Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Study bolsters head injury, Alzheimer’s link
Veterans who suffered a moderate or severe concussion during World War II face a heightened risk of Alzheimer's disease when they reach old age.
- Health & Medicine
Interferon delays multiple sclerosis
In some people who show early-warning signs of multiple sclerosis, the drug interferon-beta-1a seems to delay or even prevent the disease from becoming full-blown.
- Health & Medicine
Pill boosts cancer risk in some women
Women who took oral contraceptives before 1975, and whose mother or sister had breast cancer between 1944 and 1952, have triple the likelihood of getting breast cancer as compared with similar women who didn't take the pill.
- Health & Medicine
Gene helps alcohol help the heart
A genetic study indicates that moderate consumption of alcohol helps keep the heart healthy.
- Health & Medicine
Fetal cells pop up in mom’s thyroid
A woman's thyroid gland contains male cells, suggesting that cells from her son passed into her when he was a fetus.
- Archaeology
Early farmers crop up in Jordan
An ancient site discovered in southern Jordan dating back more than 9,000 years may help to illuminate the origins of farming in the Middle East.
- Archaeology
Agriculture’s roots go tropical
Tropical-forest dwellers in Central America may have cultivated manioc and other root crops as many as 7,000 years ago.
-
- Health & Medicine
AIDS Vaccine Tests Well in Monkeys
An experimental AIDS vaccine bolstered with two immune proteins protects rhesus monkeys from the disease even when they are exposed to a combination of simian and human immunodeficiency virus.
- Health & Medicine
Making scents of Alzheimer’s
Among people with mild symptoms of memory loss, a limited ability to recognize smells—along with an inability to detect the disability—has been linked to the future development of Alzheimer's.
- Health & Medicine
Cell therapy not just for Parkinson’s
Transplanted nerve cells can survive in the brains of people who have suffered strokes and may alleviate some brain damage.
- Health & Medicine
Immune response in brain sparks nausea
Ailments ranging from the common cold to many types of cancer can make people nauseous, an effect that may occur because signals from the brain suppress the muscle contractions required for digestion.
