Humans
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Proteins may warn of diabetic kidney disease risk
Patients who have high levels of compounds called TNF receptors in their blood have a heightened risk of developing renal failure, two studies suggest.
- Humans
Seaweed study fuels bioenergy enthusiasm
Munched by a manipulated microbe, ocean algae readily yield ethanol.
- Health & Medicine
Sleep solidifies bad feelings
A night of slumber reinforces not just traumatic memories but the negative emotions that go with them, one study finds.
- Psychology
Babies lip-read before talking
Tots acquire the gift of gab by matching adults’ mouth movements to spoken words.
- Psychology
Big score for the hot hand
Hot hands exist in professional volleyball and influence game strategy.
- Humans
Bush meat can be a viral feast
Monkeys and apes are considered edible game in many parts of Africa. As Africans have emigrated to other parts of the world, some have retained their love of this so-called bushmeat. A new study now finds that even when smoked, meat from nonhuman primates — from chimps to monkeys — can host potentially dangerous viruses. Smuggled imports confiscated at U.S. airports provided the samples tested in this investigation.
- Tech
Twitter kept up with Haiti cholera outbreak
Epidemiologists find that social media can be used to track disease outbreaks as they happen, even in countries with little infrastructure.
- Health & Medicine
Study tracks booze’s buzz in the brain
In both heavy and light drinkers, alcohol causes the release of morphinelike chemicals.
- Health & Medicine
Light pot smoking easy on lungs
Infrequent marijuana users show a slight improvement in breathing capacity and middling smokers had no change, a 20-year study shows.
- Psychology
Europeans’ heartfelt ignorance
Many people in nine countries don't know how to recognize or react to heart attacks and strokes.
- Health & Medicine
Drug gives rats booze-guzzling superpowers
Rodents that consume alcohol along with a compound derived from an ancient herbal remedy get less drunk, recover faster and appear less prone to addiction.
- Humans
Insurance payouts point to climate change
Natural disasters in 2011 exerted the costliest toll in history — a whopping $380 billion worth of losses from earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, tsunamis and more. Only a third of those costs were covered by insurance. And the tally ignores completely any expenses associated with sickness or injuries triggered by the disasters. And except for quake-related events, climate change appears to have played a role in the growing cost of disasters, insurers said.
