Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Olfactory cells aid spine healing in rats
Injections of olfactory ensheathing glial cells from the brain help severed spinal cords heal in rats.
- Health & Medicine
Is Snoring a DiZZZease?
Snoring may trigger high blood pressure, which can lead to heart disease or stroke.
- Health & Medicine
Cell transplants combat diabetes in mice
Scientists have successfully reversed diabetes in mice by harvesting immature pancreatic cells that make insulin from one mouse, growing them in culture, and transplanting them into a mouse with the disease, which then recedes.
- Health & Medicine
HIV sexual spread exploits immune sentinels
The virus that causes AIDS latches onto a protein called DC-SIGN to hitch a ride on immune cells in mucus membranes and spread through the body.
- Health & Medicine
Fused cells hold promise of cancer vaccines
A vaccine composed of tumor cells fused to immune cells has helped several people survive advanced kidney cancer.
- Health & Medicine
Antibodies fight Ebola virus in mouse test
Specially designed antibodies can thwart Ebola virus in mice by binding to a glycoprotein on the surface of virus-infected cells, suggesting a potential treatment for the lethal disease.
- Archaeology
Ancient Asian Tools Crossed the Line
Excavations in China yield surprising finds of 800,000-year-old stone hand axes.
- Health & Medicine
Hear, Hear
A 14-year study of twin babies shows definitively for the first time that there's a link between middle ear infections and heredity.
- Health & Medicine
Marrow Can Hide Breast Cancer Cells
Breast cancer patients who have stray cancer cells in bone marrow are more likely to die of cancer or have a recurrence of cancer elsewhere in the body than are breast cancer patients not harboring such cells.
- Archaeology
Vase shows that ancients dug fossils, too
A painting on an ancient Corinthian vase may be the first record of a fossil find.
- Health & Medicine
Pancreatic enzymes may play role in shock
Pancreatic enzymes used for digestion may cause shock when they leach out of the small intestine and form a substance that activates white blood cells.
- Humans
R&D budget should ease biomed envy
President Clinton's science budget for 2001 proposes to narrow a gap that's yawned in recent years between lusher funding for biomedicine and leaner support for the physical sciences.
