Humans

  1. Humans

    Lines in the sand may have been made for walking

    The ancient Nazca culture’s celebrated desert drawings include a labyrinth meant to be strolled, not seen.

    By Bruce Bower
  2. Health & Medicine

    Drug breaks up Alzheimer’s-like deposits in mice

    Recent failed trials of a similar approach in humans fuel skepticism that patients will benefit.

    By Laura Sanders
  3. Humans

    This snowbird is really going SOUTH

    Many people of a certain age (like my folks) enjoy flying south to warmer climes when winter weather threatens. I’m also flying south this December — but not to warm up. As a guest of the National Science Foundation, I’ll be checking out summer in the really deep South: Antarctica. Temps expected at certain sites I’m scheduled to visit, such as the South Pole, threaten to surpass the worst that my hometown will encounter in the dead of winter.

    By Janet Raloff
  4. Health & Medicine

    Smoking hurts teen girls’ bones

    Adolescents who use cigarettes seem to accumulate less bone mineral than those who don’t.

    By Nathan Seppa
  5. Life

    Gut bacteria may affect cardiovascular risk

    An abundance of antioxidant-producing microbes seems to keep plaques from breaking free and causing heart attacks and stroke.

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  6. Humans

    Help Wanted: Must play well with high-powered coworkers

    Leisure activities make or break job applicants at major banking, legal and consulting outfits.

    By Bruce Bower
  7. Health & Medicine

    Simulated brain mimics human quirks

    Model representing 2.5 million neurons performs calculations, issues instructions for a behavior, and then expands its decision into action.

    By Laura Sanders
  8. Humans

    Genetic diversity exploded in recent millennia

    Among hundreds of thousands of DNA variants identified in a study, a large majority arose in the past 5,000 years.

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  9. Health & Medicine

    Auditory test predicts coma awakening

    While all patients in a new study could discriminate between sounds early on, those whose ability improved during the first 48 hours wound up recovering.

    By Tanya Lewis
  10. Earth

    Mexican silver made it into English coins

    Chemical tests of currency help reveal where New World riches flowed.

    By Alexandra Witze
  11. Psychology

    Highlights from the Psychonomic Society annual meeting

    Summaries from the conference held November 15-18 in Minneapolis.

    By Bruce Bower
  12. Psychology

    Word-detecting baboons are a tough read

    New models offer contrasting views of monkeys’ ability to identify frequently seen letter pairs.

    By Bruce Bower