Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Support goes a long way to boost birth control effectiveness
The HER Salt Lake Contraceptive Initiative’s approach, which centered the user and made refills easy, meant all types of methods worked well.
- Archaeology
Neandertal babies were a lot like ours — but didn’t stay that way
Two studies of Neandertal remains suggest their newborns were about the same size as those of modern humans but developed faster through infancy.
- Health & Medicine
Many U.S. teens underestimate fentanyl’s deadly risk
A majority of 8th-graders and roughly a third of 10th- and 12th-graders do not see great risk in using fentanyl once or twice, a study reports.
- Anthropology
‘Hobbits’ likely scavenged dragons’ kills
Homo floresiensis may have scavenged Komodo dragon leftovers instead of hunting small elephant relatives.
- Health & Medicine
Acetaminophen in pregnancy shows no link to autism or ADHD, again
Reassuring evidence on acetaminophen’s safety in pregnancy keeps growing, with another study that compares siblings with different prenatal exposures.
- Archaeology
We’ve had fire for longer than we thought
Archaeologists have unearthed new evidence that indicates hominids used fire up to 1.79 million years ago.
- Health & Medicine
Even ‘safe’ air pollution levels may affect heart health
An imaging study found early signs of coronary artery disease in people in Canada breathing air that regulators consider clean.
- Health & Medicine
The New World screwworm has returned to the U.S. Now what?
At least a dozen animals have been found with the flesh-eating maggots. It could take more than a year to eradicate the parasite again, experts warn.
- Health & Medicine
A deadly fungus that can infect cats and people is spreading
It’s just a matter of time before Sporothrix brasiliensis reaches the U.S. a CDC expert says.
- Archaeology
The oldest known plague outbreak struck hunter-gatherers 5,500 years ago
Plague DNA in ancient graves near Siberia's Lake Baikal suggests the disease threatened people long before farming and crowded settlements.
- Health & Medicine
A blood test for dementia may tell you if you have more than one type
AI helped researchers develop an experimental blood test that might let doctors diagnose overlapping dementias.
- Health & Medicine
Why more male than female newborns may get the crucial vitamin K shot
Vitamin K lowers the risk of bleeding, including in a circumcision. That procedure may explain a disparity in which infants are more likely to get the shot.
