Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Mosquitoes Remade
Scientists reinvent agents of illness to become allies in fight against disease.
- Archaeology
Oldest pottery comes from Chinese cave
New dates show that East Asian hunter-gatherers fired up cooking vessels 20,000 years ago.
- Health & Medicine
Male contraceptive shows promise
Two hormones in gels applied to the skin effectively lower sperm counts, a study finds.
- Humans
Lead poisoning stymies condor recovery
California’s iconic comeback species may need human help as long as even a small percentage of the carcasses they eat contain lead shot.
- Health & Medicine
Endocrine Society Annual Meeting
Highlights from the 94th annual meeting held June 23-26 in Houston.
- Humans
What Silicon Valley can learn from Mother Russia
Imperial tax records from the last decades of the Empire offer clues to what makes a start-up succeed.
- Humans
Ozone: Heart of the matter
As reported this week, breathing elevated ozone levels can mess with the cardiovascular system, potentially putting vulnerable populations — such as the elderly and persons with diabetes or heart disease — at heightened risk of heart attack, stroke and sudden death from arrhythmias. Is this really new? Turns out it is.
- Psychology
Thirtysomethings flex their number sense
A mental feel for estimating amounts maxes out later in life and may influence math achievement.
- Health & Medicine
Testosterone therapy takes off pounds
A five-year study shows that men getting the hormone consistently lose weight.
- Health & Medicine
Learn to play piano in your sleep
That’s still impossible, but an experiment suggests hearing a previously learned ditty while snoozing improves later performance of the piece.
- Humans
De-papering environmental summits
One token — but highly visible — gesture toward sustainability at the UN's 2012 Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio was a request for all attendees to shrink their paper footprints. Apparently, most complied.
- Humans
Ancient North Africans got milk
Pottery study unveils early dairy practices among Saharan cattle herders.
