Humans

  1. Health & Medicine

    Weaker brain links found in psychopaths

    Decreased communication between emotional and executive centers may contribute to the mental disorder.

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  2. Humans

    Germs’ persistence: Nothing to sneeze at

    Years ago, I read (probably in Science News) that viruses can’t survive long outside their hosts. That implied any surface onto which a sneezed-out germ found itself — such as the arm of a chair, kitchen counter or car-door handle — would effectively decontaminate itself within hours to a day. A pair of new flu papers now indicates that although many germs will die within hours, none of us should count on it. Given the right environment, viruses can remain infectious — potentially for many weeks, one of the studies finds.

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  3. Humans

    Cooking can be surprisingly forgiving

    Network analysis confirms deviations from the recipe are quite feasible.

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  4. Chemistry

    Radiation sickness treatment shows promise

    The regimen could be used to protect large numbers of people in the aftermath of major accidents such as Chernobyl or Fukushima.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Getting the picture of how someone died

    CT scans can often reveal a clear cause of death, possibly making some autopsies unnecessary, British researchers find.

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  6. Life

    Unraveling synesthesia

    Tangled senses may have genetic or chemical roots, or both.

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  7. Humans

    Matt Crenson, Reconstructions

    Tools tell a more complicated tale of the origin of the human genus.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Coffee delivers jolt deep in the brain

    Caffeine strengthens electrical signals in a portion of the hippocampus, a study in rats finds.

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  9. Humans

    Two feet or four, software is the same

    All walking animals use the same basic nerve patterns to put one leg in front of the other(s).

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  10. Psychology

    Babies may benefit from moms’ lasting melancholy

    Fetuses pick up on maternal depression and thrive after birth if mothers don’t get better, a new study suggests.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Highlights from the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting

    Stress and motherhood, tandem MRIs, the memory benefits of resveratrol and more from the organization's meeting November 12-16 in Washington, D.C.

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  12. Health & Medicine

    Busting blood clots with a nanoparticle

    An experimental technology that delivers medication directly to a dangerous blockage might augment heart attack treatment, a new study finds.

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