Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Vanquishing a Virus: New drugs attack herpes infections
Scientists have identified a new class of compounds that stop herpes simplex virus from replicating.
- Health & Medicine
Diluted smallpox vaccine is potent
About 15 million doses of smallpox vaccine held by the U.S. government can be diluted to one-tenth their original concentration and still be effective for immunizing people.
- Health & Medicine
Pulse pressure linked to dialysis death rate
People on kidney dialysis who have high pulse pressure—the difference between the top and bottom numbers on a blood pressure reading—seem to be at a greater risk of dying than those with low pulse pressure.
- Humans
Web site debuts on junior high science
A new Web site reviews the accuracy of commonly used middle school physical science books and offers tips and assistance for teachers working from those texts.
- Health & Medicine
Blood Vessel Poisoning: Arsenic narrows artery that feeds brain
New research suggests that drinking arsenic-laden water can produce dangerous narrowing in the carotid artery, which channels blood through the neck to the brain.
- Health & Medicine
Scrambled Drugs: Transgenic chickens could lay golden eggs
Scientists have created transgenic chickens able to produce foreign proteins—and, potentially, pharmaceuticals—in their eggs.
- Archaeology
New World hunters get a reprieve
New radiocarbon evidence indicates that, beginning around 11,000 years ago, human hunters contributed to North American mammal extinctions that had already been triggered by pronounced climate shifts.
- Archaeology
Stone Age Siberians move up in time
Siberian sites previously thought to have been bases for early human excursions into North America may only date to about 11,300 years ago, when people have traditionally been assumed to have first reached Alaska.
- Health & Medicine
A tasty discovery about the tongue
Scientists can now explain how the tongue tastes the amino acids in proteins.
- Health & Medicine
Clotting protein hinders nerve repair
A blood-clotting protein called fibrin seems to exacerbate the regrowth problems that plague severed nerves.
- Health & Medicine
Aerial War against Disease
Researchers around the world are catching on to the idea of using satellites to predict where diseases may strike.
- Health & Medicine
Deciphering Virulence: Heart-harming bacteria flaunt unique viral genes
By documenting genetic variation among bacteria responsible for a heart-damaging illness known as rheumatic fever, researchers may have opened paths to new preventive measures and treatments.
