Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Stress and sleepless nights
Insomnia is associated with increases in stress hormones, boosts that persist all day and night.
- Anthropology
Gene test probes Neandertal origins
A new DNA study supports the theory that Neandertals didn't contribute to the evolution of modern humans.
-
- Health & Medicine
DNA vaccine for measles shows promise
A measles vaccine consisting of just a couple of DNA strands proves effective in monkeys, possibly presenting an alternative or complementary vaccine for the standard immunization now used worldwide.
- Health & Medicine
Stress-prone? Altering the diet may help
Tailoring a diet to fuel the brain with the precursor of a mood-enhancing chemical may help vulnerable individuals cope with stress.
- Health & Medicine
Heart risks linked to infertility syndrome
Women with polycystic ovaries—commonly linked to infertility—are more likely than women without the disease to show early signs of heart disease.
- Health & Medicine
Being a dad comes naturally
Men whose wives are about to give birth show hormonal fluctuations that may predispose them to better parenting behavior.
- Health & Medicine
Do liver stem cells come from bone marrow?
Tests of liver tissue from people who've received liver or blood-marrow transplants show that stem cells in bone marrow can populate the liver as liver cells.
- Health & Medicine
The medicine isn’t going down
Only about a third of people diagnosed with type II diabetes are taking their medications often enough to keep their blood sugar concentrations under tight control.
- Health & Medicine
Darn that diet, anyway
Seemingly healthful foods—such as broiled chicken and baked fish—can contain high concentrations of compounds that may damage the cardiovascular system, and eating these foods can raise the concentration of these so-called advanced glycation end products in a person's blood.
- Health & Medicine
Singing the blues
After finding that people with diabetes are slightly more likely to have had an episode of depression in the past 11 years than similar people who have not developed diabetes, some researchers have made the controversial suggestion that depression may cause diabetes.
- Health & Medicine
Lifestyle can prevent diabetes…maybe
Losing weight and exercising more can help ward off diabetes—but other research suggests that it's hard to get people to make such lifestyle changes.
