Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Indian encephalitis is traced to measles
An outbreak of fatal encephalitis in India appears to have been caused by a strange form of rashless measles in a majority of the sick children tested.
- Health & Medicine
New Australian virus infects people
Australian scientists have identified a new virus, apparently spread by fruit bats, that causes birth defects in pigs and severe illness in some people exposed to infected pigs.
- Health & Medicine
Venison can contain E. coli bacteria
Escherichia coli, which causes severe diarrhea in people, may be widespread in deer, a finding that raises concerns about preparation of wild-game meats.
- Health & Medicine
Weight-loss pill carries risks
The drug ephedra and its presumed active ingredient, ephedrine, provide only modest weight-loss effects and pose health risks.
- Health & Medicine
Microbicide thwarts AIDS virus in monkey test
A microbicidal gel applied vaginally prevents some transmission of the AIDS virus in monkeys.
- Anthropology
The Stone Masters
Investigations of modern-day expert and novice craftsmen of stone tools and decorative stone beads offer insights into the making of stone implements thousands and perhaps even millions of years ago.
- Health & Medicine
A Make-Time-For-Sex Diet?
We’re slaves to our hormones. Teenagers and pregnant women are experts on that topic. Both ride an emotional roller coaster as their bodies produce vacillating amounts of sex hormones. In fact, behind the scenes of all human biology–from conception to death–a delicate interplay of hormones drives everything from the expression of our gender to regulation […]
- Humans
From the April 8, 1933, issue
MT. WASHINGTON COLDER THAN THE ANTARCTIC Rigor of winter at the summit of Mt. Washington is graphically pictured on the cover of this week’s Science News Letter. As early as October 15 of last year, when this picture was taken by Harold Orne of Melrose Highlands, Mass., ice and snow has wrought curious shapes upon […]
- Health & Medicine
Progress Against Dementia: Drug slows Alzheimer’s in severely ill patients
The drug memantine slows the progression of late-stage Alzheimer's disease in patients previously considered untreatable.
- Humans
From the December 20, 1930, issue
alt=”Click to view larger image”> ARACHNE PROVIDES LOVELIER FESTOONS FOR CHRISTMAS TREE Christmas trees, with their exotic and ephemeral flowing of tinsel and bright paper, are apt to arouse in moralizing adults sentiments of vague regret that all this splendor is for a few hours only. Children, fortunately, are spared such thoughts: For them the […]
- Humans
From the December 13, 1930, issue
alt=”Click to view larger image”> SUSA, OLDEST CITY ON EARTH, TELLS ABOUT EARLY CULTURE Ur of the Chaldees, lately hailed as the oldest city on Earth, must yield place to a city that is older still. The home town of Abraham, which stood on the Mesopotamian plain before the Flood, received its first settlers and […]
- Humans
From the December 6, 1930, issue
alt=”Click to view larger image”> ENGINEERS CAMOUFLAGE ARLINGTON BRIDGE DRAW Engineers put a span in the Arlington Memorial Bridge and then hid it. So cleverly designed and camouflaged is the million-dollar, double-bascule draw of the Arlington bridge, which is nearing completion here, that it is difficult for one to tell the span made of steel […]
