Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Lab tool may spawn new antiviral drugs
Short strands of RNA can be used to stop viruses such as HIV.
- Health & Medicine
Breast-feeding has protective bonus
Breast-feeding appears to help ward off breast cancer.
- Humans
From the August 6, 1932, issue
WEIRD STINK-BUG PARENTS PRODUCE CURIOUS EGGS “Like parent, like child,” is one of the oldest and best-known folk-proverbs. It holds outside the human realm, too. For instance, the pair of stink-bugs which Cornelia Clarke’s magnifying camera lens caught for the cover of this issue of the Science News Letter are weird enough little monsters, in […]
- Health & Medicine
Obesity and Genetics
Studies show that genes are a significant factor in developing obesity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provide an online guide to the problem of obesity and insights into current research on the genetics of obesity. Go to: http://www.cdc.gov/genomics/training/perspectives/obesity.htm
- Health & Medicine
Surprise! Obesity (and Inactivity) Can Spur Cancers
Some 60 percent of U.S. adults say they’re worried at the prospect of developing cancer, yet only 6 percent recognize that being overweight is a leading predisposing factor. That’s one finding from a June survey, commissioned by the American Institute for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C. The survey was unveiled on July 11 at a […]
- Health & Medicine
Retina Rescue: Adult stem cells form blood vessels in the eye
Stem cells derived from bone marrow can grow into new blood vessels in the eyes of mice, suggesting a way to treat eye diseases in people.
- Humans
Terrorism Repercussions: Scientists consider threats, opportunities after Sept. 11
A new report from the American Association for the Advancement of Science considers the potential effects on academic research of government policies proposed in response to the terrorism attack of Sept. 11, 2001.
- Health & Medicine
Fat Chance: Cancer drugs may also thwart obesity
Drugs now undergoing testing as a cancer therapy because they thwart new blood vessel growth may also be a treatment for obesity.
- Health & Medicine
Viral Survivor
Epstein-Barr virus, the cause of diseases ranging from mononucleosis to several kinds of cancer, has begun to reveal how it enters human cells and protects itself from the immune system.
- Humans
From the July 30, 1932, issue
LAYMAN TAKES GREAT INTEREST IN VIEWING TOTAL ECLIPSE When, on the afternoon of Wednesday, August 31, the shadow of the moon sweeps across eastern Canada and New England at the rate of some 2,000 miles an hour, hiding the sun for a little over a minute and a half, probably millions of people will see […]
- Health & Medicine
For Failing Hearts: Gene therapy stops decline in animals
Tests in hamsters have raised hopes for creating a gene therapy to stop the common downward spiral of chronic heart failure.
- Health & Medicine
Heart damage tied to immune reaction
Researchers in Brazil have identified immune proteins that flood the heart tissues of many people with Chagas disease, suggesting a cause of this deadly complication of the parasitic tropical disease.
