Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Animals

    With a little convincing, rats can detect tuberculosis

    TB-sniffing rats prove more accurate in detecting infection, especially in children, than the most commonly used diagnostic tool.

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  2. Humans

    The window for learning a language may stay open surprisingly long

    A crucial period for language learning may extend well into teen years, a new study suggests.

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  3. Animals

    These caterpillars march. They fluff. They scare London.

    Oak processionary moths have invaded England and threatened the pleasure of spring breezes.

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  4. Health & Medicine

    Is it an invasion of your kids’ privacy to post pictures of them on social media?

    Growing up in an online world doesn’t mean that kids don’t care about privacy. Parents should keep this in mind when posting pictures of their kids to social media.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    50 years ago, starving tumors of oxygen proposed as weapon in cancer fight

    Starving cancerous tumors of oxygen was proposed to help kill them. But the approach can make some cancer cells more aggressive.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    An enzyme involved in cancer and aging gets a close-up

    The structure of telomerase, described with the greatest detail yet, may give researchers clues to cancer treatments and other telomerase-related illnesses.

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  7. Genetics

    Adapting to life in the north may have been a real headache

    A cold-sensing protein has adapted to different local climates, also affecting risk of migraine.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    FDA approves the first smallpox treatment

    Concerns about bioterrorism fueled the development of the first treatment for smallpox.

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  9. Anthropology

    Butchered rhino bones place hominids in the Philippines 700,000 years ago

    Stone tools and butchery marks point to an ancient hominid presence on islands in the Philippines.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Synthetic opioids involved in more deaths than prescription opioids

    Winning a ghastly contest, synthetic opioids become most common drug involved in U.S. overdose deaths, bypassing prescription opioids in 2016.

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  11. Archaeology

    How a backyard pendulum saw sliced into a Bronze Age mystery

    A saw no one has seen may have built Bronze Age Greek palaces.

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  12. Anthropology

    Anthropologists in Peru have unearthed the largest known child sacrifice

    The largest known mass sacrifice of children occurred around 550 years ago in the Chimú empire in Peru.

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