Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Activity trackers fall short in weight-loss trial
In a two-year study, wearable activity monitors didn’t help young adults lose more weight.
- Neuroscience
Brain’s physical structure may help guide its wiring
The brain’s stiffness helps dictate how nerve cells grow, a study suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Mixing Pokémon Go and driving isn’t safe
Pokémon Go alters reality to driver’s detriment, a new study finds.
- Archaeology
Painting claimed to be among Australia’s oldest known rock art
A painting on a cave’s ceiling may be one of Australia’s earliest examples of rock art, according to researchers who used an ancient wasps’ nest to date the art.
- Health & Medicine
Maybe you don’t need to burp your baby
Everybody does it. But burping babies after a meal may not cut down on crying or spit-ups, a study suggests.
- Archaeology
Oldest indigo-dyed fabric found
South American society was first known to use complex dye process on fabrics.
- Health & Medicine
Panel outlines research priorities for ‘Cancer Moonshot’
Recommendations for President Barack Obama’s Cancer Moonshot include improved data sharing, focus on immunotherapy and commitment to patient engagement.
- Neuroscience
Brain training can alter opinions of faces
Covert neural training could shift people’s opinions of faces.
- Life
Fossils hint at India’s crucial role in primate evolution
Ancient fossils from coal mine in India offer clues to what the common ancestor of present-day primates might have looked like.
- Genetics
Genetic surgery is closer to reality
A molecular scalpel called CRISPR/Cas9 has made gene editing possible.
- Health & Medicine
Readers contemplate aging research
Aging research, dino guts and Earth's quasisatellite in reader feedback.
- Animals
Bonobos adept at nut cracking
Bonobos demonstrate their overlooked nut-cracking skills in an African sanctuary.
