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Historical records detailing past attitudes towards prostitution, homosexuality and gender issues

Experts will examine a range of sources such as the UK's first-ever sex survey from the 1940s and documents detailing the life of Josephine Butler, the Victorian feminist who campaigned for the welfare of prostitutes.

24 Aug 2006

Two more deaths from bird flu as Indonesia tries to track down souce of 'cluster' deaths

While Health officials in Indonesia are still trying to track down the source of infection in a cluster of six deaths in one family from H5N1 bird flu, tests show that two more people have also died of the same disease.

23 May 2006

Mystery of evolutionary growth in hominid brain size

Forget the textbook story about tool use and language sparking the dramatic evolutionary growth of the human brain. Instead, imagine ancient hominid children chasing frogs. Not for fun, but for food.

19 Feb 2006

Important skin color gene identified

With help from a common aquarium pet and a recently released online database of human genetic variation, a collaborative team of Penn State researchers has found what could be the most important skin color gene identified to date.

15 Dec 2005

Study confirms that couples using natural family planning have intercourse just as frequently as couples using other methods

Couples who use fertility awareness-based methods of family planning have sex just as often as couples who use other contraceptive methods -- they just time it differently, according to a new Georgetown University Institute for Reproductive Health study to be published in a forthcoming edition of the Journal of Biosocial Science.

11 Oct 2005

Halloween often lost on young kids

Halloween may seem like so much harmless fun, a time when adults enjoy laughing in the face of death, and implore their young children to do the same. According to a Penn State researcher, however, the humor of tombstones, monsters and other scary elements is often lost on kids at the ripe age of 6 or 7--many of whom don't find the holiday the least bit funny.

26 Sep 2005

Faster and more objective way to examine the surfaces of fossilized teeth

Using a powerful microscope and computer software, a team of scientists from Johns Hopkins, the University of Arkansas, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and elsewhere has developed a faster and more objective way to examine the surfaces of fossilized teeth, a practice used to figure out the diets of our early ancestors.

10 Aug 2005

Those old crooners were right, love really can make you crazy

According to scientists brain images show that falling in love can look for all the world like mental illness with a mixture of mania, dementia and obsession that cuts people off from friends and family prompting uncharacteristic behavior which could almost be mistaken for psychosis.

31 May 2005

Locals resist efforts to control the worst ever outbreak of Marburg

The World Health Organisation (WHO) have sent communications experts into Uige, the epicentre of the outbreak of Marburg epidemic to help Health experts in the fight to contain and eradicate the killer virus. It is hoped they will send a clear message to Angolans to take the necessary measures to fight the virus.

12 Apr 2005

World's first complete articulated Neanderthal skeleton

Anthropologists have constructed the world's first complete articulated Neanderthal skeleton to expand public and scientific understanding of the group, as well as of the differences between Neanderthals and modern humans.

9 Mar 2005

Study sheds light on growing pains and growth spurts

The existence of growth spurts and growing pains in children may be perpetually evident to parents, but their cause has lacked scientific explanation. A new study by Emory University anthropologist Michelle Lampl, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison now sheds some light on this childhood phenomena.

13 Feb 2005

Human Genome Project may have made traditional race-based measurements of human differences obsolete

New and sophisticated methods for studying the relationship between human genetic differences, the environment, health and behavior, all made possible by the completion of the Human Genome Project, have made traditional race-based measurements of human differences obsolete

17 Jan 2005

On average, American households waste 14 percent of their food purchases

As they sit down to their Thanksgiving Day dinner, many Americans will marvel at the cornucopia of food at their table. What many don't think about is how much food is wasted, not just on Thursday, but every day, from the beginning of the harvest to the scraps tossed into the garbage.

23 Nov 2004

Discovery of the oldest remains of a woman who died in childbirth

In ancient times, female death rates were particularly high and generally related to problems in maternity, such as complications during pregnancy, childbirth or the period of breast-feeding.

6 Oct 2004

A woman’s expectation of her life span can influence their babies’ gender

A study by biological anthropologists at University of Kent has revealed that contemporary, British women who believed they had a longer time to live, were more likely to give birth to a son than women who thought that they would die earlier.

5 Aug 2004

Paper makes a convincing case about the importance of older people in a society

Researchers at UC Riverside and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor have discovered a dramatic increase in human longevity that took place during the early Upper Paleolithic Period, around 30,000 B.C. that corresponds to an equally large increase in the evolutionary success and creativity of the group.

6 Jul 2004

Study will focus on issues of "marriage"' and "'fatherhood"

Experts affiliated with a new institute at Cornell University will closely examine a radically evolving social institution -- the modern family, with a special focus on marriage and fatherhood.

2 Jul 2004

Common weeds may be better than herbal cousins for preventing and curing a host of diseases

Unwanted, pulled or poisoned, the lowly weed is sometimes better than its highly touted “herbal” cousins for preventing and curing a host of diseases, according to University of Florida research.

10 Jun 2004

Risks of animal-human cross infection from food consumption "wolf nipple chips anyone"

Hungry? How about some bull testicles, or maybe some chameleon or guinea pig? Not to your liking? Well, in the world of food, what constitutes fine cuisine is a cultural determination. The French have horsemeat and frogs' legs, the Australians kangaroo and alligator, and the Chinese have water snake and civet cat.

16 Apr 2004