Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Simple steps can offer health benefits
Studies find that even small changes in eating habits and movement can lower risk of heart disease.
- Health & Medicine
Dropping blood pressure to 120 lowers heart woes, data confirm
Aggressive treatment to lower systolic blood pressure to 120 reduces risk of heart attack, but causes some side effects.
- Health & Medicine
Antibodies to fight Alzheimer’s may have unexpected consequences
Alzheimer’s-targeted antibodies make neurons misbehave even more, a study of mice shows.
- Life
Gene editing helps a baby battle cancer
Doctors used molecular scalpels to tweak T cells to target leukemia but not harm the patient.
- Health & Medicine
Young babies live in a world unto themselves
Young babies don’t let information from the outside throw off their touch perception, a finding that has clues for how babies experience the world.
- Anthropology
Ancient hominids used wooden spears to fend off big cats
Saber-toothed cat remains suggest ancient hominids used wooden spears as defensive weapons.
- Health & Medicine
Parasite gives a man cancer
Tapeworms can kick parasitism up a notch to become cancer, a case in Colombia shows.
- Neuroscience
Blood exerts a powerful influence on the brain
Instead of just responding to the energy needs of neurons, the blood can have a direct and powerful influence on the brain.
- Anthropology
Early globalization on display in history of Eurasian civilization
It was a long, strange trip from the first Eurasian farmers to the modern world.
- Psychology
No, cheese is not just like crack
Recent news reports claimed that a study shows cheese is addictive. But the facts behind the research show cheese and crack have little in common.
- Anthropology
Petite primate fossil could upend ideas about ape evolution
Ancient fossils suggest modern apes descended from a small, gibbonlike creature.
- Anthropology
Synchronized dancing boosts pain tolerance
Dancing in sync to high energy routines increase pain tolerance and helps people bond as a group, a study suggests.
