Humans

  1. Health & Medicine

    Cancer clue: RNA-destroying enzyme may thwart prostate-tumor growth

    Scientists have found a mutated gene that predisposes men of some families to prostate cancer.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Painful Thoughts

    It may not surprise people terrified by a visit to the dentist that one of the top pain research groups at the National Institutes of Health is located within the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research. Check out the group’s history in NIDCR’s fascinating primer on the science of pain. Go to: http://history.nih.gov/exhibits/pain/

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  3. Humans

    Official chooses Nevada for nuclear waste

    On Jan. 10, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham notified Nevada's Governor Kenny Guinn by telephone that he intends to recommend that southwestern Nevada's Yucca Mountain site serve as the nation's long-term geological depository for high-level nuclear waste.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Nicotine metabolism shows ethnic bias

    A comparison of Latino, white, and Chinese-American smokers suggests that people of East Asian descent are apt to clear nicotine from their blood more gradually than the other smokers do, thereby staving off a craving for the next cigarette.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Gene Variant Tied to Human Aging

    Variants of a gene linked to mouse aging are more prevalent in elderly people than in newborns, suggesting that the gene influences human aging or specific age-related illnesses.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Cloning’s ups and downs

    Dolly, the world's first cloned mammal, has developed arthritis, and two biotech firms have turned to cloning in their attempt to create pigs with organs that human bodies won't reject when transplanted.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Cancer fighter reveals a dark side

    Overactivity of a tumor-suppressing gene shortens the lifespan of mice.

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  8. Humans

    From the January 16, 1932, issue

    A PHARAOH’S RIGHTHAND MAN Add the name of Ken-Amun, ambitious Egyptian politician, a Pharaoh’s righthand man, to the list of unusual personalities from ancient Egypt. Ken-Amun’s tomb, cut into a rocky hillside in the Valley of the Kings, has been known for almost a century, but has been strangely neglected. Now, it has been thoroughly […]

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  9. Anthropology

    Stone Age signs of complexity

    Ancient engravings found in South Africa support the theory that humans began to think and behave in symbolic ways a surprisingly long time ago.

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  10. Anthropology

    The gene that came to stay

    A gene thought by some scientists to foster a bold, novelty-seeking personality, as well as attention-deficit hyperactivity (ADHD), apparently spread substantially in human populations over roughly the past 40,000 years.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Viruses stop antibiotic-resistant bacteria

    Bacteriophages, viruses that destroy bacteria, can protect mice from bacteria that are impervious to antibiotics.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Genes make potential target in lymph cancer

    Scientists looking for DNA variations in a cancer called diffuse large B-cell lymphoma have found that excess activity in certain genes may indicate whether the disease will be fatal.

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