Humans

  1. Health & Medicine

    Early malnutrition may impair infants’ mix of gut microbes

    Babies’ gut microbiomes fail to fully recover even after fending off bouts with malnutrition.

    By Nathan Seppa
  2. Neuroscience

    Stress and the susceptible brain

    Some of us bounce back from stress, while others never really recover. A new study shows that different brain activity patterns could make the difference.

    By Bethany Brookshire
  3. Health & Medicine

    Health risks of e-cigarettes emerge

    Research uncovers a growing list of chemicals that end up in an e-cigarette user’s lungs, and one study finds that an e-cigarette’s vapors can increase the virulence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

    By Janet Raloff
  4. Genetics

    Blind mole-rats are loaded with anticancer genes

    Genes of the long-lived blind mole-rat help explain how the animal evades cancer and why it lost vision.

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  5. Psychology

    Stereotypes might make ‘female’ hurricanes deadlier

    Precautions may get shelved by those in the path of severe storms with feminine names, leading some to suggest that storms should be named after animals.

    By Bruce Bower
  6. Health & Medicine

    Brain’s support cells play role in hunger

    Once considered just helpers for neurons, astrocytes sense the hormone leptin and can change mice’s appetites.

    By Laura Sanders
  7. Health & Medicine

    Your brain on marijuana: two views

    Many of the “facts” that people believe to be true about marijuana are not supported by science, and while the pro-pot lobby cherry-picks data to support its arguments (denying marijuana’s addictiveness, for example), so too do anti-marijuana groups, which play up pot’s dangers.

    By Eva Emerson
  8. Life

    Designer T cells emerge as weapons against disease

    Decades of attempts to boost the immune system’s ability to fight disease are finally starting to pay off. Reprogrammed T cells serve as new weapons against cancer and autoimmune diseases.

    By Susan Gaidos
  9. Tech

    Lasers heal damaged rodent teeth

    Handheld laser spurs stem cells into action, regrowing dentin in drilled teeth.

    By Meghan Rosen
  10. Archaeology

    First pants worn by horse riders 3,000 years ago

    A new study indicates horse-riding Asians wove and wore wool trousers by around 3,000 years ago.

    By Bruce Bower
  11. Health & Medicine

    Separating wheat from chaff in gluten sensitivity

    Some people who think they are sensitive to gluten might not be after all: Fermentable short chain carbohydrates, or FODMAPs, may be to blame in people with irritable bowel syndrome.

    By Bethany Brookshire
  12. Health & Medicine

    Baby’s first bacteria arrive sooner than we thought

    Forget what you’ve heard. The womb is most definitely not sterile.

    By Laura Sanders