All Stories by Bruce Bower
- Humans
Women have hormonal cues for baby cuteness
Premenopausal women and women taking oral contraceptives are especially sensitive to the cuteness of babies’ faces, partly thanks to raised levels of reproductive hormones, a new study suggests.
- Humans
When dreams come true
People see hidden truths in their dreams and use dreams to guide waking attitudes and behaviors, especially when dream content supports pre-existing beliefs, researchers say.
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- Health & Medicine
Parenting shapes genetic risk for drug use
A three-year study of black teens in rural Georgia finds that involved, supportive parenting powerfully buffers the tendency of some genetically predisposed youngsters to use drugs.
- Health & Medicine
Newborns pick up the beat
Electrical measurements of sleeping newborn babies’ brains indicate that the 2- to 3-day-olds automatically detect a regular beat in rhythmic sequences, possibly reflecting an early capacity for learning music.
- Health & Medicine
Neural paths for borderline personality disorder
A new brain-imaging study indicates that unusual neural activity linked to emotion, attention and conflict-resolution systems underlies a common psychiatric condition known as borderline personality disorder.
- Life
Capuchin monkeys choose the right tool for the nut
New field experiments indicate that wild capuchin monkeys choose the most effective stones for cracking nuts, suggesting deep evolutionary roots for the use of stone tools.
- Archaeology
Armenian cave yields ancient human brain
A team of scientists has excavated 6,000-year-old artifacts and three human skulls, including one containing a preserved brain, from a cave bordering Armenia’s Arpa River.
- Archaeology
Early chemical warfare comes to light
Investigations of a Roman garrison in Syria conquered in a massive assault by Persians nearly 2,000 years ago have uncovered evidence of the earliest known chemical warfare.
- Archaeology
Shipwrecks harbor evidence of ancient sophistication
Research on shipwrecks from two ancient, submerged harbors shows that frame-based shipbuilding emerged surprisingly early and then became more sophisticated within a few hundred years.
- Humans
Migrants settled New World in tandem
A genetic investigation of two rare types of mitochondrial DNA in Native Americans suggests that people first entered the Americas in two groups, following separate routes.
- Humans
Stone Age tools go south
Diamond-mining pits have yielded stone artifacts old enough to suggest that hand axe production started 1.6 million years ago in southern Africa, not just in eastern Africa.
