Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Archaeology
Ancient Clovis people may have taken tool cues from earlier Americans
Ancient Americans’ spearpoints may have heralded later Clovis weapons.
- Life
Why some people may be more susceptible to deadly C. difficile infections
Proline, a type of amino acid, increases when gut microbe mixes are disturbed, giving this pathogen a ready food source.
- Health & Medicine
Teens use Juul e-cigarettes much more often than other vaping products
Such devices are more popular among youth than other e-cigarettes or regular cigarettes, a study finds.
- Health & Medicine
An eye disorder may have given Leonardo da Vinci an artistic edge
An analysis of portraits believed to portray Leonardo da Vinci offers evidence that the artist had exotropia, in which one eye turns outward.
- Life
How to make organ transplants last
New strategies aim to help transplant recipients keep their organs healthy with fewer (or no) immune suppressing drugs.
- Health & Medicine
New therapies pack a triple-drug punch to treat cystic fibrosis
In testing, a triple-drug therapy significantly improved lung function in cystic fibrosis patients with the most common disease-causing mutation.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, the safety of artificial sweeteners was fiercely debated
Scientists are still learning more about the health effects of chemical sweeteners
- Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence crowdsources data to speed up drug discovery
A new AI that judges whether drugs will interact with certain proteins can train on data from multiple sources while keeping that info secret.
- Archaeology
The water system that helped Angkor rise may have also brought its fall
A complex water system magnified flooding’s disruption of the medieval Cambodian city of Angkor.
- Astronomy
Readers wonder about a hydrogen wall, pig lung transplants and more
Readers had questions about a glow at the edge of the solar system, pig lung transplants, the use of the word promiscuous and more.
- Health & Medicine
A mysterious polio-like disease has sickened as many as 127 people in the U.S.
Medical experts are trying to trace the cause of 62 confirmed cases of acute flaccid myelitis this year.
- Archaeology
An ancient child’s ‘vampire burial’ included steps to prevent resurrection
A 10-year-old skeleton in a Roman cemetery had a stone placed in its mouth to prevent the youngster from rising from the dead, researchers say.
