Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Bat killer hits endangered grays
The news on white-nose syndrome just keeps spiraling downward. The fungal infection, which first emerged six years ago, has now been confirmed in a seventh species of North American bats — the largely cave-dwelling grays (Myotis grisecens). The latest victims were struck while hibernating this past winter in two Tennessee counties.
- Humans
Harappans may have lived, died by monsoon
Waning of seasonal rains over millennia gave rise to a civilization and then doomed it, a new study suggests.
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- Humans
Family labels framed similarly across cultures
Despite differing languages, a trade-off between simplicity and usefulness of words defining kin relationships might be universal.
- Health & Medicine
Long-acting contraceptives best by far
Implants and IUDs outperform the pill, vaginal ring and patch as birth control options, a study finds.
- Life
No new smell cells
Other mammals constantly create new olfactory neurons as they learn new smells, but a new study suggests humans don’t.
- Health & Medicine
Thou can’t not covet
Wanting what others have may be hardwired in the brain, experiments suggest.
- Humans
Our increasingly not-so-little kids
Little kids are meant to get big. Just not too quickly. When overfeeding spurs the girth of young children, youngsters find themselves propelled down the road towards diabetes and heart disease, a new study finds. In just the past decade, for instance, the share of kids with diabetes or pre-diabetes skyrocketed from 9 percent to a whopping 23 percent.
- Health & Medicine
Severe sleep apnea tied to cancer risk
A chronic lack of oxygen caused by disrupted rest may explain the association, researchers say.
- Humans
From cancer to quantum, teens’ scientific feats celebrated
Winners of the 2012 Intel ISEF show the promise of science for improving the world.
- Life
Good cholesterol may not be what keeps the heart healthy
Genetic study suggests that higher levels of HDL aren’t directly responsible for the lower risk of cardiovascular disease seen in population studies.
- Humans
Redefining ‘concern’ over lead
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced May 16 that it would no longer designate any particular blood-lead value in children as representing a “level of concern.” Its justification: There is no threshold below which lead exposures are not a concern.
