Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
How trans fats oozed into our diet and out again
Trans fats are no longer “generally recognized as safe” by the FDA. In a world where we want to have our doughnuts and eat them, too, it’s back to the drawing board, and back to butter.
- Health & Medicine
Resveratrol’s anticancer benefits show up in low doses
Small amounts of the compound found in red wine and grapes prove protective against colon cancer in mice fed a high-fat diet.
- Anthropology
Remains of Jamestown leaders discovered
Colonial-era graves reveal leading figures in founding of English America.
- Science & Society
Autism’s journey from shadows to light
Science writer Steve Silberman considers autism in the modern era of neurodiversity - a movement to respect neurological differences as natural human variation - framing the relatively progressive autistic experience of today against the the conditions oppressed past.
- Health & Medicine
Bystanders deliver on CPR
People suffering from cardiac arrest are more likely to survive without brain damage if a bystander performs CPR, new studies suggest.
- Genetics
Research teams duel over Native American origins
Genetic link between Australia and the Amazon fuels two interpretations of Native American origins.
- Health & Medicine
Death by brain-eating amoeba is an inside job
Immune response to brain-eating amoeba may be the real killer.
- Neuroscience
Breakdown of Alzheimer’s protein slows with age
It takes longer to get rid of an Alzheimer’s-associated protein with age.
- Health & Medicine
The weekly grind of social jetlag could be a weighty issue
Even those of us with nine-to-five jobs don’t always respect our body’s clocks. Research shows that even slight disruptions might be associated with obesity.
- Health & Medicine
Mosquitoes can get a double dose of malaria
Carrying malaria may make mosquitoes more susceptible to infection with a second strain of the parasite that causes the disease.
- Neuroscience
Bundles of cells hint at biological differences of autistic brains
Using miniature organoids that mimic the human brain, scientists have identified developmental differences between autistic children and their non-autistic family members.
- Health & Medicine
In children, a sense of time starts early
Minutes, hours, days and years start to take on new meaning as children acquire a deeper concept of time.
