Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Life
Monkeys can use basic logic to decipher the order of items in a list
Rhesus macaque monkeys don’t need rewards to learn and remember how items are ranked in a list, a mental feat that may prove handy in the wild.
- Health & Medicine
A new study challenges the idea that the placenta has a microbiome
A large study of more than 500 women finds little evidence of microbes in the placenta, contrary to previous reports on the placental microbiome.
- Health & Medicine
Positive attitudes about aging may pay off in better health
Research into the mind-body connection shows that attitude is everything when it comes to healthy aging.
- Health & Medicine
Readers inquire about measles, vaccine hesitancy and more
Readers had questions about vaccine-hesitant parents, measles and DNA sequencing.
- Science & Society
You’re only as old as you perceive yourself to be
Editor in Chief Nancy Shute discusses how people’s attitudes about aging can impact our physical health.
- Health & Medicine
Climate change could raise the risk of deadly fungal infections in humans
The rise of Candida auris, a deadly fungus spurring outbreaks in the United States and worldwide, may have been aided by climate change.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, a drug that crippled a generation found new life as a leprosy treatment
In 1969, a drug that crippled a generation found new life as a treatment for leprosy.
- Archaeology
‘Fruit from the Sands’ explores the Silk Road origins of apples, tea and more
A new book explains how many of today’s popular foods got started on Central Asia’s ancient Silk Road trade networks.
- Neuroscience
Boosting a gut bacterium helps mice fight an ALS-like disease
Gut bacteria may alter ALS symptoms for good or ill.
- Health & Medicine
Botox may relieve persistent pelvic pain caused by endometriosis
The wrinkle-smoothing treatment Botox may relieve pain from muscle spasms in the pelvic floor of women with endometriosis.
- Science & Society
Longer gaps between births can halve infant deaths in developing nations
Leaving more time between successive pregnancies matters for infant survival, but only in less-developed countries.
- Health & Medicine
Manipulating nerve cells makes mice ‘see’ something that’s not there
Using optogenetics to stimulate about 20 nerve cells causes mice to perceive nonexistent vertical or horizontal lines.
