Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Fighting cancer from the cabbage patch
Extracts of foods belonging to the cabbage family can block the action of estrogen, a hormone that fuels many cancers.
- Health & Medicine
Stem-cell transplant works on lupus
Severe lupus can be reversed with a transplant of the patient's own bone marrow stem cells, after they're allowed to mature outside the body, and medication that neutralizes self-attacking immune cells.
- Health & Medicine
Old polio vaccine free of HIV, SIV
Three laboratories analyzing remaining samples of polio vaccine used in the late 1950s find that none contains any human or simian immunodeficiency virus, or chimpanzee DNA—making polio vaccine unlikely to be the cause of the initial HIV outbreak in central Africa.
- Humans
Postdocs warrant more status and support
A new study finds a pressing need to improve the pay and status of postdoctoral scholars.
- Health & Medicine
Blood-cell transplants slow kidney cancer
A new transplant technique that uses blood transfusions from a sibling combined with decreasing doses of immune-suppressing drugs enables some patients to fight off advanced kidney cancer.
- Archaeology
Maya palace suddenly expands
Archaeologists find a sprawling palace and other surprises at a 1,300-year-old Maya site in Guatemala.
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- Health & Medicine
Can poliovirus fix spinal cord damage?
Scientists have devised a version of the poliovirus that can deliver genes to motor neurons without harming them, a step toward a gene therapy that reawakens idle neurons in people with spinal cord damage.
- Archaeology
Ancient Site Holds Cannibalism Clues
An 800-year-old Anasazi site in Colorado yields contested evidence of cannibalism.
- Humans
Cutting edge chemistry rushes online
A new online server offers a place for communicating chemistry research to other scientists quickly and without peer review.
- Humans
Russia’s nuclear-safety issues spread
A leading Russian environmentalist, Aleksandr Nikitin, says Russia's problems with nuclear-waste management should concern people beyond that country's borders.
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