Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
The Seeds of Malaria
By studying the molecular footprints of evolution in parasites and human hosts, geneticists are casting light on when and how malaria became the menace it is.
- Health & Medicine
Protein may be target for Crohn’s therapy
A protein called macrophage migration inhibitory factor, or MIF, may play a role in Crohn's disease, a painful gut ailment.
- Health & Medicine
Attacking Alzheimer’s
Some researchers now suggest that the so-called amyloid hypothesis is overstated and that other entities, including tau tangles, are as important as beta-amyloid in Alzheimer's disease.
- Health & Medicine
Even high-normal blood pressure is too high
Blood pressure at the high end of what is defined as the normal range is closer to "high" than to "normal" in terms of risk of associated heart disease.
- Health & Medicine
Puffer Fish Genomes Swim into View
The tightly packed genomes of two puffer fish species have been deciphered.
- Health & Medicine
Brain Food
New food labeling will identify foods rich in choline, a nutrient that plays an integral role in learning and brain health.
- Health & Medicine
Epilepsy article wins award
The Epilepsy Foundation honored Science News writer Damaris Christensen with its magazine award for her article "Endgame for Epilepsy?"
- Health & Medicine
Beta-blockade guards burn victims’ muscle
A medication that reduces the risk of heart attack also can diminish a muscle-wasting metabolic response common among victims of severe trauma or illness.
- Health & Medicine
Team locates anthrax-receptor protein
Scientists have identified the protein that enables the anthrax toxin to attach to cells and trigger disease, while another team has mapped the molecular structure of the toxin component that does most of the damage to cells.
- Health & Medicine
Pregnancy spurs a tumor suppressor
Pregnancy hormones may prime breast cells to maintain a supply of p53, a cancer suppressor protein, thus accounting for why women who have undergone pregnancy generally have a lower breast cancer risk than do others.
- Health & Medicine
Hormone wards off immune cells in womb
A hormone known for its involvement in the brain's response to stress also plays a key role in shielding the developing embryo from its mother's immune system.
- Health & Medicine
AMA: Drugs are for anthrax, not fear
Doctors should not use antibiotics prophylactically against anthrax unless there is good reason to believe the individual had encountered the germs directly, the American Medical Association advises.
