of estrogen and progesterone given to postmenopausal women boost bone density compared with placebos, without causing the adverse effects seen in some women who get larger doses of these hormones.

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  3. Humans

    Remembering Linus Pauling

    Linus Pauling won the 1962 Nobel prize in chemistry for his research into the nature of chemical bonding and later won the Nobel peace prize and promoted the health benefits of vitamin C. This National Library of Medicine Web site highlights Pauling’s achievements and offers access to parts of a large collection of his personal […]

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  4. Humans

    From the August 26, 1933, issue

    AN APE FOR A BABY SISTER If it is not possible or desirable to bring up the young human removed from human surroundings–why not test the effects of civilization in the reverse matter? Why not bring up an ape infant in a human home–place him in a human babys bed, dress him in infants clothes, […]

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Prenatal Cares: Popular painkillers linked to miscarriage

    A new study finds that pregnant women taking nonprescription painkillers such as ibuprofen and aspirin have a higher risk of miscarriage.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Guggul extract fails its cholesterol test

    Guggul extract, long used in parts of Asia and gaining popularity in Western countries as a weapon against high cholesterol, does not appear to work.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Tuesday Can Be Fat, but Weekends Are More Fattening

    Unsuccessful weight watchers are well aware that the winter holiday season can bestow, besides gifts, a few extra pounds. But according to Barry M. Popkin of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, people seem to approach every weekend as a holiday: They eat and drink too much. For the average adult in the […]

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Viruses, but not bacteria, tied to mental decline

    Past infection by multiple common viruses may contribute to cognitive decline in some elderly people.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Drug reduces risks for dialysis patients

    Kidney-dialysis patients getting the vitamin D drug paricalcitol survive longer than those getting a similar medication called calcitriol.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Predicting Prostate Cancer’s Moves

    To guide treatment decisions in individual cases of prostate cancer, medical researchers are using gene-expression profiling and other novel techniques to develop better predictive markers of how a given tumor will behave.

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  11. Humans

    From the August 19, 1933, issue

    CONSTRUCTION BEGUN ON 80-INCH TEXAS TELESCOPE The giant 80-inch reflecting telescope that will spy upon the stars from McDonald Observatory, to be erected on a peak of Davis Mountains, Texas, is now under construction. A contract for the telescope has been approved by the University of Texas board of regents, and Warner and Swasey Company […]

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  12. Humans

    Small World After All: Short e-mail chains reach targets worldwide

    A large-scale study of e-mail users has borne out the notion that one person on the planet can reach any other person through a chain of about six social ties.

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