Humans

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Health & Medicine

    B12 shortage linked to cognitive problems

    Subtle B12 deficiency plagues a surprising share of the elderly and may harm the brain, studies suggest.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    Nose divides sweet from foul

    The way scent-detection machinery is laid out suggests that people are born with some innate olfactory preferences.

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  3. Health & Medicine

    The Probabilistic Mind

    Human brains evolved to deal with doubt.

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  4. Life

    XMRV tie to chronic fatigue debunked

    A virus that was tied to the mysterious syndrome by 2009 research appears to have been a laboratory contaminant.

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  5. Humans

    Humans reached Asia in two waves

    New genetic data show that some early migrants interbred with a mysterious Neandertal sister group.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Body & Brain

    When the brain learns to feel pain, kids’ effect on paternal testosterone and more in this week’s news.

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  7. Humans

    BPA: What to make of pollutant-laced kids’ foods

    The San Francisco-based Breast Cancer Fund has just released some provocative data on the presence of bisphenol A — a hormone-mimicking pollutant — in every brand-name canned food it tested.

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  8. Health & Medicine

    Ringing in ears may have deeper source

    Tinnitus results from the brain’s effort to compensate for hearing loss, a study concludes.

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  9. Health & Medicine

    Preterm infants show mortality risks as children, adults

    Death rates are higher in preemies than full-term babies when these people reach early adulthood, a large study finds.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Brain may sabotage efforts to lose weight

    The brains of obese people act hungry whether their bodies are or not.

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  11. Humans

    Humans

    The dark side of online deals, why cockiness is advantageous and more in this week's news.

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  12. Psychology

    Same face, different person

    Photos of a stranger’s mug can look like many unfamiliar people to an observer, complicating facial recognition research.

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