Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- 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.
- Health & Medicine
Researchers Probe Cell-Phone Effects
Scientists are trying to find out whether biological changes associated with cell-phone use represent health risks.
- Health & Medicine
AIDS drugs may cause bone loss
Using X rays to measure bone density in HIV-infected men, researchers find a possible link between bone loss and long-term use of protease inhibitors.
- Health & Medicine
HIV may date back to the 1930s
Genetic analysis of the AIDS virus suggests it first infected humans in the first third of the 20th century.
