Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Bioengineered kidney transplanted into rat
Cleansed of cells and repopulated anew, bioengineered organ successfully produces urine.
- Life
New bird flu claims more victims
H7N9 influenza spreads to Beijing, may come from poultry and pigeons.
- Humans
Group size affects racial makeup of friend groups
Larger settings seem to promote segregation, simulation finds.
- Anthropology
American Association of Physical Anthropologists meeting
Perhaps the oldest swatch of hominid skin yet found and –tzi the iceman’s Neandertal genetics are among the highlights from the physical anthropology meeting.
- Humans
Ardi’s kind had a skull fit for a hominid
Study of reconstructed skull section puts 4.4-million-year-old species in human evolutionary family.
- Health & Medicine
Mental puzzles underlie music’s delight
MRI reveals brain’s processing, and its pleasure, when a person listens to an enjoyable new tune.
- Humans
Possible human ancestor in Australopithecus sediba
The hominid’s unusual build may place it in into humankind’s lineage.
- Chemistry
Malaria drug made by baker’s yeast
Fermentation process using bioengineered version of the fungus could become important new production method for artemisinin.
- Humans
Obama seeks R&D funding boost in tough times
The administration’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2014 lifts nondefense research spending by 9 percent.
- Humans
Pottery cooked from the start
Japanese sites yield late Stone Age evidence of people heating fish in ceramic vessels.
- Life
New technique gives see-through view into mouse brains
Replacing fatty molecules turns organs transparent, allowing study of structure and function at the same time.
- Health & Medicine
2013 American Association for Cancer Research meeting
Highlights from the annual AACR meeting include ovulation’s impact on cancer risk and an experimental drug’s promising performance against leukemia.
