Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Health & Medicine

    Cooking Science

    The Exploratorium’s “Science of Cooking” Web pages offer all sorts of advice on how to improve your cooking–with a pinch of science. Information, recipes, and activities focus on spices, bread, meat, eggs, and more. Experience the thrill of pickle making and learn about a zesty dish called kimchi. Explore the science of cooking your holiday […]

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Schizophrenia spurs imaging network

    Thanks to a federal grant, a team of researchers will establish a national database of brain images that will allow for expanded investigations of the neural basis of schizophrenia.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    Old Drug, New Uses?

    A hormone called erythropoietin, long used to treat anemia, also seems to protect against nerve damage and holds promise as a new therapy for stroke and spinal cord injury.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    First Line of Defense: Hints of primitive antibodies

    After looking in primitive marine invertebrates that are considered to be close relatives to vertebrates, immunologists find families of genes that might provide clues as to how early immune systems evolved.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Coconspirator? Genital herpes linked to cervical cancer

    Having a genital herpes infection doubles the risk of cervical cancer among women who have human papillomavirus.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Nervous tics in the heart

    The irregular heartbeats sometimes triggered after a heart attack may be caused by abnormal nerve growth in heart tissue damaged by the attack.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Waiting to exhale

    A breath test that measures the activity of an enzyme involved in breaking down drugs in a person's body may help doctors minimize side effects from potent drugs such as docetaxel.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Young Women Don’t Bone Up on Soy

    Among the many reported nutritional benefits of diets rich in soy is a strengthening of bone in postmenopausal women. For these Golden Girls, who face an increasing risk of osteoporosis, soy-based foods can provide much-needed assistance in limiting the inevitable loss of bone. Although soybeans are best known for their oil, their protein is also […]

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  9. Humans

    From the November 5, 1932, issue

    FIELD MUSEUM VISITORS SEE BIT OF ABYSSINIA Visitors to Chicago can make an effortless side trip to the wilds of Abyssinia by walking down the Carl Akeley Memorial Hall of African Animals in the Museum of Natural History. At the end, a remarkable new group of African mammals has been arranged so as to give […]

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  10. Archaeology

    Digging into Ancient Texts

    For both scholars and amateur archaeologists, the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative Web site offers fascinating glimpses of a distant past. Visitors can view images of thousands of carefully catalogued cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia. The texts include early creation myths, legal codes, medical prescriptions, and recipes for beer. Many are more mundane–ledgers, deeds, receipts, and lists […]

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  11. Humans

    Motor City hosts top science fair winners

    The 2000 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair winners were announced in Detroit.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Two studies offer some cell-phone cautions

    A British review of research gave cell-phone safety a guarded endorsement, while new findings indicate that radiation from older cell phones can trigger a stress-response gene, at least in animals.

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