Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Archaeology
The oldest known dice date back about 12,000 years in North America
A study of ancient artifacts suggests Native American dice games began thousands of years earlier than previously documented.
- Health & Medicine
Digital heart twins can guide a lifesaving procedure
Heart replicas helped doctors spot good targets for ablation in 10 patients. Months later, all of them are free of sustained faulty rhythms.
- Science & Society
Pronatalists want more babies. Their solutions aren’t rooted in science
Conservative pronatalists want a return to the traditional nuclear family. But that family structure is at odds with how humans evolved.
- Paleontology
Early apes may not have evolved in East Africa
Fossil jaw remains found in Egypt suggest that the earliest modern apes evolved in North Africa, not in East Africa where most fossils have been found.
- Science & Society
Social media can be addictive, a jury finds. Research hints at a link
Instagram and YouTube intentionally designed social media platforms to hook users, a landmark court case found. A pediatrician explains the ruling’s impact.
- Health & Medicine
Start cholesterol tests in childhood, new guidelines say
The idea is to control bad cholesterol early in life. Additional tests are also recommended to provide a clearer picture of risk.
- Animals
When were dogs domesticated? The oldest known dog DNA offers clues
Two new studies suggest that genetically stable dogs were living among humans in Europe by about 14,000 years ago.
- Archaeology
Neandertals made antibacterial ointment, but may not have known it
A team of scientists re-created the way Neandertals made birch tar and found its antibacterial properties could fight off skin infections.
- Health & Medicine
Amid vaccine policy whiplash, here’s how a pediatrician talks to families
A court ruling that blocks Trump administration vaccine policy is a win for science. But much work remains to rebuild trust in vaccines.
- Health & Medicine
GLP-1 microdosers are chasing longevity
Experimenters hope to harness the powerful effects of medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy at doses smaller than those studied most.
- Archaeology
A new study questions when people first reached South America
Data suggest people lived at Chile’s Monte Verde site thousands of years later than thought, challenging key “pre-Clovis” evidence. Not all agree.
- Health & Medicine
Are pig organs the future of transplantation?
Each year, thousands of people in the U.S. die waiting for donated organs. A new book shares how organs from other species could change that.
